The Beatles

I understand that stereo recording was still early in its existence in the 1960’s, but is there a reason why “a hard days night” and “Beatles for sale” have proper stereo mixes yet “rubber soul” and “revolver” still have odd mixing decisions related to vocals.
George Martin did a stereo mix of Rubber Soul that wasn’t used by EMI. The mono mixes were the mixes that the Beatles attended and approved. Stereo mixes were an afterthought, done by whomever. Stereo records were a dollar or two more, and most Beatles listeners back then didn’t have the right gear. Stereo record buyers listened predominately to classical and jazz. Affordable proper stereo gear didn’t really take off until the Japanese started exporting it in the late ‘60s.
 
George Martin did a stereo mix of Rubber Soul that wasn’t used by EMI. The mono mixes were the mixes that the Beatles attended and approved. Stereo mixes were an afterthought, done by whomever. Stereo records were a dollar or two more, and most Beatles listeners back then didn’t have the right gear. Stereo record buyers listened predominately to classical and jazz. Affordable proper stereo gear didn’t really take off until the Japanese started exporting it in the late ‘60s.
Well at least they didn’t fuck up a hard days night and Beatles for sale and silver lining for the rest is that proper mono mixes are available.
 
Alright…how does this one sound?
More specifically…how is the second lp?

Sound quality is fantastic. I like the Giles Martin mix, a lot of others don’t. However I think the criticisms I hear, that they’ve made a stereo mix that sounds too close to the mono mix, are really unfair given that this was exactly what the goal of the whole project was.

Beyond that I think the second LP is a load of trash and not worth the wax it’s pressed on YMMV. It is on streaming services if you want to check the quality of the music on it before you buy. I got the 2LP at retail when it was new so don’t feel too bad about it but I don’t think I’d be spending big secondary market money on it now.

 
Sound quality is fantastic. I like the Giles Martin mix, a lot of others don’t. However I think the criticisms I hear, that they’ve made a stereo mix that sounds too close to the mono mix, are really unfair given that this was exactly what the goal of the whole project was.

Beyond that I think the second LP is a load of trash and not worth the wax it’s pressed on YMMV. It is on streaming services if you want to check the quality of the music on it before you buy. I got the 2LP at retail when it was new so don’t feel too bad about it but I don’t think I’d be spending big secondary market money on it now.

I agree with @Joe Mac. This is one of my favorite albums and I think the new mix is fantastic. I wouldn’t describe the second disc as harshly, but it really is utterly unnecessary and not worth the extra cost. If I sold records, I’d probably flip that and buy the single-LP version.
 
I agree with @Joe Mac. This is one of my favorite albums and I think the new mix is fantastic. I wouldn’t describe the second disc as harshly, but it really is utterly unnecessary and not worth the extra cost. If I sold records, I’d probably flip that and buy the single-LP version.

I suppose I’m particularly harsh given the quality of the extras on the three other 50th anniversary releases they’ve done. Esher is special, Abbey Road demos are miles ahead of this on quality and Let It Be has so much more depth as a package. This feels like a messy after thought in comparison.
 
I suppose I’m particularly harsh given the quality of the extras on the three other 50th. Esher is special, Abbey Road demos are miles ahead of this on quality and Let It Be has so much more depth.
Oddly Sgt Peppers is the only one of the recent reissues that I have. I agree that the Esher demos are great and I’ve enjoyed streaming the extra Let It Be material too, but I decided I could just revisit those by streaming. Also I zagged by buying the Anthology trilogy instead, which is full of fantastic cuts (especially 1 and 3).
 
I echo the Giles Martin remix on vinyl is pretty good imo - a few people didn’t like the CD version as it’s very bass heavy - but the vinyl seemed to get favourable reviews all round
 
Emails were sent, conversations were had, money was discussed, a deal was struck and I went to bed with a headache.............down to 1 :)

...........so cryptic, lol

I’m still on 6. It’s cost prohibitive to go further now. I’m still debating waiting to see if post Covid the market cools or maybe even flogging the 6 and maybe going down the used Japanese route for the stereos.
 
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