As loyal Dangerous Minds readers have probably already figured out, I am both a “rock snob” and a bit of an audiophile. So it should come as no surprise when I tell you that the 09/09/09 street date of the remastered Beatles albums—in both stereo and mono—has me counting the hours until I can get my hands on them.

What you might not know if you are of a certain age (or have forgotten if you are of another!) is that the Beatles albums sounded WAY better in mono than in stereo. Both the group and George Martin preferred mono and the stereo mixes back then were often afterthoughts with severely panned stereo mixes that had most of the instruments on one side and the vocals on the other! The stereo mixes always seemed very peculiar to me.

The 1987 CDs were the pits. Just awful, flat aural experiences. And nothing’s been done to rectify that situation until now. It always been ridiculous that the Beatles and the Stones had the worst sounding CDs. A lot of people don’t rate the Stones ABKCO reissues highly, but I thought they were (mostly) done pretty well and it was nice to be able to hear that material with fresh ears. Most of us who grew up with the Beatles, Stones and Led Zeppelin probably probably don’t listen to them all that much now, because it’s so easy to conjure their music up in our “mind’s ear,” but the Love mash-up album from the Circe du Soleil show helped me get back into the Beatles again and I’m really looking forward to hearing the remasters. If I can manage to score some promo copies of these sets, I’ll offer up reviews of stereo vs. mono daily on the site.

Meanwhile, here’s a song that sadly didn’t make it to any Beatles CD ever, their uniquely comic turn—it’s very Goon Show, isn’t it?—on Rossini’s Barber of Seville Overture taken from the credits of Help!:

I’m hurt that in this recession I can’t justify the $250 required to purchase the mono box set, which is “limited” edition and whose albums aren’t being sold separately.  I thought Dhani and Yoko cared about us…

My favorite part of the “HELP!” end credits is when George calls out over the music, “‘I Need You’ By George Harrison”! 
Classic STRIVING per the George’ster!

It’s about time, too.
These albums have been crying out for a proper remix forever.
Here’s hoping that another classic, crappily mixed album - The Sex Pistols Never Mind the Bullocks gets a serious remix someday. It’s muddy and way too quiet.

I’m hoping that Abbey Road does not screw the pooch when it comes to the re-masters of the Mono recordings. The 80’s releases does not leave one very hopeful?

But having an official Mono release of these recordings is a Beatle fanatics wet dream. I too have been waiting for this for years..The vastly superior bass tone on Sgt Pepper is worth the price of admission alone..

And I always have my amazing Dr Ebbets FLAC Mono masters to fall back on..They truly sound wonderful

Have you heard them Richard?

Let’s hope they don’t fall victim to the “loudness wars”.

To “fairaintfair “
“Abbey Road”, “Yellow Submarine”, and “Let It Be” will NOT be included in the Mono Box because those LPs were originally only released in STEREO.  You gotta buy the Stereo Box for them!

More $$ to spend.

Lippy

Are you suggesting that I didn’t know that “Abbey Rd”, “Yellow Submarine” and “Let it Be” were not Stereo releases? What’s next.. you going to insult my mother?

Those sir, are fightin’ words.

Ha! I Joke. I’m a joker! Im a smoker…

I think I was trying to say that “Abbey Road” (IE the engineers tasked to master these releases) certainly have to prove themselves with these new releases.

I’m not sure I care about the Stereo box set..I guess I’ll have to hear it before I dump the cash..But the beloved MONO

I’m engorged with blood in anticipation

Beatles Remastered are no victims of the Loudness War.
I´m agree whit this

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13425-stereo-box-in-mono/

What do you think?