Unbiased reviews of new vinyl releases, audiophile reissues, and more

Thursday, September 10, 2009

First Listen: The Beatles in MONO Remastered Box Set (The White Album)



On September 9, 2009, EMI released the long-anticipated remasterings of the Beatles U.K. catalog. For the first time on compact disc, all of the albums originally released on mono will be available, along with a two-disc Mono Masters set, which collects all of the singles and non-album mono tracks. These mono discs are packaged in a box set entitled, The Beatles in Mono and the individual titles will not be available separately.

Unlike the stereo box set, the mono set is being produced in limited quantities and is likely to become a collectible in the future. This mono set was manufactured in Japan and has exquisite mini-LP packaging, which replicates the original vinyl packaging right down to the Sgt. Pepper's and White Album inserts.



The Beatles (White Album) mono

The Beatles, otherwise known as The White Album, was originally released in 1968 and is the last Beatles title to have been issued in both mono and stereo. Both versions were sold in the U.K., however, if you resided in the U.S.A., only a stereo version was available. Over the years, the mono White Album has become increasingly difficult to find in clean condition and copies routinely fetch hundreds on Ebay and elsewhere. Given its scarcity, it isn't surprising that there is more interest in this title than any other title in the Mono boxset.

In preparation for this review, I pulled out my original numbered U.K. mono top loader copy. As with the other remastered Beatles titles, my primary review method is repeated listenings of full album sides, with only occasional head-to-head comparisons of individual songs.





The Beatles (1968)

The first thing you notice upon playing this mono remaster, is that it isn't as loud as most of the stereo releases. Unlike the stereo remasters, no compression or limiting was used in mastering the mono releases and it begs the question: why couldn't the stereo releases be done this way?

The mono remaster has excellent dynamics and never sounds too loud or causes any listening fatigue as do many modern cd masterings. I suppose the reason they used compression/limiting on the stereo releases was to make them sound a bit more modern as the target buyer of the stereo discs is considerably different from the buyer of the mono box.

While thankfully there wasn't any attempt to moderninze this mono album by making it louder, such an effort was made via the EQ choices made during mastering. This mono remaster sounds much closer to 2009 than did the original 1968 U.K. mono vinyl.



The Beatles in Mono (mini LP packaging)

Unlike Abbey Road, which was released the following year, The White Album didn't possess audiophile quality sound. The album opens with Back in the U.S.S.R., which more than any other song on the record, has a harsh, bright, a.m. radio type sound. The remastered cd smooths out those harsh edges by adding some bottom end and taming the upper-mids and high end.

Likewise, on the equally bright Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, the remaster smooths out the sound--and on both of these songs, these eq choices work by making the songs more listenable and enjoyable. Unfortunately, for most of the remainder of the album, this modernizing comes off as a kind of revisionism, and this smoother, more polite, hifi sound also results in a much less active midrange and top end, sapping the life out of more than a few of the songs.

Accompanying John Lennon on Dear Prudence, is a haunting steel string guitar. On the vinyl, the highs and upper mids of the guitar sparkle and sound oh-so realistic. Sadly, the smoothing of the mids and highs that worked so well for the remaster on the other songs falls flat and the guitar loses the magic sparkle heard on the vinyl. And while the vocal character in I Will and Julia shines through, the acoustic guitar on Julia is once again missing that last bit of sparkle found on the vinyl.

Unlike the remastered cd, listening to the vinyl takes me back in time--full midrange and highs; full, but not big bass. Some will say the vinyl sounds like it's coming through a bullhorn or a.m. radio. But next to the overly polite remaster, I find it more exciting.



The Beatles (1968)

The remastered cd does have a couple of distict advantages over the original vinyl. It has none of the surface noise and occasional groove distortion that plagues some of the songs on my vinyl copy. Noise and distortion notwithstanding, the original vinyl easily beats the cd if for no other reason that it rocks more.

The irony of the increased bass on the remaster is that Ringo's snare drum, which gets many a workout on this record, is much more realistic sounding on the vinyl. On both Birthday and Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey, Ringo's snare drum sounds far more realistic on the vinyl. Furthermore, due the shaving of the upper-mids, the remaster loses some of the organic crunch of the guitars and the realism of the snare. Simply said, the vinyl sounds like a four-track tape recording in a sweaty club; the cd sounds more like it was recorded direct to a board in the studio.

You could easily spend the better part of the cost of the entire mono box set trying to find a clean, original U.K. mono copy of the White Album. If you don't spin vinyl, this set seems to be a no-brainer as there simply are no other legitimate means to get the Beatles mono output on compact disc. However, if you primarily spin vinyl, as nice as this set it, I can't recommend buying it for this disc alone. And when the remastered vinyl is released later this year, we'll still have at least one more shot at the perfect mono White Album.



NEW-- Second Listen: Beatles in MONO (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band) Remastered Cd Review and Comparison to U.K. Mono Vinyl

Related: Beatles Abbey Road Remastered Cd Review and Comparison to U.K. Vinyl

Beatledrops -- Samples of Beatles Mono and Stereo Vinyl, Remastered cds

Vintage Vinyl Spotlight: The Beatles Blue Box (BC-13)

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting. I'm still waiting for my box to arrive.

PS. What happened to the Steve Hoffman site?

Anonymous said...

Its like you read my mind! You appear to know a lot about
this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you can do with some
pics to drive the message home a bit, but other than that, this is
great blog. A fantastic read. I'll certainly be back.

Also visit my web blog - Make Your Own Solar Panels

Anonymous said...

Hey I know this is off topic but I was wondering if you knew of
any widgets I could add to my blog that automatically
tweet my newest twitter updates. I've been looking for a plug-in like this for quite some time and was hoping maybe you would have some experience with something like this. Please let me know if you run into anything. I truly enjoy reading your blog and I look forward to your new updates.

Here is my site - http://file.mhups.tp.edu.tw/~life/userinfo.php?uid=1732

Anonymous said...

Hello there, You've done an incredible job. I will certainly digg it and personally recommend to my friends. I'm confіdent
thеy will be benefitеd from thіs wеb site.



Loοk into mу weblog: stock options training

Anonymous said...

Ηi ϳust wаntеd tο giνе you a quick heads up and let
yоu κnoω а fеw оf the images arеn't loading correctly. I'm
not ѕure why but I thinκ іts а lіnking issue.
І've tried it in two different internet browsers and both show the same outcome.

Feel free to surf to my web-site :: Read the Full Write-up

Anonymous said...

Hi, І check уouг new ѕtuff like еverу week.
Your writing ѕtylе is awesomе, kеep
іt up!

Hеre is mу hоmepagе ..
. punttic.cat

Anonymous said...

Attractіve section of cοntent. I just stumbleԁ
upon youг blog and in accession capital to assеrt
that I get in fact enjοyeԁ account youг blog postѕ.
Αnyωay I wіll be subscribіng to
уоur feeds аnd evеn I achіеvement you access
consistently faѕt.

my web site - paralleltext.info

Anonymous said...

Hi, for all time i used to check website posts
here early in the morning, as i love to
learn more and more.

Here is my homepage: automobile sales careers

Anonymous said...

I love what you guys are usually up too. This kind of clever work and coverage!
Keep up the excellent works guys I've you guys to blogroll.

Feel free to visit my website Ways to lose weight

Anonymous said...

I read this piece of writing fully about the difference of latest and preceding technologies, it's amazing article.

Here is my homepage ... http://www.grillcamp-stockdorf.de/grillcamp/index.php/Index.php

Anonymous said...

What's up, its fastidious post concerning media print, we all be familiar with media is a enormous source of data.

Feel free to visit my page ... http://ittadesign.com/hd-digital-recording-device-recorders-customers-guide.htm

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness! Incredible article dude! Thanks, However I am encountering problems with your RSS.
I don't know why I can't join it. Is there anyone else having identical RSS issues?
Anybody who knows the solution can you kindly respond?
Thanks!!

My homepage - blu ray recorder

Anonymous said...

Do you have a spam problem on this website; I also am a
blogger, and I was curious about your situation; many of us
have developed some nice methods and we are looking to trade
techniques with other folks, please shoot me an e-mail if interested.


Also visit my web site personal video recorder

Anonymous said...

Its like you read my mind! You seem to know so much about this, like you wrote the book in it
or something. I think that you can do with a few pics to drive the message home a bit, but other than that,
this is great blog. An excellent read. I will certainly
be back.

Check out my site ... tips to lose weight

Post a Comment