What are you listening to?

[movieman1957]

Jim Lehrer's News Hour played a small sample of "I Saw Her Standing There." Even on my TV it sounded remarkable. I mentioned the hand claps and as soon as it was over the talking head mentioned the same thing. I have the albums and the CDs but I will probably get these over some time. They are a big chunk of change. I'm glad they are done though.

[MichiganJ]

More than the handclaps, McCartney's bass is much brighter in the mixes. Just check out Dear Prudence. While always prominent in the mix, now the bass is almost a lead guitar.

[jdb1]

What about the handclaps? Do they disappear in other mixes? My recollection is that a great many early Beatles recordings had handclaps, but then, I'm really old, and maybe it's just a brain disturbance.

Say -- will the mono recordings play properly on modern equipment? What about on iPod? I still rue the day, and it wasn't that long ago, actually, that I got rid of all my ancient, dusty, mono Beatles albums.

[movieman1957]

The hand claps don't disappear as much as they are more obvious. In that clip everything is just crisper, more defined and noticeable. In the early years the US releases always had a fuller sound. More of Paul's bass. In fact when he heard a US album he wondered why the UK version didn't sound as good. They altered the way they recorded the bass. I read a review in "Rolling Stone" I think where the writer went to great lengths to comment on the stereo and mono releases. He thought there was enough difference to be noticeable.

You got rid of your mono albums? The horror. I still have my old stereo Capitol albums. Some have the original rainbow label. Some are second release with the lime green label.

[jdb1]

I suppose I should have held on to them, but they were in pretty terrible shape, album covers included, and in a NYC apartment, storage space is at a premium. I do still have a whole lotta 45s from Way Back When, some Beatles, some others.

I remembered something -- a high school friend of mine had a Beatles single that said on the label "From the movie Eight Arms to Hold You," which was the original title of one of their movies. Wonder if she still has that one -- it would be worth a mint now.

So does anyone know about the mono vs. stereo sound on current CD players and iPod? Does the fact that the recordings are now all digital mean that they will sound OK? I'm thinking of some old recordings I have on my iPod where you can't hear all the tracks.

[movieman1957]

I bet that single would be worth a mint considering the movie turned out to be "Help!"

I'm no techno wiz but when The Beatles recorded they recorded primarily for a mono setting. (At least until "Sgt. Pepper" though mono recordings were issued at least through the "White Album.") Some songs never had a stereo mix of them. They will all sound good but different. Some have little sonic but arrangement differences as well. They will sound ok. All of them better than the 1987 versions of the CD.

The thing about ipods are they are weaker sounding playbacks than you can get on a stereo but the convenience is so much better that it is where most music now lives.

I am sure "MichiganJ" has a better grip on your questions.

[jdb1]

It's true about iPods -- I'm not in love with the sound, but it is a bit more convenient than carting around an antique Walkman. I still have my Walkie, and its sound is fuller. I listen primarly to classical music, and you lose a great deal of fidelity and nuance on the iPod.

However -- having been raised on not merely mono sound, but tinny and unsatisfying hi-fi sound on 78s, I'm all for getting the most all-encompassing and all-surrounding sounds I can from the music I love. I don't think I'm that much of a purist that I'd insist on mono only. I heard more than enough of it in the past.

I wish I could afford the complete set now, but it will have to wait until later in the year (hope it's still available then).

It has been a great pleasure to see the Beatles programming on VH1 this past week. How articulate and interesting these four were. I hope the younger set was duly impressed with the fact that they were a live band of skilled musicians long before they were a technically enhanced studio band. The songs that were derided in their own time as lightweight seem awfully mature and musically sophisticated to me compared to much of what is called music now.

[ChiO]

I remembered something -- a high school friend of mine had a Beatles single that said on the label "From the movie Eight Arms to Hold You," which was the original title of one of their movies. Wonder if she still has that one -- it would be worth a mint now.

Actually it read From the United Artists Release "Eight Arms to Hold You". I have it. A little ditty named Ticket to Ride. According to the most recent price guide I have (1992), it was valued at $3 - $15 depending on condition. Not bad for a $0.89 or so investment, but not quite a mint (or so I tell Mrs. ChiO whenever she pushes me to sell the 2,000 or so original 45s I have, mostly from the '50s-'60s).

[movieman1957]

Judith:

My daughter, who will turn 19 in Nov., sent me a text out of nowhere to tell me "I guess I'll like The Beatles music more than anything I know." I asked her where that came from. She said she was listening to the radio and she thought that not much is as interesting.

I have bought a very few classical works on itunes. Mostly because I couldn't find them anywhere else. I usually burn those on a CD. I had forgotten you like classical music.

ChiO:

Only a couple of bucks? You don't have the butcher cover from "Yesterday and Today" laying around? 2000 45s? Do you ever get to listen to them? I have one of those turntables that turns analog albums into digital files that I can burn on a CD. Great gift.

[ChiO]

Only a couple of bucks? You don't have the butcher cover from "Yesterday and Today" laying around? 2000 45s? Do you ever get to listen to them? I have one of those turntables that turns analog albums into digital files that I can burn on a CD. Great gift.

No butcher cover -- not even the LP. And the reference to "Eight Arms to Hold You" wasn't an error or something quickly pulled off the shelf -- I think it appeared on all Ticket to Ride 45s issued in 1965. The Beatles 45s aren't, as a general proposition, worth a mint because of how many were sold. They're not scarce enough. The value is in a scarce record in a fanatic niche market, such as Doo-Wop, or a record that just didn't sell by an artist whose fan base increased over time, such as my EP of Johnny Cash Sings Hank Williams (1956), which in 1992 had a value of $10 - $50 (I bought it for $2 with the picture cover in 1986).

I listen to my 45s as much as my CDs and certainly more than my LPs. My Christmas present to myself last year -- a turntable that burns my vinyl (33s, 45s & 78s) onto CDs without that pesky computer intervening. Oh, the presents that has enabled me to give. The number I've made for myself: 0.

[MichiganJ]

movieman1957 wrote:

The hand claps don't disappear as much as they are more obvious. In that clip everything is just crisper, more defined and noticeable. In the early years the US releases always had a fuller sound. More of Paul's bass. In fact when he heard a US album he wondered why the UK version didn't sound as good. They altered the way they recorded the bass.

Capitol Records did not receive multi-track masters of the Beatles tapes, so they could not actually change the balance of vocals or instruments. Paul's bass is the same level on all releases. Capitol could, and did, create "stereo" mixes by creating two separate channels from the single mono mix, sent to them from EMI, and then boosting the lowest frequencies in one of the channels (making it seem as if Paul's bass and Ringo's kick drum were "louder"). They also "tweaked" the treble and then ran both tracks slightly out of synch, creating a faux stereo.

Through 1968 all of the Beatles' singles were recorded in mono only, so these faux stereo mixes were used when Capitol put the singles on their albums (remember, singles never were on the UK albums.). When Capitol received actual stereo masters from EMI, they tinkered with them as well, adding a great deal of reverb, which again, makes the bass seem more prominent (although not distinct, like a full-fledged remixing would do.) The first eight Capitol albums have been released in two box sets containing both the stereo and mono mixes of each album.

jdb1 wrote:

I remembered something -- a high school friend of mine had a Beatles single that said on the label "From the movie Eight Arms to Hold You," which was the original title of one of their movies. Wonder if she still has that one -- it would be worth a mint now.

Ticket to Ride was released several weeks before the premier of Help! and the release of the soundtrack album and the single did proclaim "From the United Artists Release "Eight Arms To Hold You". as ChiO notes. Oddly, each subsequent release of the single contained the same blurb and it remained so, at least until the mid-70s. Don't have a clue why.

So does anyone know about the mono vs. stereo sound on current CD players and iPod? Does the fact that the recordings are now all digital mean that they will sound OK? I'm thinking of some old recordings I have on my iPod where you can't hear all the tracks.

The fidelity of MP3 (or MP4 now) is considerably less than CD. The portability is a huge plus though, and the MP3 fidelity is better than cassette (or 8-Track, if you want to go back that far). Mono or stereo doesn't matter as far as playback. Mono, of course, will have exactly the same sounds in both channels (right and left), stereo will separate (guitar on left, vocals on right, whatever.)

Hope this helps and doesn't muddy things up further.

[jdb1]

Judith:

My daughter, who will turn 19 in Nov., sent me a text out of nowhere to tell me "I guess I'll like The Beatles music more than anything I know." I asked her where that came from. She said she was listening to the radio and she thought that not much is as interesting.

I have bought a very few classical works on itunes. Mostly because I couldn't find them anywhere else. I usually burn those on a CD. I had forgotten you like classical music.

ChiO:

Only a couple of bucks? You don't have the butcher cover from "Yesterday and Today" laying around? 2000 45s? Do you ever get to listen to them? I have one of those turntables that turns analog albums into digital files that I can burn on a CD. Great gift.

Your daughter is not the only one -- my daughter, 24, is a big fan as well, and many of the 30-somethings in my office, who were not really old enough for The Mania, are now Beatles lovers as they outgrow the blander stuff of their youth.

You're right, Chris, there is very little of interest in the classical selections on iTunes. Not surprising, really. I think 99% of what classical music I have on my Poddie is what I already owned.

And Chi-Chi -- I wonder if you actually paid as much as 89 cents for one 45. Seems a bit steep to me for our generation, although I do recall that as the Fab Four's popularity increased, so did their prices. I don't know how many 45s I've kept; actually, I don't even know what it is I have -- I stuffed them into a bag somewhere and I'll probably never play them anyway. They're archaeological now.

[movieman1957]

MJ:

Crap. Reverb was the word I was looking for. I know Capitol couldn't do anything about the way they were recorded.

You didn't muddy things up. You cleared up the mess I made.

[movieman1957]

My bride must love me because she bought me four of the remastered CDs. It helps she works at Starbucks and since they are carrying some of them she got me a good deal. So far so good. On Abbey Road Ringo's drums and other percussion seem more vibrant and it all has more of a live feel. The vocals are clear and prominent. The moog on Maxwell's Silver Hammer and Here Comes The Sun is set a little more forward. It all sounds very crisp so far.

I put on Help! in the car. I didn't allow for a lower volume. That first chord nearly gave me a heart attack. One thing on Pepper that really stands out for me is the harmony of the clarinet on When I'm 64. Other things are prominent as well but it was nice to more clearly hear the vocal/clarinet duet.

[MichiganJ]

My bride must love me because she bought me four of the remastered CDs...

I put on Help! in the car. I didn't allow for a lower volume. That first chord nearly gave me a heart attack.

I'm right with you on the opening of Help! Nearly spilled my coffee.

As a kid, one of the things I liked about Help! was the James Bond intro (which I first heard on "the red album" 62-66). It wasn't until I got the UK album and the Bond theme didn't precede the opening that I learned to really love the anticipation of the needle gliding along the groove, finally finding the slamming B-minor chord coupled with Lennon's plea. Help indeed.

The opening chord of A Hard Day's Night had a similar effect.

Not only does your bride obviously love you, but she also has excellent taste. Abbey Road, Pepper and Help!, what was the fourth disc she surprised you with?