Posted by THE JIMMY WHITLEY on September 17, 1999 at 06:13:47:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Question about "mono" on purpose while recording posted by Fleabit Peanut Monkey on September 17, 1999 at 01:26:31:
: I think Charlie says that before "The Storm" (where's he been lately, anyway? They have the internet in China, don't they?) I always assumed that, because the song is such a fine example of delta-style blues, Charlie was suggesting that the song should be "lo-fi" to capture the feel of 1940's & '50's recording techniques.
: In the old days, mono mixes were given every bit as much attention as stereo mixes, because a large segment of the buying public still listened to the records in mono. Often the mono mixes came out radically (to my ear) different from the stereo mixes. Sometimes they sounded better. I know my Beatle-loving buddies all swear the mono version of the White Album is superior to the more common stereo mix, and some of the songs are even longer than their stereo counterparts.
: On a similar note, I just heard a boot called "Ear Candy", which is a compilation of the American version of Between The Buttons and the English version of Aftermath. The mixes are remarkable and almost make these great albums seem brand new. Check it out if you see it and compare... the Abkco releases are noticeably inferior.
UNCLE FLEA!!!!!
I am glad you brought that up because I had intended on mentioning that but had to get somewhere before they closed! The Ear Candy sources are from the West German Polygram CDs! You are right, I agree it's no contest between the rather bad US ABKCO mastered versions and the West German (pre-1995) or Japan (pre-1997) versions. For a REALLY GREAT report on this, check out Chris M's essay at http://members.aol.com/shareco/StereoStones.htm. The part about Klien "streamlining global operations" (something like that) were now all of the worlds ABKCO cds get to be made from the USA's poorly mastered,in some cases MONO or little seperated stereo when REAL 100% TRUE STEREO versions were ignored. Chris's report is VERY detailed track by track and is a must read and save as text file. I am going to brag a little but about a month ago I found the West German Polygram version of Between the Buttons used for TEN BUCKS. Besides the Polygram label etc. one of the give aways is that Charlie's buttons are BLUE on the cover.
Later, JIMMY