This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 97.120.118.152 (talk) at 01:29, 16 August 2010 (→Limited edition). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 01:29, 16 August 2010 by 97.120.118.152 (talk) (→Limited edition)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
| Untitled | |
|---|---|
The Beatles in Mono is a box set compilation comprising the remastered monophonic recordings by The Beatles. The set was released on 9 September 2009, the same day the remastered stereo recordings and companion The Beatles Stereo Box Set were also released, along with The Beatles: Rock Band videogame. The remastering project for both mono and stereo versions was led by EMI senior studio engineers Allan Rouse and Guy Massey.
Intention
The Mono Box Set was released to reflect the fact that the Beatles' catalogue (aside from Yellow Submarine, Abbey Road, and Let It Be) was originally released in mono, in addition to stereo. Many feel that the these mono mixes reflect the true intention of the band. For example, in the case of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, all the mono mixes were done together with the Beatles themselves, throughout the recording of the album, whereas the stereo mixes were done in only six days by George Martin, Geoff Emerick and Richard Lush after the album had been finished, with none of the Beatles attending. George Harrison commented:
At that time the console was about this big with four faders on it. And there was one speaker right in the middle and that was it. When they invented stereo, I remember thinking 'Why? What do you want two speakers for?', because it ruined the sound from our point of view. You know, we had everything coming out of one speaker; now it had to come out of two speakers. It sounded like... very... naked.
Limited edition
Amazon.com advertised the set as a limited edition item in the United States, and less than a month prior to the set's release announced the site had sold out of units. Less than two weeks before 9 September, many other online retailers announced the selling out of units from their inventories, including the Canadian Amazon.ca site.
EMI announced on 3 September that more mono box sets were to be pressed due to high demand from online pre-orders. It will still remain a limited edition but will not be limited to 10,000 copies as originally stated. Nearly one year after release the set is still readily available.
Disc listing
 | This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
The thirteen-disc collection contains the remastered mono versions of every Beatles album released in true mono. The original 1965 stereo mixes of Help! and Rubber Soul are included as bonuses on their respective albums. (Both albums also had been digitally remixed for the CD release in 1987.) The box contains a new two-disc compilation album entitled Mono Masters, which compiles all the mono mixes of singles, B-sides and EP tracks that did not originally appear on any of the UK albums.
- Please Please Me (1963)
- With The Beatles (1963)
- A Hard Day's Night (1964)
- Beatles for Sale (1964)
- Help! (1965)
- Rubber Soul (1965)
- Revolver (1966)
- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
- Magical Mystery Tour (1967)
- The Beatles (1968)
- Mono Masters (1962–1970)
The albums Yellow Submarine, Abbey Road and Let It Be are not included in this set, as no true mono mixes of these albums were issued. A mono version of Yellow Submarine was released in the UK, but it was simply a fold-down (two stereo channels combined into one channel) from the stereo mix, not a unique, separate mono mix. The previously unavailable true mono mixes of the four new Beatles songs released on the Yellow Submarine album ("Only a Northern Song", "All Together Now", "Hey Bulldog" and "It's All Too Much"), originally intended for a separate, but ultimately scrapped, mono EP, which would have also included a mono mix of "Across the Universe", are included on the Mono Masters compilation. Abbey Road and Let It Be were issued in the UK in mono on reel-to-reel tape and on LP in Brazil and other countries, but again, only as fold-downs from the respective stereo versions.
Also omitted from this set, but included in the Stereo box, is a DVD containing the mini-documentaries included with the stereo remasters of the different albums.
The Beatles (The "White Album"), which is included in the set, was originally released in mono only in the UK and a few other countries, but not in the USA. However, the mono mixes of "Don't Pass Me By" and "Helter Skelter" had been released in the USA in 1980 on the Capitol Records Rarities compilation album.
Chart performance
The set debuted at #40 in Billboard's Top 200 and the magazine reported that 12,000 copies were sold in its first week of release. In Japan, it debuted at #10, selling over 20,000 copies in its first week on the Oricon album charts. The set was certified platinum by the R.I.A.A. in April 2010.
See also
References
- Marinucci, Steve (5 August 2009). "Beatles 101: SPECIAL: Beatles engineer Allan Rouse gives a preview of the Beatles remastered CDs". Beatles Examiner. Retrieved 28 August 2009.
- Lewis, Anthony (30 August 2009). "Meet (and be) the Beatles". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 28 August 2009.
- Lewisohn, Mark: The Beatles Recording Sessions. The Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd., London 1988, ISBN 0 600 55798 7. P. 108.
- The Beatles Anthology. Bonus-DVD, Take "Back at Abbey Road, May 1995."
- "Amazon.com: The Beatles Mono Box Set (LIMITED): The Beatles: Music". Amazon.com. Retrieved 11 July 2009.
- Haber, Dave (17 August 2009). "Beatles Remastered Mono Box sold out at Amazon US". Retrieved 28 August 2009.
- Haber, Dave (26 August 2009). "Update: Beatles Mono Box sold-out at more retailers now". Retrieved 28 August 2009.
- Morris, Christopher (3 September 2009). "EMI to press more 'Beatles in Mono'". Retrieved 5 September 2009.
- "Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved 17 September 2009.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - Goodman, Dean, and Mohammad Zargham (16 September 2009). "The Beatles Turn US Charts Back to 1960s". Reuters. Retrieved 17 September 2009.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Template:Ja icon "Oricon Weekly Album Charts for the third week of September 2009". Oricon. Retrieved 2009-10-01.
