Teenbeat: The final version of Second Album

In March of 1979, an album entered my then meagre collection, a birthday present from the local independent store in the northern district of the city whose looks and track selection never really left even in the days when it just was no longer available in any format.

 

The collage style cover, bold coloured title and a great tag line on the rear top of the jacket just screamed Beatlemania as America fell for them in a package that mixed covers, new to america originals and a couple of newly recorded tracks that were to come on a British extended play 7 inch record.

 

My first copy with an Apple label went being replaced in 1986 by a Purple capitol copy as I learned this and the other albums I grew up on were to be replaced by UK versions coming on compact disc too and hurried up being "last chance" copies for posterity.

After a long period where they were ignored as if they never existed they've  been reissued accepted as part of the legacy hence last years issue of the 1964 Capitol Albums in mono, a good number of which were bought.

 I decided to get a near mint  american stereo edition in the short lived 1980's rainbow rim label to go with my Canadian issues of the era probably as good as this record ever sounded, one I've always wanted.

This came this week while I'm away and I'm delighted.

Stereo Beatles mini lps

 As a number of seasoned blog readers know I have had a liking for the Beatles for a long time so it was an important day in early March of 2015 and I had gotten some interesting cds by them plus a few more recently which I'll spend a few worms on discussing.

In the weird corporate World of Japan few things are more revered than the super limited edition gone to it's gone and put back out in slightly different form product and somebody at Apple and Universal Japan decided it was those Moptops time for this treatment on December 14, 2014 when all the UK stereo studio album titles and the 2010 versions of the evergreen RED and BLUE compilations got issued in the latest wonder cd material SHM.
It's meant to produce less errors when 'read' by your cd player and so sound better.
Before you could read reviews at various websites they sold out  being a very limited run with posters but were re-issued in the 'Encore' series without the promotional posters which I'm not so fussed over.
By the time reviews did emerge one could cue a howl from "zeroes and ones are same regardless" from digital theory purists and "Oh yes it does sound different" from others on certain sites.
Regardless of that debate, I much prefer the Mini lp style packaging these cds come in anyway replicating far better the feel of the parent lp records than the 2009 tri-fold digipak remasters we had and they match my much my much loved cd The Beatles in Mono box with its 11 mini lp mono cds and critically my set of albums issued for the US albums box set of 2014 which also used the mini lp style I got for the stereo versions (they also have mono versions some of which are US specific).
That set cut off with the US version of Revolver whose sound I much prefer over the 2009 stereo UK series cd although Capitol of course did issue all their output with Sgt Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour  on Capitol and everything else up to Let it Be on Apple labels.

I much prefer the mono mix of Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club although like most I grew up with the stereo, for me a purple Capitol Canada lp and the Capitol 8 track.
As you can see this has the cut outs and inner bag just like the mono from 2009's mono box does and a Japanese booklet but is the stereo edition.

 

When it comes to Magical Mystery Tour there are good reasons for liking the stereo which for the first side at least was pretty good, sometimes revealing more detail than the mono, although that has many unique features like the use of phasing on vocals so it's album worth  having  stereo copy of. The mono has the three singles a and b sides in the original mono mixes.
This stereo edition has the 24 page colour booklet, a Japanese leaflet and like the mono edition, being assembled by Capitol as a album (the UK had a set of two 45 rpm 7 inch extended play singles!) has a Capitol label.

Moving on to 1969's Abbey Road, this was only mixed into stereo although in some territories a simple folded down to mono edition was pressed for mono record players or used for mono tape records.

  The covers are much nicer, a booklet with a potted history of the album in English are tuck in the rear of the acid free plastic wallet the cover is in and there's another booklet in Japanese with English lyrics to every song so we can song along to Polythene Pam.
This fits the Mono box perfectly.

The rear shows the other cds in this series such as the RED, BLUE and Past Masters compilations.

Plus the Let It Be, the troubled  album recorded before Abbey Road but originally issued in conjunction with the motion picture afterward showing the band performing later initially in special box set with a book of pictures.

 

I always liked the stereo Please Please Me not least a large chunk was recorded live so you can hear the studio wall echo so when that was announced way back in 2009, that was pre-ordered but I've got this new version that looks like the lp and does sound a bit smoother.

 
I never planned on getting the 2009 stereo cd of the Beatles For Sale UK album from December 1964 simply as the album never really figured much in my life until the cd era (its contents figure on Capitol's Beatles '65 and Beatles VI that I grew up with)  and then being so upset with the sound I got the UK stereo lp whose packaging was rather cool with a gatefold sleeve with two black and white  pictures for the centrefold and a short set of notes by Tony Barrow and the track listing.

I decided recently to treat myself to this the stereo shm edition in its full replica sleeve as many who did buy the 2009 stereo regarded it was one very best of the series and it sounds really good.

This is the third UK album released July 1964 which unlike its North American counterpart has 13 songs written and song by the Beatles and nobody else in its stereo form. The bulk of the second side was issued on the Capitol lp. Something New, including Things We Said Today  which didn't have much new  to offer as only four songs from that UK albums side were used and it shared five with the A Hard Day's Night soundtrack album!
That's one reason why it was the first UK album I bought on record, it simply is more complete flowing better and why I got this edition on cd which sounds more open compared to the 2009 edition.

This, 1966's Revolver (UK edition) was the second disappointment of the original 2009 issues sounding like it had ill defined bass and muted high notes, not that the 1987 first issue was much better but to my ears is is quite a bit more open and clearer although it's one of many of their albums I prefer the mono mix of.


Having played them through my all Rotel system they do sound a bit more open and less edgy compared to my European 2009 copies and I am inclinded to ditch the original clumsy tri-fold card issues. 

Beatles cd posts links: 
The US albums US albums cd re-issues
Beatles in Mono cd set Beatles in mono cd set
The Beatles EP cd set The beatles EP's on cd 

Teenbeat X - The Beatles US Albums

On January 20th, commemorating the 50th  anniversary of the Beatles first visit to the States, Apple arranged through Capitol Records for a special set of albums released for the US market specifically to be issued in both boxed and for a limited period separate editions as well as on iTunes. They contain both mono and stereo versions of each album.

As you can see they come in the collector popular Mini LP style mimicking the feel of a vinyl album with card jackets, replica inner sleeves and like their Japanese counterparts, have a plastic sleeve to keep the cd free from scratches with the entire packaged disc in a resealable archive see through plastic wallet. 
In America because royalities were charged per track rather than per album it was normal for their lps to have 11 or 12 tracks compared to typically 14 on British releases plus in the states albums always featured the hit single(s) whereas in Britain they didn't.
This needless to say is why these albums, the ones I grew up with, are different than the now standardized British ones and so for many North Americans are the albums we cherish as quirky as they were.
Eight of these albums were reissued in a set of cheesy boxes in 2004 and 2006 with thin card covers the sort Britishers would associate with Newspaper giveaways or some of us remember ISP's giving out with the first set being quite blurry too. I wrote about these sets at the time.
The recordings used were sent over from Great Britain usually using the same final mixes for mono or stereo as the UK releases although when tracks were sent early due to requests from Capitol for an upcoming album, sometimes different versions were sent from the one decided upon for the UK.
These were copied altering the sound, adding echo and in some instances making fake stereo versions from mono tapes and then used on the lps, a process which while giving it a unique sound nontheless caused some loss of quality compared to the tapes Capitol received.
The earlier box sets used these modified tapes throughout  with the mastering engineer just trying to get them as good sounding as the material he had would allow.

This album, a favourite of mine in this set, is a good example of that with two incredibly bad fake stereo songs in the middle of quite reasonable stereo with one unique mix and on the older cd it's that you hear on the stereo portion and some of mono tracks are not actual mono mixes just the stereo combined into mono.
The new version removes the fake stereo replacing it with true stereo mixes one of which had been available since 1966(!), keeps the echoey  mono US single version and uses the UK mixes for everything that's not unique.
It's this that has proven controversial with some fans who wanted an exact replica in sound of their lps but speaking personally having bought this version, I'm delighted with it as it approaches what I consider a 'audiophile' remastering, going back to originals, removing the  sonic grime to reveal more of the music making never mind the uprated packaging.
The four previously unreleased on cd albums are the A Hard day's Night movie soundtrack with instrumentals from the film originally issued on United Artists, Yesterday and Today, the US Revolver album I had which only had 11 tracks and the stereo only Hey Jude compilation of February 1970 featured then unreleased stereo versions of a good number of  Beatles singles.
I was going to buy the Box set complete with the mainly talk The Beatles Story bonus album but I didn't, this was sadly connected to another, less defensible aspect of how this project was handled by Apple.
Way back in the mid 1980's as plans were drawn up to release on compact disc the Beatles catalogue, Sir George Martin  was allowed to remix two UK albums (Help! and Rubber Soul) from the four track session tapes. Discovering Abbey Road studios echo chamber used on a number of tracks was out of use, he used digitally generated delay to attempt to get the same sound. Unfortunately it sound more like a karaoke type echo especially when he over did it on Dizzy Miss Lizzie and Drive My Car. Personally I can't stand them being 'too modern'.
These versions were themselves remastered in 2009 for the stereo set although the original 1965 stereo mixes were put on the mono cd set as bonuses.
Coming back to 2014, Apple have decided to use these stereo  remakes for the tracks from those two UK albums featured in four of the albums in this box set  (Beatles VI, Help Soundtrack, Rubber Soul and Yesterday and Today) where the previous 2006 box that had the first three with the 1965 stereo mixes on.
Personally, owing the the previous set, I really object to paying £146 for three albums whose stereo portions deviate from that which was issued not just in North America but even in the UK up to 1987.
I decided to rebuy the first four (Meet The Beatles, Second Album, Something New and Beatles '65) as the sound on at least the first two wasn't so clean,Second Album had an excessive amount of echo added to it and get the four previously unissued ones even with the stereo portion of Yesterday and Today being compromised with only 5 original mixes for the otherwise unavailable mono version.
As for the others, if I can come by cheap copies I may get them and switch the discs over as there's nothing on the jackets to tie them to any specific cd because I adore the packaging.
To  summarize my thoughts on this set, I really liked the idea of it as quite a bit of thought had gone into the packaging and even a great booklet for the boxed edition, almost equalling the acclaimed Beatles in Mono box but feel the sound side of it was compromised for a number of the discs needlessly in the stereo portions by insisting on not using the original UK mixes sent at the time and loved by most fans.
I'd give the set 7 out of 10 on balance.

More Beatles Mini lps:
At the start of the year I'd acquired some unofficial mini lps of albums put out in the 1970's that had been retired with aim of buying this set adding these to them.

1976's 28 track Rock and Roll Music compilation, a double lp on a single cd although it lacks the gatefold of the original is well printed.It uses the untouched UK versions of the tracks unlike the Capitol edition.

1977's Love Songs compilation which comprises of 25 songs with a love theme, lacking the gatefold but this section is part of a four page insert.
It's always been a favourite of mine being a comforting listen at boarding school running for about an hour.

1977's Live album of recordings from August 1964 and 1965 at the Hollywood Bowl that Apple refuse to release presented in full gatefold form reproducing the rear essay by Sir George Martin clearly with original lp styled photo inner sleeve.
The audio on these pressed cds (they're not cheap home made jobs) is actually very good matching that of the lps reproduced on a high quality vinyl system and come with Japanese notes and full English lyrics. 
If you need them, these discs are good value.

Beatles new vinyl (Teenbeat special)

This weeks TeenBeat special is about my collection of Beatles records.

As some of you may be aware I've been buying new Beatles records since 1977 starting with the 'Blue' compilation (1967-1970) and adding the odd used copy over that period since been introduced to them by friends and family as a kid.

In the intervening years, I had managed to almost complete the collection which was mainly of Canadian copies although like many, my collection went through a turbulent spell in the mid 80's when their UK albums were issued on cd and as some lps sadly showed their age through wear and damage in my teens, so they got to replaced by the cds in a few cases .  Indeed for a three year period I was minus a lot of their more important albums, period on record !

However over  time I had re-established much of the collection and replaced the odd surviving copy by newer copies that sounded better as some of the discs we had back then weren't so good.

This Monday, November  12th  sees the reissuing  in both the States and also in Europe of their entire catalogue on heavy weight 180 gram vinyl following the now authorized canon of UK releases using the transfers including edits done for the cds which were reissued on September 9, 2009 but without the small amount of limiting applied to the very loudest moments of the music that was applied to the cds.

It also is increasingly recognized the amount of fine detail thought in the very early 1980’s to be acceptable for cd was inferior to that of vinyl or higher resolution digital formats like super audio cd or high resolution lossless files so these records cut from higher resolution than cd files could easily out perform the cd versions.

Because I already have an extensive lp collection I have decided not to buy a complete box set but just to get new European pressed versions of those I remain unhappy with the sound of .

Magical Mystery Tour.

Capitol /EMI SMAS2835

First off, one benefit of this pressing is everything is in true stereo being  rather than the awful duophonic fake stereo of the analogue US and UK versions on the songs Penny Lane, Baby, You're A Rich Man and All You Need Is Love that my very first copy had. Because this lp was in truth a American creation added later in the day to the World-wide catalogue, they have used a old style colourband Capitol logo for it. So cool!

The booklet is tucked in the left jacket pouch rather than stapled in the gate-fold ready to fall off and is printed in thicker paper.

Secondly Sean Magee cut this and he did an extremely good job of getting deep bass on it, the treble is very smooth, and the presence on the vocals almost fooled me into thinking this was analogue sourced, lacking the harshness you sometimes detect on cd. He left a good amount of space from the end of the final track to the edge by the label to minimize any end of side playback problems. I went from having the 1976 UK version with the last three tracks in fake stereo originally to the 1988 Capitol digitally mastered one that was a bit better.

I feel this is the best one yet I've had.It was dead quiet too!

Past Masters

Parlophone

A product of the 'core catalogue' is all you need idea, this was compiled and originally issued in 1988 to round up material that didn't make its way into the individual UK albums that for the most part I never owned then but to which were all re-issued on cd world-wide the previous year.

These weren't just obscure tracks but actually a good many of their British singles and the whole Long Tally Sally ep that for North Americans we got spliced into our unique albums.

I needless to say bought the cds as soon as they were issued but the lp issued several months later never sounded good. It was thin, lacking in deep bass and oddly enough worse sounding than the cds which weren't all they could of been either.

This new copy sounds that much fuller with the added benefits this time around of stereo versions of two German language singles plus From Me To You and Thank You Girl minus the echo on the Capitol lp ‘Second Album’.

From my point of view the main value lies the the tracks that sadly we never got on our lps in real stereo such as This Boy, I Feel Fine, She's A Woman and Yes It Is plus the regular UK mixes of Day Tripper as well as the original single version of their first UK hit, Love Me Do. An aside: It was a shock to here I Feel Fine in stereo compared to the very echo filled fake stereo when I got the UK RED album.

I am extremely impressed with how this album has turned out this  around on lp sounding so much better than the original edition and would go as far as to say it bests the current cd when it comes to detail and sound-staging.

White Album: This edition I got for Christmas 2012 has far more bass than any previous edition and has been cut with a bit of gap between the end the last track and the start of label which helps as the originals didn't making getting clean sound at the end of the record difficult and a 1975 edition I had sounded thin.

A brief list of my Beatles lps to date.

STEREO:

Early Years (Capitol Canada) - early 80's

Second Album (Capitol USA) - 2nd copy early 80's

Please Please Me (Parlophone UK) - 1981

Beatlemania! With The Beatles (Capitol Canada) - late 70's.

2 copies one the 'TLC' wide stereo, the other narrowed

A Hard Day's Night (Parlophone UK) -1981
This was the first UK studio album I bought.

Something New (Capitol USA) -early 80's

Beatles '65 (Capitol Canada) -1983 (Colourband)

Beatles For Sale (Parlophone UK) -1979 

Bought used a few years ago

Beatles VI (Capitol Canada)-1983 (Colourbar)

Help! (Parlophone UK) -1973

Bought used a few back to replace Canadian Capitol Help soundtrack from late 70's

Rubber Soul (UK Parlophone)-1980 (_5/-6 HTM cutting)

Bought used a several months back to replace a late 1970's Canadian Capitol lp.

Yesterday and Today (Capitol USA) -early 80's All true stereo copy!
Revolver (UK Parlophone)1986
This -5/-4 UK copy made just before the cds were issued and the records then altered to us same source as the cd was bought very recently to replace my Revolver (Capitol USA) 1981 edition which sounded a bit distorted in places and only had 11 tracks not 14 of the UK edition.

Sgt Pepper (UK Parlophone) -mid 70's

Bought two years ago to replace Capitol Canada 1979 edition

White Album (Capitol USA) -1988

Abbey Road (UK Apple) -1979

Bought used to replace 1979 Capitol Canada lp that I scratched

Let It Be (Capitol USA) -1979 Mastered fresh by Wally Traugott and sounds very very good

At the Hollywood Bowl -1977 (Capitol Canada) + (Parlophone UK)

Compilations:

Rock and Roll Music (Parlophone UK) -1976

Love Songs (Parlophone UK) -1977

1962-1966 aka RED (Apple UK) -1989 (Replaced 1977 UK)

1967-1970 aka BLUE (Apple UK) -1991 (Replaced 1977 UK)
Rarities (Pathe Marconi/French EMI) -1985
It's the French edition of the Capitol lp that had tracks not easily found in North America some of which ironically no longer in circulation.
Reel Music (Capitol USA) -1982 
The first US album to have Ticket To Ride in true stereo believe it or not!

Mono:

Please Please Me (Parlophone UK) -1988 

With the Beatles (Parlophone UK) -1982

Beatlemania! with the Beatles  (Capitol Canada) -1963

A Hard Day's Night (Capitol USA) -1988

Beatles For Sale (UK Parlophone) -1982

Help! (UK Parlophone) -1982

Rubber Soul (UK Parlophone) -1982

Revolver (UK Parlophone) -1967

Sgt Pepper (UK Parlophone)-1967

From Liverpool Box set

On November 3rd 1980, the mail order  division of England's EMI records, World Records issued a special 8 lp box set entitled "From Liverpool-The Beatles box" whose timing was unfortunate being but five weeks off the death of John Lennon, something I can recall all to clearly even today.

It had two posts, a couple of flexi discs and a leaflet outlining other titles they did and critically at the time as I recall well, the chance to be entered in a Prize Draw
It was heavily advertised at the time in magazines including the Radio Times and sold very well no doubt appealing to those who need to have something to remind them of the magic of the time during the period after John's tragic death in New York.
As you can from the above entry attempts had been made before to condense the magic of the Beatles for casual fans especially in an era where many singles were not on the contemporary lp releases in the UK but this set attempts to fill the gap by adding a sizable number of prime album cuts from each original album to the 45's and EP tracks making in effect a halfway house.

All 124 tracks over 8 lps were freshly mastered by Harry T Moss who did many of later full lp masters and Simon Sinclair who compiled it, used a number of rare or alternate mixes never previously issued in the UK too adding to it's collectors appeal.
The discs are set out in chronological order meaning that things from what become the Let It Be album appear before Abbey Road as they were recorded first and a number of tracks have 'clean' starts and earlier fades when they were segued on albums such as Abbey Road and the 'White Album' with the majority of tracks in stereo although two - P.s I Love You and She Loves You - remain in UK fake stereo form from the 1960's and freshly mastered tracks where no stereo versions were found were issued in mono.
Each disc has a separate glossy picture lp jacket with a history of the period on the reverse with a lined inner sleeve to protect it. It was also issued on cassette form in a box with the tapes being Dolbyized.
Some hifi types allege this album is too quiet having long sides but as generally they have 8 tracks per side (one more than usual in the UK) and only one side goes near 24 minutes it's well within the optimum range for lp cutting and more to the point sounds extremely good with fairly quiet vinyl too.
I actually wanted this back in 1980 but my folks never bought it me so to get a mint copy now is really nice transporting me back to that time.

Beatles Second Album

This must of been one of the first studio albums by the Beatles I bought.
It was March 1979 if I remember correctly and I spent the weeks allowance on it in a matter of minutes!
The label was a Green Apple which suggests it might of been old stock as the later ones such as my current copy are Purple with the Capitol dome logo.
I still get a buzz from hearing Thank You Girl in stereo.