The Capitol Albums, Volume 2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Capitol Albums, Volume 2 | ||
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| Box set by The Beatles | ||
| Released | 2006-04-11 | |
| Recorded | Abbey Road 1962–1965 | |
| Genre | Rock and roll | |
| Label | Apple, Capitol | |
| Producer(s) | George Martin | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| The Beatles chronology | ||
| The Capitol Albums, Volume 1 (2004) |
The Capitol Albums, Volume 2 (2006) |
Love (2006) |
The Capitol Albums, Volume 2 is a box set compilation comprised of The Beatles 1965 American Capitol Records releases. The set, which features the official stereo versions of a number of tracks on compact disc, was announced on 2006-03-22. The CDs were mastered from submaster tapes from the Capitol Records vaults, using the original George Martin mixes, instead of those prepared by Capitol A&R executive Dave Dexter, Jr, who added reverb to several tracks and simulated stereo on mono tracks. Dexter's mixes were made available on the second pressings of these albums, which are not the versions being used for this set. The official release date of 2006-04-11 is the 42nd Anniversary of The Beatles holding a record 14 positions in the Billboard Hot 100 chart. This was one week after The Beatles monopolised the Top 5 positions in the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
[edit] Incorrect mono mixes
A number of box sets and sampler discs made available prior to the April 11th release date (a result of an earlier UK release date as well as pre-orders shipping early and advance copies) have the incorrect mono mixes on Beatles VI and Rubber Soul. While the original mono mixes were intended, these sets only have mono fold-downs of the stereo versions. It was initially unknown whether this error was contained to one pressing plant, or all pressings, but now seems to involve all sets prior to the issue of the "corrected" version.
Beatles author Bruce Spizer, who also wrote the set's in-depth liner notes, told The Beatles fan website whatgoeson.com that a "third party mastering facility incorrectly sent stereo-to-mono mixdowns" to be pressed rather than the vintage mono mixes.
The "folded down stereo mixes" are actually the stereo mix consolidated into both speakers. Now, although the mix will technically still be mono, they won't be the actual mono mixes released by Capitol in 1965. Some of the disc's mono mixes include very noticeable differences, one of the main draws for collectors.
Capitol was quick to correct the mistake within the initial factory run, but said that they will be issuing information to consumers who received the incorrect mono mixes on how to get replacements. The "corrected" version can be identified by the identifier "SK1" at the end of the product code. It is starting to seem like all sets without the "SK1" product code are wrong. Although it was initially assumed that not all the original issues were wrong, that while buying a set with the “SK1” assured correct copies, the lack of it did not assure incorrect copies. This now seems untrue, there having been no known cases of someone getting the correct mono mixes on sets that lack the “SK1” product code. Consumers are letting each other know through web postings where to find correct sets, which are being called “SK1s” and they are referring to sets without that product code as “foldies” in lines such as “I saw eight SK1s and four foldies at . . . ” One difficulty seems to be that consumers are now reluctant to buy the foldies and stores are reluctant to order more sets, which is what they would have to do to get the SK1s, if the initial batch isn't selling, thus preventing consumers in some areas from finding SK1s.
Here are images of the sticker and "SK1 code" you should be looking for:
Full sticker: [1]
Close up of SK1 code: [2]
The sticker on the bad box sets looks virtually identical but is WITHOUT the "SK1" marking.
The fake mono versions are easy to spot:
- If the mono "I'm Looking Through You" (track 21 on Rubber Soul) has a false start, it is not the correct mono version. The false start on "I'm Looking Through You" is exclusive to the Capitol Stereo master.
- The original mono version of "Norwegian Wood" contains a cough, between the lines "She asked me to stay and she told me to sit anywhere" and "So I looked around and I noticed there wasn't a chair" – at or about 0:38.
Some evidence does exist that the mistake involving improper mono mixes actually applies to all four albums, but that Capitol is only correcting this for two of them because the other two mono albums originally contained for the most part stereo tracks folded down to stereo, and so the mistake was not as big an issue, or as noticeable, with those two albums. However, there were a few songs from those albums, such as "Ticket to Ride" (from "Help!") and "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You" (from "Early Beatles") for which Capitol had ONLY the mono masters, and which contained those mono versions on the mono albums, whereas the stereo albums used a fake stereo version made from the mono masters. The song "Ticket To Ride" on the new Capitol mono release contains some of the echo associated with the fake stereo version, providing some evidence that the mistake acknowledged to have been made with the mono versions of "Rubber Soul" and "Beatles VI" was also made in producing the mono versions of "Help!" and "Early Beatles." Whereas Capitol may have felt a need to convert a mono master to fake stereo for a stereo record, it would not have needed to alter a mono master for inclusion on a mono album. Therefore the fact that the mono version of “Ticket To Ride” on the mono Capitol CD of "Help!" sounds like the fake stereo version reduced to mono, implies that the mono version of the new Capitol "Help!" CD was also made by folding down the entire stereo album rather than using the actual mono masters that would have contained a large number of, but would not have been completely limited to, fold downs.
[edit] Disc listing
- Each disc in the collection contains both the stereo and mono versions of each album.
- See below for links to articles pertaining to each individual album.
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| Disc 1: The Early Beatles | Disc 2: Beatles VI |
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| Disc 3: Help! (American version) | Disc 4: Rubber Soul (American version) |
![[1]](http://www.thestinkers.com/sticker1.jpg){kind=link}
![[2]](http://www.thestinkers.com/sticker2.jpg){kind=link}