| The Beatles in Mono | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Box set by The Beatles | ||||
| Released | 9 September 2009 | |||
| Recorded | 1962–1970 at EMI, Trident, Olympic, Apple, Chappell, De Lane Lea and Regent Sound studios, London; Pathé Marconi Studio, Paris; EMI Studios, Bombay | |||
| Genre | Rock, pop | |||
| Language | English | |||
| Label | Apple, EMI | |||
| Producer | George Martin Simon Gibson, Paul Hicks, Sean Magee, Guy Massey, Sam Okell, Steve Rooke, Allan Rouse (remaster engineers) |
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| The Beatles chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [1] |
| The Guardian | [2] |
| Pitchfork Media | (no rating) [3] |
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.[4]
The box set received the award for Best Historical Album at the 53rd Grammys.
Contents |
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 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.[5] 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.[6] | ” |
[7]
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.[8][9] 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.[10]
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 since it has already been certified platinum by the RIAA, it was not limited to 10,000 copies as originally stated.[11]
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 had been remixed by George Martin for the original 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 United Kingdom albums or Magical Mystery Tour.
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. The same holds true for the songs "The Ballad of John and Yoko", "Old Brown Shoe", and the 45 single mix of "Let It Be" which were also omitted. A mono version of the Yellow Submarine album 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 only released in mono in the UK and a few other countries, but not in the United States. However, the mono mixes of "Don't Pass Me By" and "Helter Skelter" had been released in the US in 1980 on the Capitol Records Rarities compilation album.
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.[12][13] In Japan, it debuted at #10, selling over 20,000 copies in its first week on the Oricon album charts.[14] The set was certified platinum by the R.I.A.A. in April 2010.[15]