Do you prefer your Beatles in stereo or mono?

Or either or neither? That's fine too.

With the 2009 (at last!) remastered reissues of the entire Beatles catalog, I'm dutifully listening to each and every one, including the mono versions. I'm not going about it in an organized or sequential way, but instead listening as they arrive: by mail from Amazon, in person from Starbucks or the local library, or from my friend Nick (thanks Nick!), so I'm not doing that "evaluate the artists' growth from hopped-up Hamburg-happenin' urchins to world weary studio warriors who had to 'let it be' an eventful seven years later" thing. Not today, anyway. I'm just going to talk briefly about the issue of mono vs. stereo, their first album Please Please Me in particular.

As the reissue liner notes point out, mono was the preferred format in the early to mid 60's, and stereo records were released only in small numbers for hi-fi listeners. They recorded the whole album in one day (!) to only two tracks, so when creating the stereo mix, all the voices went on the right side and all the instruments went on the left. Listening to this "fake stereo" mix now, I notice quite a bit of bleed-through of each to the other side. If it weren't for that, it would sound really weird. I mean, how does a band of four guys singing and playing guitars simultaneously somehow put their voices on one side of you and their instruments on the other? Not physically possible.

So the official release, and reissue, of this album really should be the mono version, where you hear all the instruments and voices in one big mash on all sides of your ears, which is what you would've heard if you'd seen them from the back of Liverpool's Cavern Club in 1962 anyway. (Or more likely, out of one little speaker in your car.) But the mono version is only available with the box set (all you need is cash...it's pricey), and that's a shame, because most people will only hear this "stereo" version.

Someday, I hope a studio wizard isolates each voice and instrument and creates a truer stereo mix, putting John, Paul, George and Ringo in different places in your headphones, so you can close your eyes and imagine them playing here, there, but not everywhere.

Devo's "Are We Not Men?" Again!

"Deluxe"
"Remastered"

Hey, okay, so major labels are desperately repackaging old stuff to sell as new, because, frankly, aside from Taylor Swift, Clay Aiken, etc. they ain't got much good stuff left to peddle. All the good bands are either releasing on smaller indie labels that give them more creative control, or starting their own labels and just doing it themselves. See Morton Valence, for example: homepage

So, when I see the words "Deluxe" and "Remastered" mentioned in a major label release, I'm a little suspicious. But, er, I have a weakness: "Bonus tracks!" Warner Bros. reissued Devo's classic 1978 major-label debut today, and they included not just a couple of B-sides, or demo tracks (which I usually only want to hear once anyway), but in this case, an entire concert of the whole album performed live in 2009 in London. Since I couldn't be there for that special event, this is the next best thing. My order is placed; thanks Warner Bros. for once in a great while offering good value for the money! (Only $9.99!)
Amazon - Devo: Are We Not Men? Deluxe Remastered Version



Oh, and in case you're wondering why I'm so excited about "that weird band who had one hit in the 80's," this excerpt from an Amazon reviewer Jason Gilmour sums it up well:

"DEVO created a kind of glorious primitive futurism that is complex while being darkly funny. 'Are We Not Men' is a blistering manifesto."