The Beatles “Rubber Soul” Capitol Records

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A Collection of New Vinyl for the Audiophile - October, 2014 - Rubber Soul

It wasn’t too long ago that I could scarcely find five records in a month that I felt like buying, let alone reviewing. That bird has flown. It’s getting hard to keep up. Listeners who are willing to go through the extra steps of finding records, cleaning records, and storing and maintaining records don’t want to buy just any old records. We’re in this game because we care about sonics and presentation, and we want you to care too. The record companies seem to finally be catching on to that. I had a perfectly fine plan in place for this month’s offerings, but the Beatles mono reissues snuck up on me and the game plan changed accordingly. So, they’re still game changers. In the world of popular music, they always will be.

Unlike their stereo reissues from a couple of years back, there are no digital components anywhere along the chain for the mono project. Not sure why they couldn’t get that together for the stereo reissues, but who cares about the stereo reissues at this point? I have a predisposition towards hyperbole at times, but I don’t think the impact of these reissues can be overstated. My ears are hearing the Beatles for the first time. At the ripe young age of 40, and having been a fan for 28 years. I’ve always been a dyed in the wool Stones man. Still am. No need to promote that competition, it’s been in place since the mid-’60’s. Still, when it comes to the two bands’ earlier output, I’ll take the Stones, hands down, every time. The Beatles bubble gum hits are perfectly listenable. They’re far from dangerous, and that’s what I’m into. Thus, the Rolling Stones. My love affair with the Beatles starts with Rubber Soul. A lot starts with Rubber Soul.

I’ve had a digital copy of this album for as long as I can remember, but I can’t remember the last time I listened to Rubber Soul. Now, I know why. You’re not going to get any listener fatigue while exploring this series. Every one of the five records I purchased is dead quiet, with perfect tonal balance, and warmth that has to be experienced to appreciate. Writing about it (and about music in general) is analogous to taking a blurry digital picture of a classic painting. Except not that good. But I’ll try. Sitting in the sweet spot in my listening room (which is also my living room and bedroom), eyes closed, breathing deeply, and “Drive My Car” emerges out of the black. The tambourine is so alive and airy; I can feel the impact when it’s struck, presumably by Ringo himself. I believe this record was released sometime shortly after the band’s famous limo ride with Dylan. I can hear his influence all over “Norwegian Wood,” and I can finally hear “Norwegian Wood.” These are heady times. It goes without saying that there is not a weak song on here, but the highlight of this record for me has always been “In My Life.” When I heard the mono mix and the detail contained in these new grooves, I damn near wept. I’m not kidding. If a more beautiful pop song ever was written, I’m unaware of it. The real challenge while listening to these records is listening without singing along. I still haven’t made it all the way through “In My Life.”

Having these recordings available in a true audiophile format at an affordable (2014) price is a gift. I had no way of knowing what I was getting into. This is major league business, gang. High five.

The Beatles “Revolver” Capitol Records

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A Collection of New Vinyl for the Audiophile - October, 2014 - Revolver

There are little fliers included with these records explaining that the packaging mimics the originals as closely as possible. So they put any copyright info that has changed in the interim in these little fliers which also explain that the albums were cut for vinyl from the original masters with “constant reference to the notes made by the cutting engineer for the first pressing of the LP.” Lovely. I don’t have any original mono versions for comparison, but here’s the deal: I have a hard time imagining that I could find original copies at a livable cost that sound better than these. I imagine that the defects in the used, original vinyl pressings would be less palatable than having pristine reissues made from aged original tapes. I’m also inclined to believe that modern virgin vinyl can carry more info than what was possible in 1966, and that this should more than make up for the tapes’ aging. I’d been watching prices on originals for years, and I’m so glad I never did anything crazy. Anyway…

Something magical happened exactly eight years to the day before I was born. It was Revolver. Right out of the gate, Revolver sounds crunchier and a bit more rude than Rubber Soul. And that’s not confined to George Harrison’s snarling “Taxman” opener. For certain, all you need is love, but I’m so glad that Harrison was so full of piss and vinegar too. I remember the first time I heard “Eleanor Rigby,” but I hadn’t really heard it at all. I was actually quite taken with the strings-only version from the Anthology sets a while back, but hearing the mono mix in this format is life altering. The strings sound so real, and Paul is so present that you feel it in your blood cells. “She Said She Said” demands to be cranked a little louder than the rest of what’s on side one if only to drown out your own vocals. (Am I the only one with this disease? I’d find that remarkable.) The guitar strings ring and pierce and float and weave so beautifully. I’ve never heard mono mixes with more depth and range. The sound stage isn’t particularly wide, it’s kind of focused right in your face, but it’s as deep as the content is stellar, and it’s as transparent as the band was great. I always enjoyed the Anthology version of “And Your Bird Can Sing” even though Paul and John were clearly blazed on acid and devolving into molten heaps of village idiot level laughter, but this version is so nuanced and detailed that it almost takes the mystery out of the performance. The intricate guitar lines are so clear that you could almost pick them out and play them yourself. (Maybe you already have. I’m not good enough.) Actually, besides the songwriting itself, I think that the guitars are the stars of the Revolver show. Which is amazing considering the vocal harmonies throughout. Having just typed that last sentence, I’m no longer sure. There’s so much here.

We were in such dire need of a set like this whether we realized it or not. To say that we don’t currently have anything in our musical landscape approaching the consistent quality of the Beatles’ later output would be like saying that the current heavyweight champion of the world, whoever he is, is not as entertaining or important as Muhammad Ali. Soak it up.

The Beatles “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” Capitol Records

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A Collection of New Vinyl for the Audiophile - October, 2014 - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Here’s one for you: I originally bought Sgt. Pepper’s exclusively for the historical significance of it. I mean, I always liked the songs well enough, but I never really thought they stacked up particularly well against the records we’ve looked at here so far. Or the ones that came after it. My dad had the original stereo record, but it looked like he’d eaten his dinner off of it for the better part of ten years. A buddy of mine had a mono original with a bunch of ticks and pops in it. Again, I’d had the CD since I was a little kid, but so what? Basically, I’d never experienced these songs in their proper format. Lord knows, I have now. What I thought of as a gimmicky record that was cool to explore as a youth interested in the drug culture of the fabled ’60’s was actually what it purported to be all along once I penetrated the smoke and mirrors around it. The gimmick, as it turned out, was in the stereo mix. The Beatles never cared about that mix anyway. The bulk of their fans were listening to mono mixes both on the radio and at home. So they labored over the mono mixes for as long as it took, then left the stereo version to be dealt with in their absence while they were counting their money, and generally doing whatever the hell they wanted. That’s what I’d have done, anyway. Of all the reissues in this series that I’ve purchased so far, Sgt. Pepper’s has been the biggest revelation. In a sea of revelations. I’m overwhelmed.

I’d have thought, erroneously, that more instrumentation could be audibly discerned in a stereo mix. Especially from the ’60’s when the technology was relatively new and folks were doing all manner of stupid stuff with it whether due to technological limitations or the desire to experiment. Logically, I thought that I’d better be able to hear two separate guitars if they were in two separate channels, for instance. But I was wrong. Maybe because the guitars weren’t in separate channels in the first place. Maybe they were in the same channel while the drums were in the other. I’m not inclined to go back and explore the issue at this point. I’m not inclined to listen to anything other than what I’ve been listening to since these records were released three weeks ago. But I can clearly remember hearing all the panning and swirling and general goofiness involved with the digital versions that I’ve owned for so long. It was exhausting, really. This version is exhilarating. Forget the “novelty” of hearing the instruments so clearly after all this time, you can actually hear the songs! Isn’t that lovely? (So much so that I just used an exclamation mark. As a grown man.) This is a record you can meditate on consistently and still something new will jump out at you with every listen. This time, it was the guitar solo on “Fixing A Hole” that I’d somehow never noticed or forgotten about. Previously, I was smitten with the presence of Paul’s bass on “Getting Better.” (According to my research, the bass had to be rolled off in the ’60’s or it would promote skipping due to limitations of the common turntables in that era.) And then there’s “A Day In The Life.” Words won’t convey what you’re in for there.

As advertised, this record includes all the candy found in the original issue. That includes the cut-out mustache, badges, and all the rest. A reproduction of the original inner sleeve was also included, but the record is housed in an updated version. They got it right. All of it.

The Beatles “Magical Mystery Tour” Capitol Records

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A Collection of New Vinyl for the Audiophile - October, 2014 - Magical Mystery Tour

I originally bought only four of the latest Beatles reissues and Magical Mystery Tour was not amongst them. Of all the records we’re exploring here this month, this is the one I am least familiar with. When I got a hold of the magical mono grooves on those other four, I looked a little more closely at the ones I’d bypassed. Upon further inspection, I realized that there were plenty of tunes on the American version of Magical Mystery Tour that I wanted in my collection. I suppose that one of the artistic drawbacks of being in the Beatles would have been the expectation that you would live up to the greatness of prior works. I’m not sure that Mystery Tour does that, but it contains some really wonderful tunes on it that any other band would likely kill to have produced. But the Beatles produced them. In 1967. About six months after Sgt. Pepper’s. No pressure.

Magical Mystery Tour was released as a “double EP” in Europe, and it contained only the six songs that counted as the soundtrack to the movie of the same name which was apparently savaged by both critics and fans alike. The tunes were much better received, and the American release tagged five additional singles released in 1967 onto side two. For my money, the singles comprise the stronger material. Side one ends with Lennon’s “I Am The Walrus,” and that one’s tough to argue with. The rest of the soundtrack is far from embarrassing, but equally as far from the quality of Revolver or Rubber Soul. Side two is carried by “Strawberry Fields Forever” surrounded by “Hello Goodbye” and “Penny Lane.” “Baby You’re A Rich Man” and “All You Need Is Love” close the record out, and we all go to bed happy knowing that “the White Album” came next. I can’t imagine what kind of trickery was involved with the stereo mix for this album, but I don’t see myself rushing out to buy a copy in the interest of finding out. I can just sense a bunch of weird panning and hard separation amongst instruments going on. This mono version doesn’t have quite the bite that the others we’ve looked at do, and I can’t quite put my finger on why that is. Everything just seems a little further away than I’d like, and no amount of volume seems to help. It all feels a little safer than what I’m accustomed to from this series. Having said all that, I’m still happy to have the record. Someone will come over and want to listen to it at some point, and I’ll be happy to oblige them. But I’ll likely reach for one of the others when I’m flying solo.

This one costs a few dollars more than the others, and I suspect that’s because of the 24 page booklet that’s in the gatefold. The disc itself is as flat and black as the rest; it’s just not carrying as much musical weight as I’d hoped. I’m going to go back for Help! as that one has “Ticket To Ride” on it, and I’ll be interested to see how I react to the tunes on that one that are less familiar to me. Fairly or not, Mystery isn’t getting my highest marks because I can’t help comparing it to the others. I hope the surviving members can find a way to muddle through life with that knowledge weighing them down.

The Beatles “The Beatles” Capitol Records

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A Collection of New Vinyl for the Audiophile - October, 2014 - The Beatles

Of all the titles released as part of this series, I was and am most excited about “the White Album.” (Technically, it’s called The Beatles, but no one would know what we were talking about if we went with that title.) There was actually no original mono release of this record in the US, and there are significant differences between the stereo and mono versions. I’d been searching for a near mint mono original English pressing for years and never found anything that wasn’t hovering around the $200 mark. I’d have done it eventually, now I will most assuredly not. There are actually a couple of minor disappointments on this release, but certainly nothing that’s going to ruin the experience for me, personally. Life’s too short to go around trifling with the particulars related to an album this stellar. The band did plenty of that on their own. Overall, it sounds like Rock ‘n Roll heaven to me.

Anyone who knows anything about the Beatles knows that this record was produced under duress. Drugs were abused. Drummers, engineers, and producers quit or disappeared or quit and disappeared. Lennon hated a bunch of the McCartney songs and McCartney wouldn’t go within a country mile of “Revolution 9.” For the record, I’m with Paul on this one. I’d have loved to hear what the band could have built on the real estate that was taken up by this “experiment.” That’ll be the extent of my trifling though. As I understand it, most everyone involved wanted to cut some of the fat off of the only original double album in the band’s catalog, but none of the songwriters were willing to scuttle any of their compositions. More fun for us.

To me, “the White Album” sounds like a band of merry pranksters throwing a bunch of tunes against the wall just to see what would stick. Maybe they weren’t even that merry, but they sure made a joyful noise. The range and diversity of styles is astounding. The Beach Boys-esque harmonies on “Back in the USSR,” the 1920’s feel of “Honey Pie,” the gut bucket bombast of “Yer Blues,” the face scalding Hard Rock “Helter Skelter.” And “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” for crying out loud. This version finds “Yer Blues” buried under a layer of fog rendering it almost inaccessible. I have no way of knowing why. Paul and Ringo aren’t calling me back. If it was simply an attempt to mimic the original version, I’d have been fine with implementing some revisionist history. All the rest of it is as enthralling as I’d hoped for and expected. The mono “Helter Skelter” is lacking about a minute of music that was found at the end of the stereo version (including Ringo’s blistered fingers), and there was actually never a proper mono mix of “Revolution 9” so I guess they just folded the stereo version in half and let it rip. There’s a whole lot of ripping going on here, gang, and it’s never sounded this clear and approachable. The few songs that I mention above are a mere drop in the ocean. They just keep coming and coming and every repeated listen reveals a little bit more. If you’re an audiophile Beatles fan, your ship has come in. It’s time to party like everything is on sale for $19.99. Because most of it is.

I think I’m going to hang around a while, see if the price comes down on the complete box set, and pounce if it does. And I’ll store it somewhere outside of my apartment in case of a fire. I’m not kidding. I don’t need access to the earlier material right now, but I suspect I’ll grow to like it more as I age – not less. Furthermore, it might be a wise investment if you’re into that type of thing. I’m into hearing awesome music the way that the recording artists intended it to be heard. I suspect that this is as close as we’re ever going to get to hanging out with the Beatles in the playback room. And I’m going to play these back again and again for a long, long, long time. “Good Night.”