Johnny Hiland Band

The Beatles In Mono Box Set includes The Beatles first ten albums in their glorious original mono mixes along with the “Mono Masters” two CD set which includes the original mono mixes for all of their non-album songs which were mixed in mono.

The Beatles Remastered Mono Mix Box Set is a real “surprise” in some cases. A lot of the band’s earlier songs really sound far~better in mono than they do in stereo because they were originally mixed in mono and the stereo mixes were often done as an “afterthought” (because stereo wasn’t taken very seriously at the time.) Many of The Beatles stereo mixes are totally crazy by the standards of today because they pan everything to one side or the other which can be annoying to listen to (especially when listening on headphones.)

It’s fantastic to be able to hear tracks like “Taxman” & “Eleanor Rigby” without the wide panning approach that mars their stereo mixes of these songs.

Panning is not the only differences between the mono & stero mixes. In some cases there are actually different takes and different effects used! And in many more cases different instruments/parts are highlighted in the mono mix vs. the stereo mix.

A good example of a different mix in mono vs. stereo is “Helter Skelter” because it’s almost a full minute shorter in mono than in stereo and it doesn’t include the “blisters on my fingers” yell at the end.

Another good example is all of the extra vocal effects on the mono version of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” But really a lot of the songs on the mono Pepper have a lot more vocal effects than do their stereo sisters.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the Mono Masters Double CD Compilation is that it includes four previously unreleased mono mixes (“All Together Now,” “Hey Bulldog,” “Only a Northern Song and “It’s All Too Much.”)