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8.38pm
12 April 2012
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Hey Guys my birthday is coming soon, and I don’t know what I want for it and my parents have also know idea what to buy because they think I’ve got everything about Simpsons and Beatles, but reading a thread reminded me that there is still the mono box set and so I decided to ask if you would recommend it to me?
Once there was a way to get back homewards. Once there was a way to get back home; sleep pretty darling do not cry. And I will sing a lullaby
11.29pm
Reviewers
Moderators
1 May 2011
Offline If you can get it then definately yes. As Paulbass said the mono pepper and White Album are fantastic but there are enough differences in enough of the other songs to make it an excellent worthwhile purchase.
"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
6.13am
12 April 2012
Offline Thank youball, it old my parents that I want it as a birthday present
Once there was a way to get back homewards. Once there was a way to get back home; sleep pretty darling do not cry. And I will sing a lullaby
4.12pm
1 December 2009
Offline I know they always say that the records were primarily meant to be heard in mono, and that was certainly true for their earlier music. But you have to believe that by the time SPLHCB came around, they realized that stereo was the future, and they could therefore exploit the possibilities by adding those panning effects to “A Day In The Life ” and elsewhere.
Me, I STILL get irritated that Apple didn’t just include mono & stereo mixes together on those 2009 remasters. Greedy bastards, how much money do they need?!
GEORGE: In fact, The Detroit Sound. JOHN: In fact, yes. GEORGE: In fact, yeah. Tamla-Motown artists are our favorites. The Miracles. JOHN: We like Marvin Gaye. GEORGE: The Impressions PAUL & GEORGE: Mary Wells. GEORGE: The Exciters. RINGO: Chuck Jackson. JOHN: To name but eighty.
4.50pm
31 March 2008
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Curious fact: George Martin actually considered this in 1987, and put it to EMI. See the end of this interview (actually, read the whole thing; George is always good value): http://abbeyrd.best.vwh.net/kozinn.htm
ALLAN KOZINN: I understand that. However, until you get up to “Sgt. Pepper ,” which runs about 39 minutes, you can actually fit both the mono and stereo mixes of each album on one CD.
GEORGE MARTIN: Are you saying we should do a double album on each one?
ALLAN KOZINN: Well, yeah, because it’s the same material just sequenced over again in a variant mix. It’s not like making of two-fer of, say, “Please Please Me ” and “With the Beatles.” Collectors would be happy to have both mixes, and EMI wouldn’t have to feel it was giving anything away.
GEORGE MARTIN: It’s not a bad idea. I’ll put it to Bhaskar and see what he says about it. It’s an idea that hasn’t been presented to me before. I don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t happen. There may be complications, if the Beatles want to be paid double royalties — because of that you might have a problem. Or even copyright royalties. There may be a law that says if you do two performances you have to pay twice as much, I don’t really know. But I’ll certainly mention it to him.
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5.25pm
9 May 2012
Offline “It’s not a bad idea. I’ll put it to Bhaskar and see what he says about it.”
Well it looks like we know what was the answer.
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Mr. Kite, realRLLiving is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see.
7.50pm
Reviewers
Moderators
1 May 2011
Offline The Beatles and Apple are only interested in maintaining the quality and original packing and order of each album, it would be heresy to even think of including bonus tracks or mono and stereo mixes on 1 cd.
That that integrity comes full price with every release and leaves you bankrupt and having to mortage your own family with every release is just a complete coincidence.
"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
12.20am
12 April 2012
Offline OKay I just got it as (the main) birthday present by my parents, the first album I listened to was mono masters, it sounds so different (but better). The Inner Light had a different riff in the beginning, sounded like another song
Once there was a way to get back homewards. Once there was a way to get back home; sleep pretty darling do not cry. And I will sing a lullaby
7.48pm
1 December 2009
Offline Thanks for that link Joe! Good reading.
GEORGE: In fact, The Detroit Sound. JOHN: In fact, yes. GEORGE: In fact, yeah. Tamla-Motown artists are our favorites. The Miracles. JOHN: We like Marvin Gaye. GEORGE: The Impressions PAUL & GEORGE: Mary Wells. GEORGE: The Exciters. RINGO: Chuck Jackson. JOHN: To name but eighty.
9.23pm
16 August 2012
Offline I had a party last night and this morning I discovered an email receipt for my Amazon purchase of the Mono box set. I guess it was a good party. I got an insanely good price, too. Even totally wasted I’m a good shopper.
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Mr. KiteE is for 'Ergent'.
9.39pm
30 September 2012
Offline SatanHimself said
I had a party last night and this morning I discovered an email receipt for my Amazon purchase of the Mono box set. I guess it was a good party. I got an insanely good price, too. Even totally wasted I’m a good shopper.
That made me literally laugh out loud. I have had many “surprise” purchases after nights out. You know where you don’t even remember buying it but get the ebay or Amazon email! Unfortunately for me, a few times this included clothing or shoes in the completely wrong size! At least you are getting something good!
5.14pm
Reviewers
14 April 2010
Offline goodbyehello said
That made me literally laugh out loud. I have had many “surprise” purchases after nights out. You know where you don’t even remember buying it but get the ebay or Amazon email! Unfortunately for me, a few times this included clothing or shoes in the completely wrong size! At least you are getting something good!
goodbyehello with a buzz on: “Man, I will look awesome in those 1970’s style platform shoes!”
goodbyehello the next morning: “I ordered what?!?!”
Been there, done that, got the T-shirt…literally. I hope my niece is enjoying that pink Beatles T-shirt I mistakenly ordered.
I don’t have the mono box set yet because I could not justify owning both sets – there are so many other things I could use the $$ for. However, there have been some compelling reasons to do so. Chief among those reasons are, “this is the way The Beatles first heard them before they were released”. I have a birthday and Christmas upcoming, so….
To the fountain of perpetual mirth, let it roll for all its worth. And all the children boogie.
5.40am
25 August 2012
Offline meanmistermustard said
If you can get it then definately yes. As Paulbass said the mono pepper and White Album are fantastic but there are enough differences in enough of the other songs to make it an excellent worthwhile purchase.
Indeed, when the reissues came out, I bought the mono box and my (now-former) roommate bought the stereo box. I did a track-by-track comparison of both the mono and stereo versions of each song. Everything prior to 1967 sounded undeniably better in mono… except “Thank You Girl ” (mostly because John’s harmonica parts during the bridge do not exist in the mono mix), “What Goes On ” (for some reason, the end guitar riff is completely mixed out of the mono version; the ’65 stereo version is the definitive version of this song, IMO), “She Said She Said ,” and “Tomorrow Never Knows ” (both of which sound more hard-edged in stereo). From there, it’s a mixed bag, with most of Sgt. Pepper, Magical Mystery Tour and the non-album singles sounding better in mono and most of the White Album sounding better in stereo.
2.26am
16 August 2012
Offline So I got my mono box today…
… But something seemed “wrong”.
I heard that there were counterfeit mono boxes on eBay, so I ordered one through a reputable dealer on Amazon. The price was a bit lower than usual ($145), but didn’t really set off any alarms.
When I looked at it, all seemed legit. But upon closer examination I noticed two things:
1. The apple on the front cover sort of looks like it was cut out from a picture with a black background. It’s very subtle, but the right side of the apple seems to have a black shadow and the top left has a just-barely-noticeable angle on the edge, as if someone has cut it out with scissors.
2. The back packaging has no FBI warning next to the barcode.
I haven’t opened it, as I emailed the company selling it to confirm their return policy. I’m fairly confident that if I open it I’ll see all the regular telltale signs of the counterfeit mono box.
So I guess I’m not a very good drunk shopper.
E is for 'Ergent'.
1.36pm
Reviewers
Moderators
1 May 2011
Offline Well that sure sucks. Unfortunately not only are there thousands of fakes out there but some sellers are either third party handlers or dont know and thankfully are happy to refund the costs. Obviously there are many others looking for a cheap buck and know full well what they are doing. Hopefully you will get a full refund, you might even get to keep the fake box.
There is something ironic tho in Satan being scammed and ripped off.
"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
6.14pm
16 August 2012
Offline …There’s a happy ending here!
The seller got back to me and was aghast that I suggested that his stock was counterfeit. He insisted that I at least open it up and inspect everything to be sure.
I opened it up… And everything is totally legit. Every tiny marking that should be on the packaging is there, all the proper sleeves are intact, all the inserts are there, the booklet is perfect and all the label glue is clean and perfect with no ink smell.
I don’t know if my copy doesn’t have an FBI warning because it wan’t American-made, or if it’s just my old eyes that don’t see the front apple as perfect enough, but after running every single counterfeit test I’ve found online, this set passes muster 100%.
So the moral here is this: If you want a good deal on a mono set, look on amazon.ca and pay $145.00 for it from the vendor importcds.com .
E is for 'Ergent'.
4.49am
15 September 2012
Offline 
This is a combination ‘Beatley Moment’ and Mono Collection story:
I’ve had two of the LP ‘box sets’ since the 80’s; got the ‘EP collection’ records box set; and my Mom totally blew me away one Christmas when she got me the ‘singles collection’ CD set, which I didn’t even know was out there! I figured I was blessed enough as it was, and had no intention of buying either the stereo or mono CD album sets. I had never seen the mono CD set sell for less than $199.95 anywhere, which was the one I would have preferred.
Since record stores are now a thing of the past where I live, I rarely went shopping for music at all, except buying those Yellow Dog CDs off of eBay at inflated prices; however, over ten years ago I found these really cool Japanese imports, two 3-CD box sets of collected Beatles music, strangely named ‘Another The Beatles Story’, spanning their earliest records up through Sgt Pepper , at a Best Buy electronics store of all places. Both of them together cost right at $50.00, average 20 songs each CD, with only one song (‘Yesterday '
duplicated, so I bought them on pure Beatles principle alone – not looking for any rarities or caring whether they were mono, stereo, whatever, just a repackaging with an original track order on each CD, which suited me just fine. At that time, Best Buy had a huge assortment of music and some great buys on ‘compilation’ CDs. I never saw anything as good as that Beatles import again, but always made it a point to check out the Best Buy store in whatever town I might be in at any given time, if I happened to pass by one.
Fast-forward to 2010, and I’m seeing this woman who lives about 90 miles away from me, in the city of Thomasville, NC. There was a Best Buy in a shopping center off the highway, and I passed it a couple of times without stopping because I never had a reason to take the exit. Well, she’s riding with me one weekend back to Columbia, SC, where I live, and she wants me to stop so she can use a restroom. Sure enough, I come up on that exit and pull into a gas station. When she comes back out, I tell her the story I wrote up above and say I’m going to check out this Best Buy, just to look for a few minutes & right back out, because Best Buy’s music selection generally sucks now, like WalMart or some other department store, nothing original from anything else.
This one doesn’t look to be promising at all, but of course I’m gonna check out The Beatles‘ section, mainly to see everything they don’t have but are charging outrageous retail prices for the new crap. They’ve got the usual: Love, Yellow Submarine , Anthology 1 , etc. But I give ’em bonus points for having both the stereo and mono box CD sets.
The stereo CD box set is at $129.99 – typical – so I have NO hope for the mono box set, which has a sticker price of…
$99.95
I cannot make this sh*t up, not for the sake of one comment on a Beatles site – one single copy of both stereo and mono CD sets, and the Mono set is (I swear) $99.95, a full $100 less than I’ve ever seen it in any store ever.
I KNOW it’s a misprint; I KNOW some young, inexperienced stock person has accidentally mis-labeled this box, probably in the dead of night when everyone else is sleeping, left off a digit and stamped right over the barcode on the back; and I KNOW that I’m walking out of that Best Buy store with a Beatles Mono Collection Box Set that I never would have paid full price for!
My girlfriend, what’s-her-name, is long gone; and that Best Buy store, at 1016 Gervais Street, Thomasville, SC is legendary in my mind, etched deeply into my memory, and I give a silent thanks to that unknown store clerk, and my ex-girlfriend’s weak bladder, for every second of pure ecstasy this box set has ever provided me, now and til the day I die.
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Mr. Kite2.16pm
20 January 2012
Offline Great story, Wildcat! I thought I had a bargain like that one time, albeit on a smaller scale, trolling the 99-cent used cd clearance bin at what was then my local independent music store. You can sift through hundreds of cds in those kinds of situations and never come up with a gem (all while thinking, damn, I have this in my collection, bought it for 12 bucks new). This particular time though, there it was, the 2-cd Hooker n’ Heat (John Lee Hooker and Canned Heat), for $0.99.
Unfortunately, there’s a difference between a place like Best Buy — where the folks at the counter just scan your items and try to sell you an extended warranty that you don’t want — and an indie record store where the folks at the counter chit-chat music with you while ringing up your purchase. This clerk let me know immediately upon looking at my prize that it was mismarked, should have been $10. I protested a bit, but I knew he was right, and I left the cd there on the counter unpurchased (I should have bought it anyway, but my “gem” had turned out to be glass, and my elation over the find had turned to annoyance that the store wouldn’t honor the marked price). *sigh*
So I have the stereo Beatles box, but have been paranoid about picking up the Mono box because of the whole counterfeit thing. Justified paranoia?
It's gotta be rock and roll music if you wanna dance with me
2.24pm
16 August 2012
Offline If you buy the mono set from a legitimate retailer, you’ll be safe. If you buy it as a great deal on eBay, expect to get a fake. That’s the very basic rule of thumb.
There are telltale signs while it’s still in the plastic wrap and huge indicators inside open the wrap comes off. If you do buy it online from a retailer that you’re not 100% sure of, pay for it with a credit card or with Paypal, so your purchase is insured.
E is for 'Ergent'.
9.52pm
16 August 2012
Offline I’ve been pouring over this set for the last 48 hours…
While the stereo discs are of course marvelous, and the packaging is superb, the mono set is a thing of genius. For those of you not entirely familiar with it, each disc is an exact replica of it’s UK original, down to the tiniest detail (like the paper inner sleeves which advertise Emitex cleaning cloths and the index numbers in tiny print on the back cover foldovers).
Every disc comes with a plastic sleeve which fits perfectly inside the original paper replica and each album comes in a resealable record bag.
If you are a Beatles fan and have balked at the price or poo-pooed the idea of paying so much for mixes that sound inferior in comparison to today’s recordings, you’re missing out on a real experience. I cannot recommend the actual “tangible” experience of this set enough. The only one thing that could have improved the set would have been if they numbered the white albums. But that being said, you still get the original top-loading black-sleeved White Album with all the original inserts, properly scaled.
I’m going to include it in my will that the mono set shall be buried with me upon the occasion of my death.
I’ve already pre-ordered the stereo vinyl set and was sort of iffy at whether or not I would order the mono vinyls, but my mind is now made up.
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Mr. KiteE is for 'Ergent'.
