♫ Well, that’s quite enough division for one review – now onto something safer, out top five which this week looks at the, err, differences between mono and stereo pressings of AAA albums! So this week – the albums with the biggest differences between them and whether each is available or not:
5) Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (Pink Floyd, 1967): Continuing with the Floyd theme, this debut album differs wildly on some tracks and yet sounds more or less the same on others. The chief differences are a longer beeped opening for first track ‘Astronomy Domine’, the lack of stereo-panning in the mono version of ‘Interstellar Drive’ (which makes it a better, less gimmicky song in my opinion) and a slightly longer fade on ‘Bike’ on the mono copy. Overall I’d say the mono edition is slightly better, with much clearer mixes of songs like ‘Matilda Mother’ and ‘Lucifer Sam’ to boot, although you can see for yourself as the mono package is only available in a 2 or 3 CD set with it’s stereo counterpoint (plus era singles if you buy the full box-set).
4) Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Beatles, 1967): Not as different as many critics will tell you (‘You haven’t lived if you haven’t heard Peppers in mono!’ is the general cry), this is nevertheless the Beatles albums with the biggest differences between the two formats (barring the ‘Helter Skelter’ reprise on the stereo but not mono copies of ‘The White Album’ anyway). ‘Lucy In The Sky’ sounds especially sharper in mono and ‘Within You, Without You’ sounds more like one tracks with lots of parts rather than lots of parts trying to make up one track, although ‘A Day In The Life’ sounds like a huge let-down in mono, without the surge of the orchestra to set your mind into overdrive. Overall I’d stick with the stereo, although as I haven’t heard the new mono CD mix I might change my mind (I have heard the vinyl, however, and I still think it pales slightly to it’s stereo cousin). You can buy the stereo version on it’s own or as part of the stereo box that’s out – but the mono edition is only available with the mono box I’m afraid.
3) Butterfly (The Hollies, 1967 – what a good year for stereo!): Most people can’t hear any differences between the two but I’ve been playing this record endlessly for so many years that I can! The chief differences are far more electronic sound effects during ‘Try It’, on both the opening and the fade, plus longer sound effects on ‘Wishyouawish’ and a much hazier, spookier mix of both ‘Dear Eloise’ and ‘Butterfly’ on the mono copy. Having said that, though, the stereo edition is by far the better in my opinion – the ‘spread’ of the sound on this album is one of the most impressive things about it and can’t really be given justice to on the mono edition. The current 2-Fer-1 CD editions (Pairing Butterfly with it’s close uncle ‘Evolution) only contains the stereo edition – however all pre-1969 Hollies albums used to be available as mono/stereo editions till recently so keep your eyes peeled for them!
2) Something Else (The Kinks, you guessed it, 1967): This one is really different and, unusually, I prefer the mono mix. The main difference is a whole tacked on repeat of the fade during ‘Situations Vacant’, which adds almost 45 seconds on to the playing time, although other tracks with slight differences include ‘Lazy Old Sun’ (a different mix of the many Ray Davies vocal overdubs), End Of The Season (a completely different emphasis given to different instruments) and a much punchier mix of album classic ‘Love Me Til’ The Sun Shines’. The most recent re-issue, weirdly, contains the mono mix of the album – I say weirdly because every previous CD edition of the album contained the stereo mix and that is now by far the hardest of the two to find! (Most one-mix-only CD releases from 1966 choose the stereo edition – in fact this is the only known exception for a whole record rather than the occasional hybrid you get sometimes).
1) Aoxomoxoa (Grateful Dead, 1969): A very late entry this – there are oodles of different versions of this album doing the rounds on Cd and without, partly because of the band’s decision to re-mix it in 1971. But the mono mix is pretty different to the stereo too and alters nearly all tracks to some extent – St Stephen has a mini-false ending that you have to turn up really loud on the stereo to hear, ‘Duprees’ has a very different mix which swaps clarity for confusion, ‘Rosemary’ on the otherhand, sounds more straightforward and less electronic with less vocal effects on garcia’s voice, ‘Doin’ That Rag’ gains a whole 15 second a capella reprise, ‘Mountains Of The Moon’ has its own electronic effects rise and fall in the mix in different places and ‘China Cat’ ends rather less subtlely in mono than it does in stereo. Alas the version currently out on CD is the original, lesser mix in stereo – the original mix in stereo is easily the better thanks to all these little extras but it’s a struggle to find I’m afraid!
And that’s it. We’ll see you dear readers, in a week or a fortnight depending on when I’ve got most of my ‘other’ work done, till then keep rocking and don’t divide yourselves – all views of these albums are valid, even those by two 12-foot tall talking heads!
A NOW COMPLETE List Of Top Five/Top Ten/TOP TWENTY Entries 2008-2019
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Following on from last issue’s study of the American Billboard charts, here’s a look at which AAA albums spent the most weeks on the chart. The...
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What do you do when you’ve left a multi-million selling band and yet you still feel the pull of the road and the tours and the playing to audiences...
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In honour of this week’s review of an album released to cash in on a movie soundtrack (only one of these songs actually appears in ‘Easy Rider’...and...
Hic! Everyone raise a glass to the rock stars of the past and to this week’s feature...songs about alcolholic beverages! Yes that’s right, everything...
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Having a family does funny things to some musicians, as we’ve already seen in this week’s review (surely the only AAA album actually written around...
Some artists just have no idea what their best work really is. One thing that amazes me as a collector is how consistently excellent many of the...
221) Dr Who and the AAA (Five Musical Links) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/01/dr-who-and-five-musical-links-to-alans.html
222) Five Random Recent Purchases http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/01/five-random-recent-purchases-news-views.html
223) AAA Grammy Nominees http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/02/aaa-grammy-nominees-top-twelve-news.html
224) Ten AAA songs that are better heard unedited and in full http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/02/ten-aaa-songs-that-are-better-unedited.html
225) The shortest gaps between AAA albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-shortest-gaps-between-aaa-albums.html
226) The longest gaps between AAA albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-longest-gaps-between-aaa-albums.html
227) Top ten AAA drummers http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/03/top-ten-aaa-drummers-news-views-and.html
228) Top Ten AAA Singles (In Terms of 'A' and 'B' Sides) http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/top-ten-aaa-singles-and-b-sides-news.html
229) The Stories Behind Six AAA Logos http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/the-stories-behind-six-aaa-logos.html
230) AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!! The Best Ten AAA Screams http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/the-best-aaa-screams-top-ten-news-views.html
231) An AAA Pack Of Horses http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/aaa-songs-about-horses-top-ten-news.html
232) AAA Granamas - Sorry, Anagrams! http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/aaa-anagrams-news-views-and-music-issue.html
233) AAA Surnames and Their Meanings http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/aaa-surnames-and-their-meanings-news.html
234) 20 Erroneous AAA Album Titles http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/twenty-erroneous-aaa-album-titles-news.html
235) The Best AAA Orchestral Arrangements http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/fifteen-great-aaa-string-parts-news.html
236) Top 30 Hilariously Misheard Album Titles/Lyrics http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/top-thirty-hilariously-misheard-aaa.html
237) Ten controversial AAA sackings - and whether they were right http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/ten-controversial-aaa-sackings-news.html
238) A Critique On Critiquing - In Response To Brian Wilson http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/a-critique-on-critiquing-in-response-to.html
239) The Ten MusicianS Who've Played On The Most AAA Albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/the-ten-musicians-whove-played-on-most.html
240) Thoughts on #CameronMustGo http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/thoughts-on-cameronmustgo.html
241) Random Recent Purchases (Kinks/Grateful Dead/Nils Lofgren/Rolling Stones/Hollies) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/six-random-recent-purchases-kinksg.html
242) AAA Christmas Number Ones http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/aaa-christmas-number-ones.html
243) AAA Review Of The Year 2014 (Top Releases/Re-issues/Documentaries/DVDs/Books/Songs/ Articles plus worst releases of the year) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/aaa-review-of-year-2014.html
244) Me/CFS Awareness Week 2015 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/mecfs-awareness-week-at-alans-album.html
245) Why The Tory 2015 Victory Seems A Little...Suspicious http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/why-tory-victory-seems-deeply.html
246) A Plea For Peace and Tolerance After The Attacks on Paris - and Syria http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/a-plea-for-peace-and-toleration.html
247) AAA Review Of The Year 2015 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2015.html
248) The Fifty Most Read AAA Articles (as of December 31st 2015) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/the-fifty-most-read-aaa-posts-2008-2015.html
249) The Revised AAA Crossword! http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2016_07_10_archive.html
251) Half-A-Dozen Berries Plus One (An AAA Tribute To Chuck Berry) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/an-aaa-covers-tribute-to-chuck-berry.html
254) Guest Post: ‘Supertramp – Some Things Never Change’ by Kenny Brown https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2018/06/guest-review-supertramp-some-things.html
255) AAA Review Of The Year 2018 https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2018.html
256) AAA Review Of The Year 2019 plus Review Of The Decade 2010-2019 https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-alans-album-archives-review-of-year.html
257) Tiermaker https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2019/06/alans-album-archives-on-tiermaker.html
258) #Coronastock https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2020/04/coronastock.html
259) #Coronadocstock https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2020/05/coronadocstock.html
