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THE BEATLES MONTHLY BOOK, England has published earlier: In Issue 231, July
1995: In Issue 232, August 1995: In Issue 233, September 1995:
STEREO CDs ARE HERE!Dear Johnny, These CDs contains the first four Beatles albums in "new improved full dimensional Mobile Fidelity stereo". The booklet also claims. "When you listen to these particular mixes you can feel the magic right through to your toes. Such care was taken to preserve not only the sound but also to bring back to the recordings the depth in which they were originally mastered onto tape. Each vocal and instrument was carefully EQ'd to perfection. Raw sound, pure sound. You've got it all here. An audiophile's dream. A Beatles fan's dream. Enjoy. Play it loud! And if you think you've heard it all before, you're in for pleasant surprise." And this is no exaggeration! The sound quality on these CDs is incredible. It's absolutely perfect. They have not altered the stereo mixes from LPs at all. But, in fact, the sound quality is better! Even better than the tracks which appeared in stereo for the first time on the "Red Album". The only problem is, that this treasure is a bootleg. What a shame it couldn't have come from EMI! Bengt Wärmlind, Sweden In Issue 237, January 1996 the same(!) man wrote: WHY NOT STEREO? Dear Johnny, The 48-page booklet says that all outtakes from 'A Hard Day's Night' and 'Beatles For Sale' should be in stereo, but they are not and they are recorded much later than 'I Saw Her Standing There' and on better equipment (4-track machines). Have EMI and Apple finally decided that they will never release these CDs in stereo? And that therefore they will never release any outtakes in stereo? I phoned XX at EMI in YY, and he told me that he had discussed thoroughly with George Martin about the possibility of releasing the first four albums on stereo CDs. George told him that many tracks are mixed so badly that it is impossible to release the complete albums in stereo. But that is nonsence! As I wrote in the September issue, there are high-quality stereo CDs circulating on the bootleg market called 'ORIGINAL MASTER RECORDINGS', (BEAT CD 013-2). All EMI has to do is get hold of copies, dub them right off without remixing, and release them officially with pride. I know - I've heard them! And hurry up, EMI/ Apple, otherwise bootleggers soon will spread this diamond all over the world! Bengt Wärmlind, Sweden The last letter has been published three more times: In the American bootleg fanzine "BELMO'S BEATLEG NEWS", Issue 49, January 1996 with this comments: Thanks for your letter. I agree. It would be great if they release the first four albums in stereo. But as we all know, EMI likes to deny and deny until it is opportune for them not to. The Anthology is a perfect example. Remember how for years they told us there wasn't enough material in the vaults to fill an album? They may yet come around. In the meantime, enjoy your bootlegs and be glad the bootleggers know what we like. Belmo In "TOKYO BEATLES FAN CLUB MAGAZINE", Issue 14, June 1996 with this comments: (From TBFC staff) We were shocked to see his letter, because we didn't notice that the songs he mentioned in his letter are in mono. We listened to the songs once again and confirmed that he is right, "Can't Buy Me Love", "You Can't Do That", "And I Love Her", "A Hard Day's Night", "I'll Be Back", "No Reply", "Mr Moonlight", "Eight Day's A Week" and "Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!" sound as though they have been mixed in the centre, yes, they are almost in mono, or at least they don't sound like true stereo. The guitar intro of "Kansas City/ Hey-Hey-Hey -Hey!" sounds as if it has been moved towards the right channel and the backing vocals to the song towards the left. Although it sounds natural, they may have processed the mono tapes to give a natural feeling to the track. So really it is more accurate to say they are glorified mono rather than true stereo. The first five songs are from "A Hard Day's Night" album and the others are from the "Beatles For Sale" album, both of which have never been re-released in stereo since 1987, when they were remixed for the CD. This can not be a coincidence, we may assume that there is a tacit understanding in EMI that they won't release these albums in true stereo.... But how about the "A Hard Day's Night" or "Beatles For Sale" tracks? George Martin is always saying that these albums were made for mono, then they should have written them as mono! Anyway, we agree to Bengt's view, we would like to ask EMI to release them in true stereo in the future. In "BEATLES UNLIMITED MAGAZINE", The Netherlands, Issue 128, July 1996 with this comments: The Anthology production team, George Martin and Geoff Emerick, has done an excellent remixing job with remixing and editing tracks when necessary, so clearing up a 2-track master into a stereo production shouldn't be such a problem. Even to write about this 9 years after the Beatles CDs came out! It is so ridicilious that those albums still are not available in stereo. Completely insane! Johnny te Lintelo
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