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This interview was made by
radio-man Leif Wihlehag at the
"Beatles
Night" at
the pub "Yellow
Submarine" in
Gothenburg, Sweden on 14th May 1998. It was transmitted the next
evening in the local radio-station "Sound
Radio"
on 90,7 MHz in their "Fredagsspecialen" (The
Friday Special)
programme.
Leif: "Yes, now it was so dear listeners, that yesterday
night, the second "Beatles Night" for the spring was
launched at the pub "Yellow Submarine" at Lorensbergsgatan in Gothenburg. And
this, what you hear here is nothing else but Beatles in stereo! ("MISERY") Yes! For it was so,
that plenty of Beatles-experts were there on place, and
"Fredagsspecialen" was of course there and recorded all
the latest on tape. Soon you will hear the background of this
stereo-recording,
.. on CD
.."
Leif: "Yes, here at the Beatles Night at "Yellow
Submarine" I meet Bengt Wärmlind, Beatles-fan. Bengt, what are you
fighting for, really?"
Bengt: "Yes, it is that my favourite Beatles albums will be
released in best possible sound-quality."
Leif: "So you have been fighting for three years now, that
the first
four albums with The Beatles will be released in stereo on CD, haven't you?"
Bengt: "Yes, that's right! Because they are more nearer the
original, and have much better dynamics, and more
"live"-feeling than on them you can buy in the stores
today."
Leif: "Why have they not been released in stereo up to
now?"
Bengt: "Well, they had very little time, when they prepared
this. And they intended to release them in stereo. But in the
last minute they invited the old producer George Martin as a
gesture of courtesy. And to the dismay of the people at EMI, he
couldn't approve of these recordings, without that they would
correct them a little."
Leif: "Why did he think so?"
Bengt: "Well, there are small, small misses. But they are so
easy to correct with the technology of today. So it would have
been very easy. But they had too little time." (I forgot to
tell, that the CD release was scheduled for late February 1987,
two months later.)
Leif: "So he thought, that the mono recordings simply
sounded better?"
Bengt: "Well, they are more perfect. But mono is copy to
copy to copy. And that means worse sound."
Leif: "So you have managed to get hold of bootlegs with the
original recordings in stereo. How have you managed with that, if
I may ask?"
Bengt: "Well, I collect bootlegs. And then you send for by
mail-order. And one day I received a list, and there these CDs
happened to be included."
Leif: "You have sent these recordings to EMI and to Apple, you told us. Even to George Martin. What is it, that has happened?"
Bengt: "They have been very impressed, and have been
listening for months. And they were, furthermore, very anxious to
get them too. They paid expensive freight charge. And after
having listened for months, they have taken the original tapes
out from the vaults. And have admitted that my CDs sound exactly
identical. And they have said, that this sounds enormously
good. And they have
then said, that "we will release this someday."
Leif: "So you hope and think it will be so?"
Bengt: "Yes, when they need more money, it will probably be
so!"
("MONEY")
Back to First
Four In Stereo!
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