Introducing the Beatles

[Shackman55]

FWIW I was under the impression, that those counterfeits started at the time of the original release or there about. I bought one with the understanding it was a phony for $1 and got it home only to find out it was the real deal Cover missing, 1st pressing and despite visual rating of only about G It played really well and after a good cleaning actually sound Darn good. I'm all about the music and so I never checked further if it had any value. I'm still hunting for a counterfeit just to say I have one.

 

[persil]

Very interesting! I have the original UK pressings both the Mono and the "Special order" stereo pressings. I also have the US pressings but only mono. I decided to do a comparison between the different pressings out of interest, that is!
Intoducing the Beatles on the VJ mono lable is nearly as good as the UK Please please me pressing in quality suggesting that you yanks didnt mess around with the original mix that much, cant understand why the engineers cut the count in on "I saw her standing there" I have never noticed it before but it sounds "wrong"! The final track on the "B" side (UK) "Twist and shout" looses a lot of its dinamics on the "VJ", must have been remixed for some reason?
I would love to know the reasoning to changing the track order on the US pressings, anyone know?

I have never heard the stereo US mixes of these LPs, hopefully the are better than the UK efforts! The crude way the engineers laid down the vocals on the right and the instuments on the left is great if you want karioki, but shitty for listening!

I have the original US Capitol recordings of the first four albums, and as you know its impossible to make comparisons as there are no UK equivilent pressings. When you can compare the same tracks from the US and the UK its so evident that Capitol did quite a lot of remixing! Pity because they lost some of the raw power that is laid down on the UK masters. and the stereo mixes leave a lot to be desired?

I know that later we all got the same pressings, like Sgt Peppers and Let it be, could anyone tell me when this began to happen?

My elder brother had an American girlfriend back then and he used to send out the beatles records to her from the UK, She told me how stange it was to have beatles recordings back in 1963 that didnt release in the US to 65!

 

[DougMac]

Mixing the early Beatles

I have never heard the stereo US mixes of these LPs, hopefully the are better than the UK efforts! The crude way the engineers laid down the vocals on the right and the instuments on the left is great if you want karioki, but shitty for listening!

Hmm, which UK efforts do you mean? I thought the UK release of Beatles albums on Parlophone were done properly, the two track songs mixed down to mono. Remember George Martin never meant for the two track masters to be released with the vocal track in one channel and the instruments in the other. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "This Boy", recorded the same day, were the first Beatles songs recorded in 4 track that allows for proper stereo mixing.

Even though the stereo version of "Introducing the Beatles" is more rare, I think the mono version is more true to the Beatle's intent and that's why I've wanted the mono version all these years.

 

[beatcomber]

Even though the stereo version of "Introducing the Beatles" is more rare, I think the mono version is more true to the Beatle's intent and that's why I've wanted the mono version all these years.

In February 1963, the Beatles' only intent was to record a hit album. I don't think they had enough recording experience to even consider stereo vs. mono.

George Martin has said that the first two albums were cut on twin-track, with the vocals separated from the backing tracks, because that would make for a better mono mix. (There are lots of other EMI beat group recordings from 1963 recorded the same way.) Stereo was an afterthought.