Beatles songs that are better in mono – “Day Tripper” & “Eleanor Rigby”
When the Beatles started in the early 1960s, mono was considered the standard for music. The music the Beatles listened to was in mono, and almost all of their fans listened to their music in mono. At the time, stereo was considered something for “high-end audiophiles” who were usually more interested in classical or jazz music.
Because of this, the Beatles and their production team did not spend much time on their stereo mixes. They really spent most of their time mixing the mono versions of their songs. In contrast, the stereo versions were kind of “pieced together” in a rather “experimental” way.
Many of their stereo mixes (especially of the earlier tracks) sound quite disturbing by today’s standards. Many have all the vocals on one side and all the drums on the other for example! This is especially a problem when listening to headphones (another important point is that almost as many people listened to music on headphones in the 1960s as today.)
With the release of The Beatles in Mono Box Set, many Beatles fans can hear their songs in mono for the first time (until now, only stereo mixes of many of their songs were available on CD.)
Two examples of songs that I think sound much better in mono than in stereo are 1965’s “Day Tripper” (which can be heard in mono on the Mono Masters compilation included in the Mono Box Set) and ” Eleanor Rigby’ from 1966 (which can be heard in mono on the mono version of Revolver included in The Beatles in Mono Box Set.)
In the stereo version of “Day Tripper”, the vocals pan sharply to the right and the drums to the left. This is extremely annoying when listening to headphones. Obviously with the mono version everything is mixed right down the middle. This gives it a very “powerful” sound.
In the stereo version of “Eleanor Rigby”, the vocals in the verse are hard on the right, while the strings are in the center (and basically nothing on the left.) It’s a very uneven mix, which is why I think it sounds better in mono.
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