At this point in time I'd like to take a little break from discussing individual albums from the mid to late 1960s and discuss instead the merits (or otherwise) of stereo and mono recordings.
Way back in the mists of time (the 1950s and early 1960s) things were pretty straight forward. Most homes that owned a record player or the larger piece of furniture which generally housed a turntable and a radio (called a monogram), had one speaker through which to play their choice of music. Consequently records were produced in monaural sound meaning that everything came through one channel and came into the room via the one speaker.
When stereo sound became more common and people obtained pieces of furniture with two speakers (yes, you've guessed it - they were called stereograms) it was then possible to hear different sounds from each of the speakers. However, even then most records were produced for mono sound and a separate mix would be made for the stereo market as these sold in smaller numbers. Consequently the stereo separation would tend to be fairly basic, often as basic as having the voices coming from one channel and the instruments coming from the other. For example, stick the stereo version of the second UK album by The Beatles ('With The Beatles') on the turntable or into your CD player. Now listen to track 1, 'It Won't Be Long'. You will notice voices from the right speaker and generally all the instruments from the left which is fine unless you choose to listen through headphones or earphones when it can be a bit disconcerting.
As time went on, stereo systems became more common and consequently more time and effort was put into making the stereo mix of the song or songs. This all started to happen around the mid 1960s which just happens to be the period we are dealing with in this blog. So we occasionally have to make the choice between the stereo or the mono mix of a piece of work.
But which is better, I hear you ask.
Well you will be disappointed to learn that there is no clear cut answer to that question. It comes down to a matter of choice. Personally, my preference for those early 1960s albums by the likes of The Beatles or Bob Dylan is for the mono version. For the mid 1960s period it is not so clear cut and both stereo and mono have their merits but can sometimes be quite different. Albums that we have already discussed such as 'Pet Sounds', 'Revolver' or 'Blonde On Blonde', sound to my ears great in both mono and stereo. Moving a couple of years further on to the album 'The Beatles' (universally known as The White Album) and I find that I prefer some songs in stereo and some in mono. In some cases they are very different, none more so than 'Helter Skelter' which in mono does not have the false ending and is subsequently about a minute shorter than the stereo version.
So it is a matter of personal choice whether you go for mono or stereo versions. However there are exceptions, and I would say without any hesitation that the next album I will be looking at, should definitely be heard in mono.
Join me then and I will explain why.
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