In the late ’60s stereo mixes became the standard and mono was left behind as a part of history. But up until then mono was king and The Beatles spent almost all of their time on the mono mixes. The stereo mixes were little more than an afterthought in comparison.
It makes sense to consider these original mono mixes as the albums as they were “meant to be heard.” These are the mixes that the band (and the producers and engineers) were focused on. That’s why so many Beatles fans are so thrilled to finally get to hear these mixes on CD when they are released for sale on September 9th, 2009.
The Beatles Mono Box Set is coming out on 9/9/9 and it will include the band’s first 10 studio albums in their original mono mix on CD for the first time ever. Along with those 10 studio albums, the box set will also include the original stereo mixes of Help! and Rubber Soul along with a non-album song compilation called Mono Masters.
The Beatles final three studio albums (Abbey Road, Let It Be, & Yellow Submarine) are not included because they were never mixed in mono. By 1969 mono had been completely phased out.
So why are Help! and Rubber Soul included in a stereo mix along with their mono mix? Because these original mono mixes (the ones released on LP in 1965) have actually never been released on CD before (because new stereo mixes were made in the ’80s when the albums were first put on CD.) They are included in this box set because this box set is really all about preserving the history of The Beatles original 1960s releases.
For many years now someone would have had to find an original vinyl copy of Help! and Rubber Soul in order to hear their original stereo mixes, that could be quite difficult (and quite expensive) to do. With this new Mono Box Set, it will be easy.
Mono Masters is a collection of all of The Beatles non-album tracks and as it’s name implies, all of the mixes on this album are mono mixes.
“She Loves You,” “Ticket to Ride,” & “We Can Work It Out” are among the many huge Beatles hits that never made it on a Beatles studio album and are thus included in the Mono Masters set.
If you only want to buy a few specific Beatles albums in mono (such as The White Album & Sgt. Pepper) then you are plum out of luck. These CD versions of the mono mixes of The Beatles albums are only available as a part of this Mono Box Set.
