Albums better in mono than stereo.

[Scott Dolan]

I remember having a discussion with Jim about this not so long ago concerning The Beatles. 

Today, for the first time oddly enough, I listened to The Psychedelic Sounds of The 13th Floor Elevators. First in mone, and then in stereo. I was stunned by how incredibly inferior the stereo version was. It’s nearly unlistenable in stereo. 

So what other albums has anyone else run across that sound far better in mono? 

[Matthew]

I always thought Blue Train was much better in mono, too much of a stereo spread for me.

Edited January 26, 2019 by Matthew

[clifford_thornton]

Agreed about the Elevators.

[Scott Dolan]

26 minutes ago, clifford_thornton said:

Agreed about the Elevators.

Bizarre, right. Most times stereo versions at least sound almost as good, if not a little better. Especially something like the Sgt. Pepper remix. 

But the difference in these two versions is something I’ve never experienced before. The stereo version just sounds...distant? Disconnected? 

[porcy62]

I prefer the mono version of Sgt Pepper compared to the stereo, never heard a remix.

 

[felser]

13 minutes ago, porcy62 said:

I prefer the mono version of Sgt Pepper compared to the stereo, never heard a remix.

 

Remix came out in 2017, stunningly good.

[porcy62]

4 minutes ago, felser said:

Remix came out in 2017, stunningly good.

The one's made by George Martin's son?

Edited January 26, 2019 by porcy62

[porcy62]

BTW all the early Pink Floyd albums are better in mono, IMO. Overall I think that most sound engineers handled stereo after a lot of mistakes, particularly in rock records.

[soulpope]

[Scott Dolan]

38 minutes ago, porcy62 said:

The one's made by George Martin's son?

Yes, sir. 

And Felser is right.

It’s a revelation. I highly encourage you to check it out. 

[paul secor]

Early Dylan albums - up through John Wesley Harding

[porcy62]

And what about some blues records with guitar on left channel and voice on right one, like Lighting Hopkins' Prestige and Bluesville, if you don't have a mono button on your amp, you're fuc***!

9 hours ago, paul secor said:

Early Dylan albums - up through John Wesley Harding

Agree.

[mikeweil]

Most Atlantic LPs recorded when they started using stereo sound better in mono - practically all Coltranes, MJQ, and Blakey's with Monk - the latter being a particulat annoying example. Monk on one channel, the rest of the band on the other! How dumb can one be?

[Scott Dolan]

6 minutes ago, mikeweil said:

Most Atlantic LPs recorded when they started using stereo sound better in mono - practically all Coltranes, MJQ, and Blakey's with Monk - the latter being a particulat annoying example. Monk on one channel, the rest of the band on the other! How dumb can one be?

Ugh... yes, I’ve listened to multiple albums that are mixed in that fashion. It’s almost impossible to listen to because it tends to have a disorienting effect. 

[Daniel A]

As if the extreme channel separation wasn't enough, there sometimes also seems to have been phase problems on Atlantic stereo albums. I remember Chick Corea's first album (albeit on the Vortex imprint, mainly in line with Atlantic production values) being subject to this. To escape the annoying stereo spread I tried using the mono button on my amp, but that added strange distortion for some frequecies, which I assume can be attributed to phase issues. 

Edited January 27, 2019 by Daniel A

[porcy62]

Yeah, Atlantic Records were awful. BUT when the original stereo tapes are in masterful hands, the results are usually great. Who said: It's all in the mastering?

[Scott Dolan]

1 hour ago, porcy62 said:

Yeah, Atlantic Records were awful. BUT when the original stereo tapes are in masterful hands, the results are usually great. Who said: It's all in the mastering?

Pretty much everyone that actually understands that.  

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I have that sound problem with Atlantic stereo recordings, but not all of them. I don't think I have any trouble with the MJQ stereo versions. I love the stereo versions of Chris Connor's 'He loves me, he loves me not', 'A jazz date with' and 'Chris craft', and 'Double exposure' is only a little less smashing than the mono version, but I really hate her stereo 'Ballads of the sad café'.

Joe Turner's 'Boss of the blues' is another horrid one; a very muddy sound to that. And Milt Jackson's 'Plenty plenty soul' is another. So is 'Soul brothers', though I don't dislike 'Soul meeting' some of which was done at the same session. I KNOW there are a few others, but I forget which.

Chewy's thread about prices on LP spines, and my response about King's catalogue numbers including the price made me think about this issue.

When LPs came out, record companies knew nothing about how to programme them other than make original cast albums or bang a bunch of old 78s into them. And King obviously didn't know how much to charge for them. And the same was true a few years later, when stereo came out. People had to experiment, and some of the experiments were duff. But  no one - least of all the punters - knew the stuff was sub-standard because who buys mono and stereo copies to compare? (Well, I did with 'Soul brothers', because there are different tracks on mono and stereo.) So stuff got released and stereo was hyped to the extent that, before I bought 'Soul brothers', I thought an audio engineer I used to work with was heretical for saying he preferred good mono to stereo.

MG