Can someone clear this up for me please as I am going thru all my Beatles albums and trying to up grade them, any help would be awesome. Thanks.

It depends. But I'd say you're opening a Pandora's box with this question.
Can you be a little more specific?

You should check both. I seem to prefer American Mono versions, but that is what I'm used to. The White Album and Sgt. Peppy in Mono are just different from the stereo versions.

Results may varry. Side effects may include wild dancing, euphoria, an urge to buy a rickenbacker and some patients exhibit a craving for Searchers and Yardbirds records.

Yep, depends on the album and with some I prefer the Parlophone, some I prefer the Capitol (most definately the stereo Capitol version of Rubber Soul, mainly for it's quirky and folky song selection). Either way (although I no longer own it) I prefer the mono mix of Sgt. Peppers simply because the group worked on the final mix over a week and Martin tossed off the stereo mix in one day, in the process burying McCartney's vocal track (save the echo) on the reprise of Sgt. Pepper's.

...
Results may varry. Side effects may include wild dancing, euphoria, an urge to buy a rickenbacker and some patients exhibit a craving for Searchers and Yardbirds records.

:lmao:
The last two batches of records I got had Beatles, Searchers (and one New Searchers) and Yardbirds LPs in 'em! :yes:
No Rickenbacker here, alas...

I don't think there is a consistent rule about which Beatles are best. I grab every affordable early U.K. Parlophone I can get, Mono or Stereo, and have some of both on U.S. Capitol as well, and some pressings from different countries (and of course, some Apple).

I think you have to take it on a case-by-case basis and test-listen to see which you like. In some cases, there is a big price differential IF your seller knows his/her Beatles pricing. For example, original Yesterday and Today (the "butcher" album) in Stereo is worth much more than in mono, because it is rarer. In some cases, the recordings were originally done in mono and then re-done in stereo, and sometimes the original mono is better-sounding, but more common and thus not worth as much. But in some cases the stereo sounds better.

I would suggest that if you are looking to upgrade in this way, search for owners' comments FOR EACH TITLE SEPARATELY, then maybe you'll find people saying that for album X, they prefer the mono, or the stereo version.

Off the top of my head, I can't even think of which I prefer in any particular case, although in general I play more stereo these days, because I'm planning to set up a dedicated mono system (with mono needle) and am therefore postponing playing a lot of my mono recordings until then.

Beatles collecting is almost never-ending. One shop here has a bunch of Beatles recordings I've never even heard of, and don't remember ever hearing (or hearing about) when I was growing up listening to them, either. I think they may be bootlegs and small, private-label things, or else LPs only released in a few countries. Apparently, there are a LOT of those out there! Maybe not quite like Deadhead tapes, but more than I previously realized.

:lmao:
The last two batches of records I got had Beatles, Searchers (and one New Searchers) and Yardbirds LPs in 'em! :yes:
No Rickenbacker here, alas...



I love The Yardbirds and all the rest of the British Invasion bands. i also dig the Amercian bands from that time and how they responded to the Limeys.

I love The Yardbirds and all the rest of the British Invasion bands. i also dig the Amercian bands from that time and how they responded to the Limeys.

"Ditto." I was a little kid back then, but old enough to remember them well. I remember following news of the Beatles coming to the States and watching their debut on the Ed Sullivan Show, and how the songs from these groups started pouring out of the radio (IIRC, station KOY at the short end of the AM dial in the Phoenix area was one; there was one other station that played them, but I forget the call letters now --KXTC? ...or was that the one in L.A.? Ah, aging sucks! :sigh:).

The interesting thing is that I can still enjoy all these old bands when I play them again on vinyl. Sometimes more "mature" ears notice more flaws in their voices, timing, etc... than I noticed back then, or maybe I always noticed but didn't care, but in any case I still enjoy them.

It's funny: my Dad absolutely couldn't understand what the appeal of the Beatles was when they appeared. He liked the older groups from the swing era, but not Rock 'n Roll. But my GRANDparents didn't like the swing stuff; they liked the earlier stuff, uh...I don't even know what to call it! :D Similarly, I don't care for hip-hop/rap stuff, but I like everything that preceded it. It always seems like young people like something different from the previous generation, but rarely the other way 'round. I wonder what the next generation will listen to, that the hip-hop/rap-era people won't like? Maybe back to something smoother like torch songs, or maybe something even more discordant than heretofore? Or maybe in this day of the internet, everything will fragment so much that there will be a constantly-varying multiplicity of niche genres existing simultaneously, instead of one dominant one. To some extent, that seems to be happening already, anyway.

History moves on, and technology changes things. What the Beatles were to the early sixties can never exist again, any more than we will ever again see great movie 'stars' like the ones from the heyday of the big movie studios. But it's nice that those of us old enough to remember it, can just put on an LP and mentally "relive" a little what our lives were like back then. {Not to denigrate younger, newer fans; just making a comment.}

In general, early LPs (pre-Pepper) are quite good (if not the best) in UK Mono.

That being said, we all have our preferences. For example, I am a huge fan of the UK Stereo "Please Please Me." It has way more life than the mono version. It also does not have the hard panning and excessive reverb characterized by later, "Dexterized" Stereo LPs.

As mentioned above, I also really dig the "folky" US Stereo of "Rubber Soul" as much as the UK Mono.

One prime exception to the Mono rule. Beatles For Sale. The Stereo UK of that one slays any mono version. A Hard Day's Night is a crapshoot as both are equally fine.

One prime exception to the Mono rule. Beatles For Sale. The Stereo UK of that one slays any mono version. A Hard Day's Night is a crapshoot as both are equally fine.

I'll go along with the stereo Beatles For Sale but with A Hard Day's Night the stereo LP wins for me. Lots of mono limiting splatter on the mono, but I still like it. :music:

I like some of the mono records just because I get tired of the "60s" stereo with vocals in one channel and guitars in the other. Not so much "stereo" as two channel mono.

I like some of the mono records just because I get tired of the "60s" stereo with vocals in one channel and guitars in the other. Not so much "stereo" as two channel mono.

A result of being limited to three or four tracks to record on. Depends on the final mix, sometimes it doesn't bother me at all.

To touch on something Arkay said about generations and music, my parents loved big band and swing. With few exceptions, they didn't care for (at the time) modern music. However, my grandmother hated the big band sound and like boogie music. As a result, she loved Canned Heat (a boogie band) and she was in her seventies!

Your Beatles Stereo problem was due to being limited to 2 track recording. When EMI in England installed the Studer 1" 4 track machines, the Beatles began 4 track recording making better Stereo mixing options possible. This is true from "I Want To Hold Your Hand" onwards. Due to mix differences, you really do need UK mono and Stereo issues.

In my view (and probably the ensemble's view), the mixes should be left without touch and released the way it's preferred to be heard. Simple as that. To achieve greater accessibility, EMI must release the albums by The Beatles on compact disc - in a monaural presentation. Simple as that! The monaural mixes were not remastered for psychological reasons.

"Ditto."
It's funny: my Dad absolutely couldn't understand what the appeal of the Beatles was when they appeared. He liked the older groups from the swing era, but not Rock 'n Roll. But my GRANDparents didn't like the swing stuff; they liked the earlier stuff, uh...I don't even know what to call it! :D Similarly, I don't care for hip-hop/rap stuff, but I like everything that preceded it. It always seems like young people like something different from the previous generation, but rarely the other way 'round.

I think everyone tends to assume the music they grew up with was the best music ever made. I certainly view 60s and 70s rock that way. My parents liked 40s and 50s big band and MOR. So, imagine my surprise when my mother recently asked me for a copy of Beach Boys album. She says she's always liked their music, but I seem to recall her referring to it as "that noise."