The Beatles Mono Box Set Review

Like most Beatles fans under the age of 40 or so I've grown to love The Beatles not from their original vinyl releases but from the stereo CDs first released in 1987 which have always been notorious among audiophiles for their poor sound quality.

Now with the newly remastered Beatles box sets those of us who have only heard these substandard CDs can finally get to hear The Beatles as they were meant to be heard. That phrase "as they were meant to be heard" is particularly on point for The Beatles Mono Box Set.

The Context

In the 1960s most people listened to music in mono. Stereo was a new way of listening to music that was mostly the domain of audiophiles with high end audio equipment. Such people only made up a small portion of The Beatles audience so it made sense that they were far more concerned with their mono mixes than they were with their stereo mixes. In fact, most of their stereo mixes were actually just an "after thought" in comparison with the mono mixes which they worked hard on to get just right.

This was true up until The White Album which was actually only released in stereo in the US (although it was released in both mono & stereo in the UK.) Their last three albums were only mixed & released in stereo (Yellow Submarine, Let It Be, & Abbey Road) because by 1969 stereo had completely overtaken the market.

Many serious Beatles fans consider the mono mixes of their albums up through Magical Mystery Tour (and some may even say The White Album as well, but I think that's pushing it) are the "true" versions of their albums.

The Sound

All of the historical importance in the world won't mean a hill of beans to most listeners in comparison how these mono mixes CDs actually sound.

I'm happy to report that they sound absolutely fantastic. These new mono CDs (which can only be purchased as a part of The Mono Box Set) sound far "warmer" than the old stereo CDs and new details can be heard in the vocals and instrumentation. Probably the biggest differences are heard in the bass. There's much more low end definition with these new mono CDs.

These mono CDs are probably the closest to the original sound of the analog tapes that has ever been released (yes, closer even than the old vinyl releases.) If you want to really hear The Beatles as they heard themselves, you have to get this set.

Significantly Different Mixes In Some Cases

In a lot of cases there are not many differences between the mono & stereo mixes besides the obvious difference in panning (which can be quite a big difference on it's own, actually) but in some cases there are actually really obvious differences such as "Helter Skelter" being about a minute shorter in mono than it is in stereo (obviously it's a significantly different mix!) and "She's Leaving Home" being sped up (and thus higher in tone) in mono vs. stereo.