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It is the oldest Beatles discussion: “John vs. Paul!” Which one was more essential to The Beatles music? It’s my opinion as an enormous Beatles fan that the real answer is “both!” It may sound like a cop-out but I definitely believe it’s the best answer.

I’m definitely not one of those critics that goes out of his way to disparage the solo careers of Lennon and McCartney but I do think it’s clear that they never reached the same amazing level by themselves as they did together as The Beatles (of course who has?) I think that’s pretty good evidence that there was something magical about their songwriting partnership that allowed their work together to to reach a level that has rarely been reached by other songwriters.

Many of The Beatles greatest tunes were those that Lennon & McCartney wrote together. Most of their early singles such as “She Loves You” and “Love Me Do” were written together and some of their greatest songs such as “We Can Work It Out” consisted of different song segments that Paul & John wrote which were stuck together to form a whole song.

And even when a song was mostly written by one or the other such as in the cases of “Hey Jude” and “Dear Prudence” there was still some great input by the other one.

For example with McCartney’s songs like “Hey Jude” and “Getting Better” John would give Paul very helpful lyrical advice. John told Paul to keep a lyric in the song “Hey Jude” that Paul felt wasn’t clear enough. With “Getting Better” John added the “it couldn’t get much worse” bit which helped to add a bit of weight to the positive lyrics of the rest of the song.

Paul McCartney added some incredible bass guitar parts to John’s songs such as “Dear Prudence,” “Rain,” & “Come Together.” Try to imagine those songs without the bass, they wouldn’t be anywhere near as awesome!

The essential point that I’m trying to get across is that both Paul & John were necessary parts of what made The Beatles such an excellent band.

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In The 1960s Mono Mixes Were The Standard

It was not until the time of Abbey Road & Let It Be that the stereo mixes became The Beatles only. Up until that point, they were more focused on the mono mixes as they were the standard way people listened to music then.

The Original Beatles Albums

You can make a great case that these Beatles original mono mix CDs represent The Beatles albums in their true form. These are the mixes that most people heard back in the 1960s. These are the mixes that made them the biggest band of all time. Hearing these albums in their original stereo mixes, even if they are poor mixes, is interesting to real Beatles fans.

The Beatles Mono Box Set Includes

• Please Please Me through The White Album in mono.
• Help! & Rubber Soul in their original stereo mixes~The original stereo mixes of Rubber Soul & Help!}
• The Mono Masters {compilation of the mono mixes of the band’s non album songs~The mono mixes of all of the band’s singles that were mixed in mono}.

Where’s Their Final Three Albums?

The band’s last three studio albums were never mixed in mono because by then stereo was the standard.

Why Are Stereo Mixes For Two Albums Included?

The two albums included in stereo (Help! & Rubber Soul) were both released in 1965. At this time mixing in stereo was still a very new thing and these albums were mixed in what would now be considerd a very strange way. Because of that when the bands albums were first put on CD in the 1980s they didn’t use the 1960s stereo mixes and created new stereo mixes instead. The original stereo mixes for these 1965 classic albums have never been on CD until this new mono box set.

The White Album In Mono In The US For The First Time

One really cool thing about this box set is that it will actually be the first time that The White Album has ever been released in mono in the United States in any format. Why is that? {In 1968 mono was already done in the US so only the stereo mix was the only one released. In the UK both the mono & stereo mixes were released.}

Stereo & Mono Box Sets~The Beatles Remastered Album Box Sets~The Beatles Remastered CDs Box Sets~The Beatles Remastered Mono & Stereo Box Sets}

There are actually two Beatles box sets that were released on September 9, 2009. A mono box set & a stereo box set. Both are necessary purchases by~essential for} real Beatles fans.

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The Beatles had 12 official UK studio LPs from 1963 to ‘70 and most of them were brilliant which makes picking just 3 of their albums as the top three is extremely hard.

Twelve? You’ve probably heard that they had 13. That 13th “album” is Magical Mystery Tour which was originally released just as an EP in the UK. An “album” version of it was cobbled together in the US by adding some earlier singles to it.

Beatles purists don’t consider it one of The Beatles LPs, although it has been added to The Beatles official UK discography since the 1970s (when it was released in the UK because so many people were importing the US Magical Mystery Tour LP.)

#1 The White Album

This double album includes many of The Beatles greatest moments. It also includes some of the songs that a lot of people think of as their worst. But I actually think those experimental songs (such as “Wild Honey Pie” and “Revolution #9″) add to the magic of the album. This was an “anything goes” album and it’s all the better for it.

#2 Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

A lot of people claim that this legendary album is overrated and I suppose that’s true from the standpoint that some of The Beatles other albums sometimes get overlooked in comparison. Some less informed Beatles fans think that Sgt. Pepper was The Beatles first attempt at “art music” but clearly Rubber Soul & Revolver beat it to the punch. But, I still think Sgt. Pepper is an amazing album that works as the band’s most “cohesive statement” and I think while it may be underrated by those who are slightly ignorant of The Beatles whole career, I think it’s actually now underrated by those known as “hipsters.”

#3 Revolver

Revolver lacks the cohesiveness of Sgt. Pepper & Abbey Road. It lacks the expansiveness of The White Album. But it does have 14 truly great songs. It’s arguably the most consistently great LP The Beatles recorded.

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On 9/9/9 remastered versions of The Beatles 13 official studio albums were finally released after over 20 years of waiting. The 1980s CD versions are thought by most to be a very poor example of mastering for CD which is a big reason why people have been wanting new better versions for so long.

The excitement isn’t just because of the remastered stereo albums, but also because of the mono versions of The Beatles albums being released on CD for the first time ever. This is actually  the first time ever that the mono mixes of some of these amazing Beatles albums will be available on compact disc.

Why should we care about such outdated mixes in 2009? Mono was being phased out in the 1960s, why should we listen to mono mixes today? Well certainly many people may feel that way, but true Beatles fanatics want to hear these albums as they were originally intended to be heard and to do that you must listen to the mono mixes.

The mono mixes are what The Beatles (along with George Martin & Geoff Emerick) were primarily focused on. The Beatles stereo mixes were done with little input from the band while they were very involved with the mono mixes which were worked on until they were just right. And because of this effort put into the mono mixes, many feel that the original mono mix of Sgt. Pepper is the “real” version of the album.

But that’s not all of the Beatles madness; there’s also the new Beatles Rock Band game which looks to be absolutely incredible from the previews. You can play through The Beatles whole career from their beginnings in Liverpool through their final album, Abbey Road. The Beatles Rock Band instruments even look like the real Beatles instruments (check out Paul’s bass guitar!) And now for the first time with the Beatles Rock Band game, you can sing harmonies.

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