Expert: Nick Marasciulo - 1/15/2006

Question
Hi Nick,

I'm a spanish beatle fan, recently i have uopgraded my Hi-Fi system and I'm really dissapointed with the sound quality of beatles cd's from 1987, this is particularly noticeable on mono early albums , my question is are japanese toshiba versions of beatles  worth buying, i mean fram an audiophile point of view? I know about obi and printed lyrics in japanese and english on these versions, however I'm more interested in sound improvement.

the other question is regarding Lp versions, I have heard that LP remaestered versions from the 90's are clearlu inferior to original mono / stereo versions and even japanese or brittisn mid 70's reissues , is this true ?

Thank you very much for your attention

Answer
Hi Carlos,
as for your first question I can'help! Buy I'd really love to know if you get this toshiba version you're talking about.
As for the second I can tell you that the original mono versions are infinitely superior to the stereo reissues mostly because the mixing (specially for the albums from Rubber Soul) were made with the involvment of The Beatles Themselves.
Moreovere the stereo is a false stereo consisting in the separation left right of some tracks creating that absurd effect of voices on the left and the rest on the right for example: and that takes away a lot of quality in sound in my opinion.
I own a 1968 copy of the White Album and please believe me it's another Lp than the stereo one or the cd issue! The same goes for Sgt Pepper (that I heard from a friend) and it's another story. Affordable beatle people tell me that Rubber and Revolver are superior in the mono versions than the stereo ones.
Most of all I repeat the mono ones are what The Beatles intended to do with their music and that's the most important thing to get for a Beatle fan, isn't it?
I do wonder why Emi didn't reissue the original mono Lps in cd..
Hope it helps
N.