Favorite Beatles Album

[Rico]

The 5.1 mix on the BD is just tremendous, light years better than the Sgt. Pepper’s one. I’ve been playing it ever since the great Bills win today. Easy to pick up many things I didn’t notice before, and the rear channels are not ignored, not at all. This is up there with the Floyd’s from the 1st 2 Immersion box sets for my all-time fav surround mixes. 

 

The new standard remix sounds great on headphones and ... in my car. I think this is my new go-to for the White Album. I haven’t listened to the Hi-Rez one on the BD yet, but I will. As for the outtakes and demos, they sound great (Esher’s are better than ever) and are interesting, but I’ve never been a big fan of these.

 

Great package, but I wish it was the same size as the Pepper box, oh well. All-in-all, 

[row_33]

All I was asking since 1968 was to restore the rhythm section where it was egregiously chopped out when mixed into stereo...

 

 

 

.

 

[Rico]

23 hours ago, row_33 said:

 

It’s scary how great it is, one of the best solo projects to me, actually probably the best on second thought 

 

 

 

Nah, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band wins

 

 

 

 

What, no Ram?!? 

 

I agree, Plastic Ono Band by far, then Imagine. ATMP has some great stuff, but there is a lot of filler, not even counting the extra LP... that’s 3rd for me.

[row_33]

Macca’s first solo album was quite out there and artsy but he was never going to compete with weird John inspired by Yoko

 

 

Wings 45s were a big part of childhood, along with Charlie Brown and Snoopy, they let the bullies easily see who to beat up at every opportunity

 

 

 

A scrubbing out of the Spector semi-desecration  of Wah Wah and Awaiting on you All and Art of Dying, to name a few, would be nice, they can do it with computers now....

 

 

Edited November 12, 2018 by row_33

[Greybeard]

8 hours ago, row_33 said:

Listening practices....

 

these days with well spent $$$ on amped headphones

 

long time since loudspeakers, often connected in OOPS for that inner zone that lets you these John clearly say the f-word in Hey Jude

 

The CD and laptop listenings of days oadt allowed for a whole new set of sounds to emerge with the clarity

 

i preferred mono for The Beatles, the 2018 is the best sound i’ve heard in stereo, there are a lot of bad moments in stereo up till now, even on the 2009

 

 

 

 

———-

 

far from an audiophile but my neurasthenic hearing touchiness and rainman tendencies have kept a memorized library of all versions of rock albums and entire symphonies and string quartets on tap when I want to listen internally

 

 

       I guess listening practices could be a new thread but for the Beatles collection, I will stay here.

 

      I listened to the first two cd's after the Bills game.   They sounded very good.   I have a Yamaha audio/visual amp feeding my son's Polk LSi25's.   They sound pretty good.  My wife went to my daughter's so I could just crank the volume up, which helps a lot these days.   Dear Prudence and Long, Long Long  were the stand outs for the first listen.  Later this week I will use headphones.   When I do that I run through my laptop to a Dragonfly USB amp and then use Sony 7506's.  I used to be big on Sennheiser's but I prefer the Sony's at the moment.  I have 5 or 6 different pairs of Sennheiser's.

 

     So what do you use for headphones and amps?    I ask the same of Rico.  Does the surround sound add to the listening when using headphones?

 

    And TIL that Helter Skelter is what they call a slide that wraps around as it goes down.  Funny that makes the song more enjoyable.  Don't know why it wasn't obvious before.

[row_33]

Old pair of Senns and an amp from years ago, looks like prices have dropped on good amps the last few years.

 

Long Long Long was the best improvement to me.

 

For the 2018 last week I had a cheap pair of Sony’s on my laptop without an amp and it sounded better than prior releases.

 

 

 

 

[row_33]

US debut of the film Yellow Submarine this day in 1968

 

One documentary stated that they all hated it until it made some $$$, then they loved it

 

I remember getting the YS water color paint set as a kid for Christmas

 

 

[Rico]

14 hours ago, Greybeard said:

       I guess listening practices could be a new thread but for the Beatles collection, I will stay here.

 

      I listened to the first two cd's after the Bills game.   They sounded very good.   I have a Yamaha audio/visual amp feeding my son's Polk LSi25's.   They sound pretty good.  My wife went to my daughter's so I could just crank the volume up, which helps a lot these days.   Dear Prudence and Long, Long Long  were the stand outs for the first listen.  Later this week I will use headphones.   When I do that I run through my laptop to a Dragonfly USB amp and then use Sony 7506's.  I used to be big on Sennheiser's but I prefer the Sony's at the moment.  I have 5 or 6 different pairs of Sennheiser's.

 

     So what do you use for headphones and amps?    I ask the same of Rico.  Does the surround sound add to the listening when using headphones?

 

    And TIL that Helter Skelter is what they call a slide that wraps around as it goes down.  Funny that makes the song more enjoyable.  Don't know why it wasn't obvious before.

I have AKG headphones, and a Yamaha receiver feeding into Klipsch speakers. I wouldn’t listen to the surround using headphones... I’m not sure that would work anyways, I think it would fold down to 2 channels. I did bump up the rear channels by +6 dB while listening, as my system is calibrated for movies, not audio 5.1.

[Buftex]

The bass/drums on "Everybody's Got Something to Hide..." are stellar, in the new mix.

[row_33]

11 minutes ago, Buftex said:

The bass/drums on "Everybody's Got Something to Hide..." are stellar, in the new mix.

 

John's machine gun burst guitar is the hi-lite on that one for me, even better in 2018.  One worshiping critic said it reminded him of a child on a rocking horse hitting his head off the wall at various times.

 

Side 3 of the WA was the only time the Beatles went out to be and accomplished cool...

 

 

1 hour ago, Rico said:

I have AKG headphones, and a Yamaha receiver feeding into Klipsch speakers. I wouldn’t listen to the surround using headphones... I’m not sure that would work anyways, I think it would fold down to 2 channels. I did bump up the rear channels by +6 dB while listening, as my system is calibrated for movies, not audio 5.1.

 

AKGs were the best acoustic phones I've had, great for classical, but they hurt my head after an hour and were fragile.  I think there's a pair somewhere in the closet, should dig them out.

 

 

[Rico]

 

2 hours ago, row_33 said:

 

John's machine gun burst guitar is the hi-lite on that one for me, even better in 2018.  One worshiping critic said it reminded him of a child on a rocking horse hitting his head off the wall at various times.

 

Side 3 of the WA was the only time the Beatles went out to be and accomplished cool...

 

 

 

AKGs were the best acoustic phones I've had, great for classical, but they hurt my head after an hour and were fragile.  I think there's a pair somewhere in the closet, should dig them out.

 

 

I really like my AKG’s, got them from Amazon for around $250 or so 10 years ago, still going strong.

[row_33]

10 minutes ago, Rico said:

 

I really like my AKG’s, got them from Amazon for around $250 or so 10 years ago, still going strong.

 

mine were K702s, from a decade ago, I will look for them.

 

 

[Greybeard]

7 minutes ago, Rico said:

 

I really like my AKG’s, got them from Amazon for around $250 or so 10 years ago, still going strong.

   My son has AKG's.  Not sure which model.  I had them for a week and they are impressive.

 

   Late last night I ran through some of CD's 3 to 6.  I really like Dear Prudence in every version they had.  I really like the sound of the guitars.   I have also always enjoyed the piano in Lady Madonna,   The instrumental version on CD6 is sounds even better.

 

    I can see this ignited a Beatles experience for the next few weeks.  Have to go back and review all of the other albums.  

 

 

[Rico]

3 hours ago, Greybeard said:

   My son has AKG's.  Not sure which model.  I had them for a week and they are impressive.

 

   Late last night I ran through some of CD's 3 to 6.  I really like Dear Prudence in every version they had.  I really like the sound of the guitars.   I have also always enjoyed the piano in Lady Madonna,   The instrumental version on CD6 is sounds even better.

 

    I can see this ignited a Beatles experience for the next few weeks.  Have to go back and review all of the other albums.  

 

 

I'm home now, this is what I have, only I have what I guess is MKI, paid $200 in 2008. Mine aren't bluetooth though, but wired.

https://www.amazon.com/AKG-K271-Professional-Studio-Headphones/dp/B0016MOC28/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542066076&sr=8-1&keywords=akg+271+headphones

 

I really didn't want open-air, and these got pretty good reviews from others on a headphone message board. I've had no problems with anything breaking off.

Edited November 12, 2018 by Rico

[Greybeard]

14 hours ago, Rico said:

I'm home now, this is what I have, only I have what I guess is MKI, paid $200 in 2008. Mine aren't bluetooth though, but wired.

https://www.amazon.com/AKG-K271-Professional-Studio-Headphones/dp/B0016MOC28/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542066076&sr=8-1&keywords=akg+271+headphones

 

I really didn't want open-air, and these got pretty good reviews from others on a headphone message board. I've had no problems with anything breaking off.

    My son has the 701's.   They sound really good but they are too expensive for my tastes.  Sadly as you get older and your hearing starts going I have to wonder if they are really worth it.  I did had the same issue as row+33 with the AKG.  After an hour or two they hurt my ears, so the time I could wear them was always limited.

     I am not keen on open headphones.  All of the Sennheiser's I have are closed except for one.   I also don't like earbuds, although my son says he has a pair that sound great and are wireless.  I prefer wired devices because I think the sound is better but I have never done a comparison with bluetooth devices.

 

    I am really liking this WA.   I have the urge for more Lennon, so I think I will try the Plastic Ono band album you mentioned above. 

[row_33]

23 minutes ago, Greybeard said:

    My son has the 701's.   They sound really good but they are too expensive for my tastes.  Sadly as you get older and your hearing starts going I have to wonder if they are really worth it.  I did had the same issue as row+33 with the AKG.  After an hour or two they hurt my ears, so the time I could wear them was always limited.

     I am not keen on open headphones.  All of the Sennheiser's I have are closed except for one.   I also don't like earbuds, although my son says he has a pair that sound great and are wireless.  I prefer wired devices because I think the sound is better but I have never done a comparison with bluetooth devices.

 

    I am really liking this WA.   I have the urge for more Lennon, so I think I will try the Plastic Ono band album you mentioned above. 

 

It was a common complaint of those headphones, I figured an hour was enough anyways, might have preserved my hearing. It had a lot of breakable parts and I’m usually careless with my possessions...

 

Up front, John’s first pop solo album came from a lot of soul searching and primal screaming therapy with Janov, a good mix with his Rolling Stone magazine interview in which he let out a lot of anger and comments that I don’t believe were all true...

 

 

[row_33]

 

John let Ringo do his thing on POB, Remember's shifts in the first 30 seconds are good to replicate at home.

 

 

[The Process]

Abbey Road.....the fifth Beatle is on the cover....and "she came in through the bathroom window" is a teenage boys imagination starter!

[row_33]

Noted diffs for a listener, close to my 800th entire listen to the WA in all mixes and forms, first time with the 2018 in full.... 

 

Back in the USSR:  Paul says Back in the USSR audibly at the end

 

Dear Prudence: bass riff just before the ending

 

Glass Onion:  1:43 John and vocal ??? interplay enhanced

 

Obladi Oblada:  missing first clap in the intro???  clinking at end enhanced

 

Wild Honey Pie:  slowed down a bit, makes it more of what i guess it was meant to be.... left channel voice at end enhanced

 

TCSO Bungalow Bill;  mellotron guitar intro clearer, Yoko harmony clearer

 

While My Guitar... tap clicking clearer in left channel, especially during Clapton solo

 

Happiness is a Warm Gun:  FINALLY tried to restore the stereo bass and cymbal and drum PUNCH!!! for the Mother Superior section!!, mono is still better though

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Real Buffalo Joe]

Haven't gotten the new White Album yet. But I've been listening to Revolver and Rubber Soul past few days. Through a decent set of headphones, but nothing special. I'm not much of an audiophile type guy, but it seems like they were literally just playing with stereo sound for the hell of it. Like putting some instruments on the left, and some on the right, with no rhyme or reason to it, other than the fact that they learned they can. Sgt Pepper seemed to really click for them.