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Does anyone know if the tracks on Rhythm & Greens EP have been released on CD in mono? I have the original mono EP on vinyl and the stereo tracks on 'The Early Years' but want to know if there is a digital copy.

Fenderman wrote:Does anyone know if the tracks on Rhythm & Greens EP have been released on CD in mono? I have the original mono EP on vinyl and the stereo tracks on 'The Early Years' but want to know if there is a digital copy.

The Lute Number, The Drum Number and Rhythm And Greens are available in mono (and stereo) on the second re-release of the "More Hits!" album [CD EMI (UK) 578199 2 ] with all the mono and all the stereo versions.

Main Theme and Ranka-Chank are not yet available on CD in mono.

Thanks i might actually buy that as there's a few other tracks in mono on that i don't have (Mary Ann, Stingray etc). I have very little of the singles in mono from 1965 onwards.

That mono/stereo release of "More Hits!" has actually been deleted, and really isn't easy to find.

Amazon has a used copy on offer for £72.

Ebay has the earlier (stereo-only) version for £3.99 (but that won't do, as it obviously has no mono versions, only stereo).

Good morning Jim,
I have just checked my CD collection and I have the jewel case CD with both mono and stereo version of 'More Hits'.
Cheers,
JohnB

My mistake.

Both versions of "More Hits!" on CD had jewel cases.

The earlier version from 1989 (CDP 792424 2) only had the 14 tracks in stereo.

The later version from 2004 (578199 2) had the 14 tracks in mono and repeated in stereo.

That latter disc is still the only source for any of the "Rhythm And Greens" tracks in mono, other than the original EP and the original mono "More Hits!" LP.

Oddly, if Ranka Chank and Main Theme have never been released in mono on CD they should have been included on the bonus CD of The Early Years which had about 30 tracks they said had never been released in mono on CD. The researchers must have missed that one.

More were certainly suggested, but the simple fact is that there were far too many such mono tracks (mainly B-sides) for them all to be included on the 6-CD "The Early Years - expanded edition" collection.

But don't give up hope. There's work going on behind the scenes.

Do you have any suggestions for mono B-sides not yet on CD?

I've got a little list, but it's always possible to overlook something...

For those who may be wondering, what difference would we hear between
original mono, and
genuine (not artificial) stereo played in mono?

Iain Purdon wrote:For those who may be wondering, what difference would we hear between original mono, and genuine (not artificial) stereo played in mono?

That depends on what you mean by "played in mono".

There are three systems which could be so described:

(a) something such as a 1960s mono record player of the Dansette / Fidelity / Bush type (mono cartridge, single lead from there to a mono amp and one speaker);

(b) a stereo system with a mono/stereo switch set to "mono" (meaning that the twin channels from the stereo pickup are combined at the input stage and fed to the stereo amplifier sections as mono; and

(c) a stereo system with no mono/stereo switch or with one set to "stereo", meaning that the twin channels are kept separate at the input stage and fed to the stereo amplifier sections (and thence the speakers) as discrete signals.

Leaving aside the issues of hardware quality, (a) and (b) should sound the same as regards the mix, though instruments located prominently in the centre of a stereo soundstage will tend to be more prominent in the combined mono "mix" whether on (a) or (b).

You'd think that playing a mono source on a stereo system would still produce mono (c) and that it would be the same as playing it on a true mono system. But with a vinyl source (or a source derived from vinyl and not processed further), a stereo pickup will often produce left and right channels that sound subtly different from each other in equalisation and compression levels. I get this all the time when transcribing vinyl to digital via a stereo pickup and routing. You can usually SEE a difference in the wave pattern on the computer screen. The effect is better (and more "monophonic") if the channels are combined before the pre-amp input stage - but... not many amplifiers have a mono/stereo switch these days.