This is the first Beatles LP I ever heard in my life. One of my uncles (the person who made me love vinyl records when I was a little kid) owned it, and I had the guts to steal it from him in 1974 or ’75 along with some other LPs from his collection that I enjoyed so much. Fortunately I did it, because many years later, when he was in a dire financial situation, he sold his collection without even letting me know (and knowing how much I loved it. I will never forgive him).
But one day in the early eighties (before he sold his collection), he told me that I could keep the LPs I stole from him, but he wanted this one back. So I gave it him back, and never saw it again.
Until a few days ago, when I bumped into it while browsing a Colombian eBay-type site. I am happy with my Beatles collection and this is particular LP isn’t a remarkable product by any means… but it was my first encounter with The Beatles! Enough reason to buy it.
Of course, this is basically the “A Hard Day’s Night” album with “Can’t Buy Me Love” and “You Can’t Do That” omitted, plus “Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand” included. But after listening to it after more than 30 years since the last time, I found other particularities:
1. As stated on the cover, the album is actually monophonic, but it doesn’t have the true mono mixes. These are fold-downs of the stereo mixes (the harmonica intro for “I Should Have Known Better” is the one from the stereo album, which is different from the true mono version. Also, the vocals from “If I Fell” are the ones from the stereo version).
2. The tracks are slightly (but noticeably) sped up. All the recordings are somewhere between 4 and 5 seconds shorter than actual playing times, but not because they were mutilated. I have perfect pitch and, from the very first chord, I noticed the pitch difference with the “correct” versions. That’s why I decided to compare the running times.
I think these details are relevant and important, and that’s why I’ve wanted to share them here. Thank you for reading!
This is the first Beatles LP I ever heard in my life. One of my uncles (the person who made me love vinyl records when I was a little kid) owned it, and I had the guts to steal it from him in 1974 or ’75 along with some other LPs from his collection that I enjoyed so much. Fortunately I did it, because many years later, when he was in a dire financial situation, he sold his collection without even letting me know (and knowing how much I loved it. I will never forgive him).
But one day in the early eighties (before he sold his collection), he told me that I could keep the LPs I stole from him, but he wanted this one back. So I gave it him back, and never saw it again.
Until a few days ago, when I bumped into it while browsing a Colombian eBay-type site. I am happy with my Beatles collection and this is particular LP isn’t a remarkable product by any means… but it was my first encounter with The Beatles! Enough reason to buy it.
Of course, this is basically the “A Hard Day’s Night” album with “Can’t Buy Me Love” and “You Can’t Do That” omitted, plus “Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand” included. But after listening to it after more than 30 years since the last time, I found other particularities:
1. As stated on the cover, the album is actually monophonic, but it doesn’t have the true mono mixes. These are fold-downs of the stereo mixes (the harmonica intro for “I Should Have Known Better” is the one from the stereo album, which is different from the true mono version. Also, the vocals from “If I Fell” are the ones from the stereo version).
2. The tracks are slightly (but noticeably) sped up. All the recordings are somewhere between 4 and 5 seconds shorter than actual playing times, but not because they were mutilated. I have perfect pitch and, from the very first chord, I noticed the pitch difference with the “correct” versions. That’s why I decided to compare the running times.
I think these details are relevant and important, and that’s why I’ve wanted to share them here. Thank you for reading!