I don't have a soft spot for this song. I have limited tolerance for this kind of bouncy super-white Britpop. And the fade-out feels interminable, even though it's only about 50 seconds. I also don't see the point of the kitchen sink approach at the end.

I find the German mix weird, with the orchestral instruments on one side and the band on the other. The imbalance in particularly noticeable right at the beginning, where the "Love love love" chorus sounds tiny and lost in the middle of the mix, and then the right and left come in and it fills out.

I don't have my computer set up right now in such a way that I could listen effectively to these songs in the new mixes, but I've got to go on record as not being a fan of this song. It ends up almost seeming a self-parody of hippie consciousness-raising linked to a lowest common denominator sing-along pandering chorus. Everybody hug now, and make sure to knife your best friend as you leave, just so we know it's 1967.

Mr. Mod, I know you're far from home, but when you return I'd love it if you supplied details for this particular German version and where it might be obtained. You may have done that already and I missed it; my apologies if that's true. I may not be the only one who's been persuaded that this version of MMT is worth hearing, but hasn't been able to listen to it here on the blog.

Mwall, I believe what Mr Mod has been posting are mp3's he made from an LP version he acquired some time ago. This passage from the Wikipedia article about MMT implies that these stereo versions of the songs are what you get if you buy a MMT CD today:

When standardising The Beatles' releases for compact disc in the late 1980s, the American LP version (which was imported into the UK, peaked on the British album charts at #31 as an American import, and was issued by Parlophone Records in Britain in 1976) was included with the British album lineup instead of the British EP, with true stereo recordings replacing the earlier processed ones. (The true-stereo version of the Magical Mystery Tour LP was first issued in Germany in 1971, but the 1976 Parlophone issue used the Capitol masters with the fake stereo.) Capitol quietly reissued the Magical Mystery Tour LP using the German masters in the US with catalogue number C1-48061 in true stereo. The remaining Beatles non-LP single sides were compiled as Past Masters, Volume One and Past Masters, Volume Two.

BigSteve, that Wiki entry is misleading -- no, in fact, it's incorrect. These German mixes are unique, and *not* available on CD, except in pieces on certain obscure box sets long out of print -- according to the uber-Beatles nerds that hang out in Beatles/audiophile chat rooms. Plus, a quick A/B comparison between these mixes and the currently available CD clearly shows Wiki's description to be inaccurate. The history of the Beatles' stereo mixes -- for this LP and others -- is surprisingly complicated and arbitrary. My impression is that there are usually at least four or five mixes of the later stuff -- say, from Sgt Pepper's on -- across all kinds of comps, countries and configurations.

Wikipedia is usually pretty trustworthy for musicians famous enough to have lots of fans knowledgeable enough to correct mistakes in an entry. In this case it sounds like the matter is too complicated to correct easily.

I've just been enjoying the way everyone here now refers to them as "the German mixes," as if they were actually done by Germans.

And btw Fritz, you're saying that the currently-available-on-CD version of MMT is the fake stereo? Or the mono mixes?

BigSteve -- my impression (I posted a bunch of links about this when Mod's series started to go live) is that the current CD is neither "fake" stereo nor "mono," but some stereo iteration put together in the US, or for the US, that has since become sanctioned, as if by default, as the standard. Beatle/audiophile geeks hate these mixes for reasons I can't quite understand. Anyhow, they're not the German mixes.

BigSteve -- here's the shit I posted a while ago. The "answer" is in here, somewhere:


Comment from: hrrundivbakshi [Member]
This does a fine job of *not* clearing things up:

http://www.rarebeatles.com/photospg/mmtep.htm
Permalink 08/17/07 @ 16:25
Comment from: hrrundivbakshi [Member]
Well, the answer seems to be in here somewhere. Seems the only *unique AND authentic* stereo mixes on Jim's German pressing are "Penny Lane" and "Baby You're a Rich Man." In other words, Beatles-approved stereo mixes of the remaining songs were created and released in one form or another in the UK and the US. There were also bullshit stereo-ish things done, though by whom, when, and to which songs in particular I don't know. The subjective assessment of the relative quality of these stereo mixes versus others is what's relevant here, it seems.

This whole "true stereo" label seems to be horsepoop.
Permalink 08/17/07 @ 16:36
Comment from: hrrundivbakshi [Member]
Oops, meant to attach a geekfest URL to my last post:

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/archive/index.php/t-8053.html
Pe

I feel compeled to clarify:

Songs where the *only* stereo mixes known to exist are on the German LP: "Penny Lane" and "Baby You're a Rich Man." Since the mixes on my US CD are both stereo-ish and different from the German, I can only assume they are "fake" stereo, whatever that means.

Songs where there are other, "real" stereo mixes *different from* the German mixes: all the other MMT material.

WAITAMINNIT!

I spoke too soon -- I just did an A/B on a bunch of tracks, comparing Mod's German thing with the US CD mix. Here's what's going on, as best I can make it out:

1. The stereo pan "mixes" -- i.e., placement of instruments/voices in the L/R speakers -- seem to be the same, except that for some reason all of Mod's tracks are "flipped," with the L channel playing on the right and vice versa. (Maybe your phono cartridge is wired backwards?)

2. There is no doubt that the German mixes have a great deal more shimmer, separation and clarity. They seem less compressed, but I think there's more going on here than that -- though exactly what that might be, I dunno.

3. As far as I can tell, there is no difference in the relative volumes between instrument and vocal tracks on the German vs. American mixes -- but whatever the US engineers used to screw the tracks onto tape results in a lot less separation and distance between voices, maing the German product sound much more alive, and allowing us to hear specific things as being "louder." They may in fact *be* louder -- I'm just saying I don't think that has anything to do with actual mix-down volumes for these tracks.

Note that I didn't A/B all the tunes -- just "Penny...", "Baby...", "All You Need..." and "Strawberry..." I do remember there being a substantive difference in the L/R pan of the motorcoach SFX in the title track, so there may be "real" differences on the other tracks -- but I doubt it.

I am a bit ashamed of my earlier assertions that there are larger differences between the mixes, but I felt I must come forward with the truth, as much as it may hurt.

The truth may hurt, but not as much as hanging out with your previously alluded to "uber-Beatles nerds that hang out in Beatles/audiophile chat rooms" would.

What I think BigSteve is trying to say, Bakshi, is:

WOOT! WOOT! WOOT! NERD ALERT! NERD ALERT!

To confuse things even more, while looking at newsgroup archives (what those of us running wild in the streets instead of in the safety of those upscale Beatles/audiophile chat rooms are forced to do) to see if anyone actually knew how Lennon played the clavioline, I came across a mid-1990s post from some guy who suggested that there was another, superior mix of "Baby You're a Rich Man" that was on neither the initial CD release nor the version perfected by the Germans in their secret labs under order of the Kaiser, but was put out in the Beatles singles CD box set, which I don't own to compare. Still, if you can't trust some guy on the Internet from 12 years ago, who can you trust?

I don't know if this is true, or if this supposed third mix ended up on the "quietly re-released" Magical Mystery Tour CD, or is one of those other ones mentioned above. But it is mysterious, and I think I'm going to pitch this to Nicholas Cage for National Treasure 3: International Treasure.

Thanks for all the details, guys. It reminds me that one of the important things about experts is their ability to go into immense detail about why a seemingly simply question really has no answer. I've been using this technique for years in my teaching.

Listen, guys: whatever you conclude from this, please don't knock off any rock nerd points I've accumulated over the years for touting this German version of the album. It's not often that I have "one up" on anyone in these matters, so take your fact-finding missions offline, OK? Thanks.

I hope you enjoyed this Magical Mystery Tour...In True Stereo.

By the way, any flipped channels might simply be the result of lack of attention to detail when plugging in cables from my stereo to my burner. Or maybe that's how the Germans wanted it!

It's hard to listen to all the Paul songs on here again, even with such noble scientific intentions, except for "Penny Lane". Mark me down as a Paul naysayer. I know these are the songs of a very talented songwriter but their directness is their strength and weakness. If I heard them as often as I heard Badfinger or even Tom Petty I'm sure I'd feel differently but since I hear them as often as "The Star Spangled Banner" they've lost their ability to amuse. The Lennon songs have a spooky ability to sound surprising and mysterious each time. Paul McCartney is John Lennon's bass player as far as I'm concerned, the Pete Quaife to John's Ray Davies and I mean that as a compliment - I love Pete Quaife. (I wouldn't shop at Starbucks for a new Pete Quaife disc either...).

Thanks for your work though Mr. Mod, all that extra space and definition in these mixes is a real plus

Listen, guys: whatever you conclude from this, please don't knock off any rock nerd points I've accumulated over the years for touting this German version of the album. It's not often that I have "one up" on anyone in these matters, so take your fact-finding missions offline, OK? Thanks.

I didn't hear anybody trying to knock off your rock nerd points, Mr. Mod. I think they're even increased by the fact that this German version remains more or less (I don't know how much more or less) unavailable.

But I have been wondering whether you were going to give the basic rock nerd throwdown here, and so far, you haven't quite. If you did, you would say bluntly, this:

"The German version of MMT is finally the best one that has been put on the market. And I have it, and you don't."

Hey Mr. Mod. you can listen to your German version and compare it to mine on my stereo if you want! We can see if there are different numbers printed on the lead out area!!

Hey Mr. Mod. you can listen to your German version and compare it to mine on my stereo if you want! We can see if there are different numbers printed on the lead out area!!

Ah, nerd luv...