Number Nine, Number Nine, Number Nine: 9/9/9 Is Beatles Day
September 9th, 2009 is a true holiday for Beatles fans because the Beatles remastered CD box sets are finally being released. The CD versions from 1987 are considered to an example of very poor mastering which is why Beatles fans have been wanting to hear these classic albums remastered for so long.
But the excitement from 9/9/9 doesn’t just come from the fact that the albums are being remastered for the first time since their original release on CD, it also comes from the mono box set that is being released on that day. This is the first time that the original mono mixes of The Beatles albums (up through 1968 which is when they stopped doing mono mixes) are going to be available on CD.
So why should we care about such an outdated way of listening to music here in the 21st century? Mono was being phased out in the 1960s, why should we listen to mono mixes today? Well certainly many people may feel that way, but true Beatles fanatics want to hear these albums as they were originally intended to be heard and to do that you must listen to the mono mixes.
The mono mixes are what the band (along with George Martin & Geoff Emerick) were primarily focused on. The Beatles stereo mixes were done with little input from the band while they were very involved with the mono mixes which were worked on until they were just right. Because of this many feel that the original mono mix of an album such as Sgt. Pepper is the “real” version of the album.
But there’s even more Beatles stuff for fans to get excited about coming out on 9/9/9, for gamers there’s the Beatles Rock Band game which looks awesome from the previews of it I’ve seen. It basically allows you to play through The Beatles career from the days of “Beatlemania” through the psychedelic era all the way through the end. The Beatles Rock Band instruments even look like the real Beatles instruments (check out Paul’s bass guitar!) And for the first time harmonies are included as a part of Rock Band.
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Tags: Albums, CDs, Mono, music, The Beatles