The Beatles Mono Masters Review - Why the Mono Masters Compilation is a "Must Hear" Set

By Jackson Weinheimer

Non Album Tracks?

These days bands tend to put all of their best songs on their albums so when you hear about the non-album compilations for The Beatles (Past Masters in stereo and Mono Masters in mono respectively) you may think that it's just a collection of underwhelming B-Sides that weren't good enough to make it on the band's classic albums such as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Abbey Road.

But in actuality, nothing could be further from the truth! Many of the band's most famous songs were never included on their albums. The Beatles actually liked to keep their singles and their albums as seperate as possible so songs like "Day Tripper" and "Hey Jude" were never included on an album and likewise albums like The White Album and Sgt. Pepper's had no songs released as singles.

Mono?

The Mono Masters double CD compilation includes the original mono mixes of all of The Beatles non-album tracks (and the four new Beatles songs on Yellow Submarine, more on that below).

But why should you care about mono mixes? Well back then stereo wasn't seen as nearly as important as the mono mixes because most people listened back on mono record players at the time. So The Beatles actually spent a lot more time perfecting their mono mixes than they did the stereo. Because of this many people consider the mono versions of their songs to be definitive.

The Beatles Mono Box Set (which is the only way to get the Mono Masters compilation as it is not sold seperately) features The Beatles albums in mono on CD for the very first time.

Previously Unreleased Mixes (Yellow Submarine)

Because the original Yellow Submarine album (1969) was released only in stereo (their first album released only in stereo) the mono mixes that were made for the four new mono mixes included on the album were shelved until now.

This means that the Mono Masters set includes the very first release (in any format) of "Hey Bulldog," "All Together Now," "It's All Too Much," and "Only A Northern Song" in mono.

They were included on the "non-album" set because the entire Yellow Submarine album could not be included because the instrumentals that make up most of the album were never mixed in mono, thus it made more sense to include these four tracks on the Mono Masters set.

The Beatles In Mono Box is the only way to buy this Mono Masters Non Album Compilation as it's not available for individual purchase.

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