Momentarily offput by her disappearance, you are indeed caught a bit off guard when the fellow in the black turtleneck turns to you and inquires as to your opinion of the best album produced by the British Invasion. Remember never to let the unexpected (be it an individual or his query) faze you, and, if you need a moment to collect your wits, look down at your drink, give it a knowing swirl and take a sip.
“Ahh” you begin “now that has to be a trick question. I’d be hardpressed to choose between Who’s Next, Abbey Road, Sticky Fingers or any of a dozen other albums. I have to say, though, the mono release of Sgt. Pepper’s is pretty amazing, have you heard it?”
You should expect this to be greeted with totally blank stares, so you are going to have to explain yourself a smidge. As it turns out, the album (along with a number of other Beatles albums) was originally released in two different versions. One version, in mono (short for monophonic or monaural which means there is just a single channel of sound – if you had a set of headphones and were listening, the left and right side would play the exact same thing), was mixed in the presence of the Beatles themselves. The other, in stereo (stereophonic, which, as I am hoping you guessed, has multiple channels), was mixed by an Abbey Road engineer.
En route to Abbey Road, scene of the mixing mix up
Both versions were released on vinyl, though the mono version fell out of print, and was unknown for a long time, save to some really hardcore Beatlemaniacs. In 2009, a remastered edition of the mono version was released, and it has a number of differences from the stereo version most of us know. One such example? The mono version of “She’s Leaving Home” is noticeably faster paced and higher pitched than the stereo version.
Of course, all this is a bit esoteric, but, then again, you were just using the Union Jack as a conversational topic to impress a pretty girl. Might as well take this to its logical extreme. Keep in mind that this is all about confidence, and that people will go with you so long as you are entertaining them more than, say, the fellow talking about his time as a talking mime, which, you were pretty sure, was a contradiction in terms. In any case:
“The album has a number of subtle differences from the original. Now, I can’t imagine that the differences between the two would have mattered much to the millions of screaming fans listening at the time, but it’s interesting to think that most of the people who have heard the album, heard something different than what the Beatles intended. How about you? Favorite?”
Well turned, sir. Let the conversation continue as it will.
