By far, the most generous of visitors, though, lives on the other side of the big pond, and he has provided a copy of the CD to me in exchange for a another, equally difficult-to-find Cooke CD (which, in itself would not have been available to me were it not for the beneficence of yet another regular visitor to this site -- you know who you are, too). The search for the CD is over (thank God). To all of you who contacted me in this regard, I just want to say that you are a fine group of guys. I bow to you humbly. Isn't it grand how kindred spirits always love to pitch in?

Checking through my database, only the 3 titles followed by an asterisk are in stereo on other compilations in my collection. The Womack song is unknown to me. This is not to say that some of these titles aren't available in stereo elsewhere. Of course the two I've read about from time to time on BSN are "B-A-B-Y" and "The Snake." Apparently the latter is rarely put on collections, and some claim that the original tapes for "B-A-B-Y" may be lost. My only comparison for the Carla Thomas song that I have appears on a Compton's NewMedia/Rhino computer interactive CD-ROM called "Soul Expedition." I bought this at Babbage's in the Mall about 4 years ago. On the Charly CD "B-A-B-Y" is as good as I have ever heard it. Dynamic Range on it is actually very astounding, with sharp percussives and reasonably deep bass. Since most BSN followers use the term "hissy" to describe many songs, I can say here that this one is not "hissy." Nor are most of the songs on the CD. For me, the other really great track is the Brenton Wood, which is in clean, very wide stereo. I have never heard this one sound this good before either. The only one that I find objectionable is "Soul Man." I found this one in the used CD bins at Wherehouse, but subsequently found that it is still listed at the CDWorld site. In sum, the budget price for this 16 track CD is money well spent, in my opinion.

Regarding the premature reports of the demise of DCC, it brought to mind concern for the health & welfare of one of the early leaders in super sounding CD reissues, RELIC. What had me worried was the fact that oodles of their product is turning up as "cutouts". Anyone interested in hearing otherwise unavailable stuff like Don Gardner & Dee Dee Ford's "I Need Your Lovin'" (unedited "jam" session version from which 45 hit was excised), the original unedited "Don't Ask Me to be Lonely" by The Dubs, the cleanest ever "Stay", "Get A Job", "In the Still of the Night", plus tons of rare stereo better act fast or else be prepared to pay "collector's" prices. Some Relic CDs beat the sound of similar issues on Ace (UK), Rhino, etc. and all beat the britches off Collectables "rip-off" knock-offs. Bottom line, I got a line on over 100 titles that i think I can get for as low as $10 each. So, if you're interested, get in touch with me quick, before it's too late !!!!!

News bit recently said Ron Furmanek did fully remastered STEREO soundtrack for coming fall Miramax cinematic re-issue of A Hard Day's Night. CD issue not likely, I'd guess.

Who's got a lead on a comprehensive listing of where's what & what's what for CD STEREO ROLLING STONES? Knowing that they did Chess & Hollywood & other sessions in stereo isn't gonna tell us where to get, say, "It's All Over Now" in STEREO on CD. ….which by the way sounds great in stereo on an 80's Euro.-comp. LP I have (that most certainly did not follow "RIAA guidelines"/"specs" - - WILD & WOOLY WICKED bass thumpin' sound !!!!)

"Just Because" Dave Clark asked, Lloyd Price's re-recording first cropped up on his first ABC LP…("Exciting.." .??!). Mine's the MCA Germany cd r.i.. Good sound (tapes). "J.B." re-do also landed on numerous re-packages thereafter. U.S. MCA 18 - cut best of has KRC original in mono.

"True Love" stereo versions I have are all film versions. I would like to have the "hit'/record (Decca ?) version in stereo… is it out there ???

Herb Alpert's "Zorba the Greek" is long stereo version on o.o.p. "Jukebox Hits.." Cd series …not at home right now to check vol. #. Have access to 20 or so volumes of this series too, DIRT CHEAP !!! Most grade a "B" or so in BSN newsletter. Lots of rare stereo & low - charters.

Is "She's About a Mover" on Ace "Chartbusters Vol. 1" any improvement over Rhino issues ??? ("Nuggets" box -mono, of course- & "Texas music…" compilations…). Really disappointing to see Ace going the "middle road" with more homogenized selections on "Chartbusters..", where they could have delved so much deeper….. Their "Golden Age…" R & R series seems to be into "safe" territory too lately. Oh well, they still have the super-duper rip-roarin' "Rockin' from Coast to Coast" that kicks the %&*^@(*! outta recent Rhino 4 CD '50s box re-hash.

THAT"S ALL FOLKS !!!!

I appologize for the delayed response to your request. We are hoping to RE launch our "Lost & Found" by the end of next week and we'll begin taking new out-of-print title requests. Please check back to catch our all new "Lost & Found" department and you should resubmit your order on the site. Thank you again for your patience.

---Michael Miller, WHEREHOUSEMUSIC.COM, Manager Internet Customer Service

On a really good recording (even if it's mono) there is a record of spatiality imprinted in the master tape -- distances between individuals, for example. There is a sense of real music in real time with such recordings, and clearly, many (most) mono recordings do NOT have this quality. The best known examples of what I call wide mono can be heard on many of Buddy Holly's records (but not CDs). The best example of Wide Mono that I could illustrate on CD would be on the original Mercury 45's on CD, Volume 1 wherein the distances between the percussion instruments, the back-up vocalists and the lead singer are readily perceived (on a good sound system) on Little Darlin'. Although mono, there is a well-recognized sense of depth and staging on the recording -- if you have an audio system that can recreate what's really there. You certainly cannot hear this phenomenon on headphones.

If anyone ever makes it to Baton Rouge, I would love to have you come by for a demonstration of SEVERAL recordings with "wide mono" sound.

With regard to Ray Charles in general, though, I don't recall seeing anything mentioned here about the recent Rhino ULTIMATE HITS CD that was released a short while ago. This one, too, has the stereo version of the song, and it sounds cleaner than the ASC track to these ears, as do most of the songs in the set when compared to those on the DCC 2 volume set issued about ten years ago. I agree with Luke P that the stereo and mono tracks of the song on the five copies of the song I have (2-S, 3-M) all seem to have the same origin.

With the conveniences that man has been able to develop over the course of history, he has made his life more comfortable and enjoyable. When science finally learned that it could reproduce and transmit sound (and pictures too), it meant that we could experience events and activities from a great distance, and at little cost. One no longer had to go to the Globe Theatre to see a Shakespeare play, or travel to Washington, D C to watch George W. Bush, Jr. be inaugurated on January 20, 2001. We can watch these sorts of things on television, or listen to them over our FM stereo radios. I don’t recall the actual dates on which research into something to replace monaural recordings with stereo ones began in earnest, but I can tell you that the need was recognized early. RCA’s Red Seal Division (their classical music division) was recording Fritz Reiner, Charles Munch, Atrur Rubinstein, Arthur Fiedler and Jascha Heifetz in experimental multi-track recordings (which were later released as STEREO) long before the industry launched its broad-based campaign in 1958. I own a few of these (stereo) records that were recorded as early as 1952 by Lewis Layton et al for RCA. The most famous of these to modern collectors are Reiner’s 1952 “Also Sprach Zarathustra,” and Fiedler’s early (not certain of the year) “Gaite Parisienne.” Far beyond their significance as some of the earliest examples of stereophonic sound is their sound quality, which to this day is considered some of the most natural ever recorded.

Mr. Ryan, the advent of stereophonic sound was one of the most important events for the classical music industry. Of the many wonderful records that were made prior to the advent of stereo, only a few survive today as CD reissues, primarily because of the public’s interest in certain conductors -- Furtwangler, Toscanini, Walter, to name a few. Beyond that, Classical Music collectors far more avid than me most often do not buy a monaural recording of a performance when they know that a stereo one exists. Many of the famous early stereo records from RCA and Mercury are worth hundreds to collectors today, but a simple glance at the classical LP section of ebay’s auction site will show you that very few are interested in the mono ones. The most famous and popular Classical record of all times is, perhaps, Antal Dorati’s historic recording of the 1812 Overture done for Mercury in the mid-fifties. Because Mercury had not recorded this project so that it could later be released in stereo, they had to re-record this project later (and put it in an amazingly similar jacket) when it was clear that the demand for stereo recordings far outstripped availability. The point is that because of the special demands that recording a large orchestra entails, the need for multi-channel playback systems is far more critical here than it was on most popular records. Keep in mind, too that nearly anyone who had a Sears Silvertone tape recorder and a garage could get into the music business in those days; but few could afford to finance a recording of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at Orchestra Hall in Boston.

That Brian Wilson is Deaf in one ear does not mean that his fans should be. Two of the best-SOUNDING Beach Boys albums ever released, Surf’s Up and Holland, were released ONLY in stereo. Besides, the new release of Pet Sounds has, according to the ears of another BSN regular, the best sound in mono ever available for the album (I don’t know about that -- Steve Hoffman’s Vinyl LP for DCC is pretty awesome). Just program your CD player to play tracks 1 thru 13, and you will never have to hear the stereo.

Couldn't have said it better myself. I have always thought that "it was meant to be heard in mono" is a weak argument for wanting everyone else to conform to one's own philosophy of what one THINKS were the motives of people who did things 30-40 years ago. If I made a decision 40 years ago, does that mean I can never change my mind? Sure, I find Olivia Newton-John doing semi-rap versions of her hits distasteful and ill-advised, but why tell others they can't like it because it wasn't supposed to be that way when she recorded them 30 years ago? At least we get a good laugh. -- MC

STEVE, at the very least, what this means is that we can now hear things in those vintage records that takes us closer to the sound of the source, for better or worse. But, thanks to guys like you who can shape this music better than ever before, spurious noise, distortion, and overwrought sibilants can be abated to the point that a lot of this stuff that used to be unlistenable is actually enjoyable now. If you want to hear how bad the majority of pop music sounded back then (stereo versus mono aside), c’mon over to my house, and I’ll put my original 1963 Valiant 45 “Rhythm of The Rain” on my record player, and then we can compare it to what we might all agree is the poorest transfer to CD (in mono) of the song currently available. Nollo contendre.

But Steve, although it may be true that it has “been chronicled that Atlantic had the first 8 track reel to reel made and it was delivered in early 1958,” it is clear that several companies (other than RCA’s early ventures in the classical genre) anticipated the eventual acceptance of a second speaker in one’s living room, and thus began multi-track experimentation. The tape machines that RCA used for its early recordings were not commercially produced units as Atlantic’s were: they were “proprietary RT-21 1/4-inch 15ips machines, wired to a pair of mono mixers.” They also used Ampex model 300-3 1/2-inch 15ips to make the session tapes, which were mixed down to the masters on the RT-21’s (info taken from an RCA Living Stereo CD booklet). There are also early examples of stereo from labels such as Dot (Pat Boone), Kapp (Roger Williams) and Specialty (Lloyd Price), not to mention that some of Harry Belafonte’s recordings for RCA were done in multi-track prior to 1958, and then later released in stereo. These may have been done on 4 track machines instead of 8 track, but in listening to some of the songs recorded as early as 1956, I think it is clear that, at least for SOME of the record companies, the pursuit of quality sound (whether stereo or mono) was more than just an afterthought. It all boils down to the fact that some companies had greater financial resources than others, so they could invest in better equipment AND BETTER TALENT IN THE FORM OF THE BEST ENGINEERS OF THE DAY. Who would argue against the statement that Buddy Holly’s late 1958 recording (in stereo) of “True Love Ways” has a more natural, realistic sound than many other popular records of the period? And don’t those wonderful sounding Monument recordings of Roy Orbison (heard best on Steve Hoffman’s DCC release) demonstrate that they too had bigger plans for their music than the AM radio? I am not asserting that you and beetlefan are not correct: obviously, the mixdowns to mono were made for AM radio play indeed! It’s just that I think the distinction between the quality sound we hear from some labels of the period indicates to me that some labels had listeners other than automobile occupants in mind when they pressed their records.

Let me take the time to correct 2 errors in my earlier note. Symphony Hall is in Boston; Orchestra Hall is in Chicago. Reiner’s pioneering stereo recording was made on 3/8/54, not 1952; Feidler’s on 6/21/56.

I had been considering buying my own CD-Recorder for my computer until I discovered that it was impossible to make a copy of a commercially recorded music CD that sounded exactly like the original. Additional research (done in conjunction with 2 others in Baton Rouge who have also discovered this to be true) has shown us that we can also alter the sound we get out of CD recorders by varying the BRAND of blank CD we use to make the copies (believe it or not, we found the sound from a copy made on a Verbatim blank to be preferable to that from a Sony). We tried our experiments on 3 different CD recorders -- one of them was an industrial grade CD duplicator requiring no software at all (it wasn’t even connected to a computer). The 2 PC based units were from Hi-Val (Panasonic) and Sony. We found the Hi-Val yielded the closest copy to the original, the CD duplicator next, and then the Sony came in with the least accurate of the 3 copies we made. We also experimented with some of the new SBM 20-bit remasters from Sony, just to see what would happen when these were duplicated using a computer capable of only 16-bit reproduction. I won’t get into the differences we heard (that might be a later post), but they were many.

We A/B blind tested each other using 2 Carver SD/A490t CD players to play back 2 original CDs first (so that all 3 of us could get a feel for the way they sounded). Then each of us would take turns testing the other 2 by loading at random either the original and one copy, or the two copies (we could not see what was being loaded) into the two players. One person participating in this test (not me) scored perfectly. For each of the six tests, he correctly identified the Sony & Verbatim copies from the original. I was correct on only 16 of the 18 possibilities; guy #3, a non-audiophile was correct only 13 times. Statistics might tell you this is impossible, but we heard what we heard. Comments? Plausible explanations?

As for the DCC Highway 61, it stands as a testimonial to the great talents of Steve Hoffman. It is, in some ways superior to my original "six-eye" first pressing of the LP, which absolutely creams the original CD (from the mid eighties) in every respect. Since Sony has just remastered several of Dylan's albums to SBM, I look for this one to be in my TotalE shopping cart the very day it is listed. The DCC, BTW, is worth big money to collectors.

But beetlefan, while I agree with you that they shouldn't oughta be re-issuing all the same stuff over and over again, don't you agree (really) that you would rather pay for the same music again if it sounded better than the original CD release. Yeah, they shoulda done it right the first time, but we all learn from our mistakes. I hate to keep pounding on CBS/Sony, but it would be awful if they hadn't bothered to remaster Abraxas. That new 24-bit version they came out with last year was immensely better than the version that came out in the '80's. That earlier CD was just about as bad-sounding as anything CBS released. And don't forget about all those super Byrds reissues either.

Here's your chance to take another crack at Rhino. It appears that they are going to get into the custom CD business "for internet users only." They are calling the program HANDMADE. If you go to the Rhino site, you will see in the bottom right corner that in 4 days (as of today) "A New Breed of Rhino Will Appear." If you click on the right buttons, you can get to a place where you can submit your suggestions. I suggested that they re-do "Pharoaization" in stereo, and then added that I would also like to see anything else they've released in mono that could have been done in stereo as some of their other offerings. You cannot buy a "handmade" CD unless you register, and each title will be limited to 1000 copies.