Hello Friends, This week on the show we're finally taking another trip out with The Who, and their 1967 concept peak, The Who Sell Out. Presented as an AM radio broadcast, complete with fake Ads and genuine Radio London bumpers, surely this album is designed with that Mono AM Radio format in mind - but does the quality of the recording exceed this and truly need stereo to understand it properly? And if so, does the 1995 remix present it in it's truest light? The short answer to all of these is y...
Jun 28, 2023•43 min•Season 2Ep. 10
Hello Friends! It's time to jump back into the world of The Mamas and The Papas today, with their self-titled second LP from November 1966. A fantastic collection of music from the canyon, we of course saw original release in both mono and stereo, while final single 'Words of Love' also received a new dedicated mix with overdubs for 45 release. There's some fantastic differences here to dig into, but also some mixes that really serve each other well, making choosing a favourite a difficult task....
Jun 14, 2023•32 min•Season 2Ep. 9
Hello Friends! In our latest Patron requested episode, we’re taking a look today at the 1967 classic LP from British Rock Trio Cream, Disraeli Gears. Originally issued in mono and stereo mixes, this LP has occasionally been mislabelled online as a fold, outside of both sides of the Strange Brew/Tales of Brave Ulysses 45. Today I am very happy to confirm this is not the case, with each of the 11 tracks most certainly having its own dedicated mixes for both editions of the LP. However, does this m...
May 17, 2023•22 min•Season 2Ep. 8
Hello Friends! In an episode I teased as coming soon almost a year ago, it's finally time for Mixology to take on The Beach Boys' most unusual offspring, 1967's Smiley Smile. Recorded in the aftermath of Smile's cancellation, this incredibly lofi, yet incredibly intricate little album was only originally issued in mono, getting a couple of stereo mixes for the first time in 2001, and then finally a full LP stereo mix in 2012 for it's issue in Japan - before then being tweaked further before bein...
May 03, 2023•58 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Hello Friends! As is routine, it's time for me to pull out a slightly left-field pick for the show, which means today we're looking at the fantastic LP Neon by The Crykle. Released in 1967 on Columbia in the USA and CBS in the UK, this LP is chock full of killer melodies, fantastic performances, and was issued in two great mixes. As was often the case on Columbia, we either end up with songs that sound very close, or songs with some very dramatic and clear differences, and today we have a lovely...
Apr 19, 2023•22 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Hello Friends! The time has come for the first part in a sub-series for Mixology on a topic I've been wanting to cover for a while - fold-downs. Specifically, albums that originally had a stereo and a mono issue (usually as a promo) that was created primarily using the Stereo mix as the source. Today, we’ll be taking a look at 3 fantastic LPs from 1968 - Birthday by The Association, Take a a Picture by Margo Guryan, and Beggars Banquet by The Rolling Stones. Do these albums benefit from the fold...
Apr 05, 2023•29 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Hello Friends, Just a quick message from me regarding a very special announcement Monkees fan of the show won't want to miss! Hey, hey everyone! The Headquarters Mixography booklets are being printed! These are 48 pages, 7.25” x 7.25” (to match the super deluxe edition booklets). This guide lists all variations of recordings made from January to March 1967. There are full mix notes for all Headquarters album tracks and several other key tracks. In full transparency, while all available versio...
Mar 28, 2023•3 min
Hello Friends! As voted on by my Patrons, this week on Mixology we’re taking on the 2LP beast from The Bee Gees, the ever-fascinating Odessa. Originally issued in 1969 in stereo, as well as a late mono issue in the UK, this gives us two lovely mixes for this wonderful album, both of which I heartily enjoy, and of course both carry with them their own unique elements. From the grandiose entry of the title cut, through single First of May and the country tinged Marley Purt Drive, and even the orch...
Mar 22, 2023•48 min•Season 2Ep. 4
Hello Friends! It's time to take a trip back to the land of The Rolling Stones as we continue our look at the Psych of 1967, with Their Satanic Majesties Request. The Christmas effort that year from the group, this album has divided opinion since release, and with a messy history of the issue of it's mono mix, which is the way one should be listening to this rather unique offering from the group? Thankfully we only have the mono and stereo mix to look at once again, so in that case - on with the...
Mar 08, 2023•33 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Hello Friends! We're kicking the year off proper today, with an album I have had requested from the moment I started Mixology, and that is The Piper At The Gates of Dawn by Pink Floyd. The only LP released by the group under Syd Barrett's leadership, this album truly is something else, with seemingly disconnected ideas strung together to somehow make a psychedelic classic. Never remixed, this album was issued in 1967 in both Mono and Stereo, and oh boy, do we have plenty to dig into here. Prepar...
Feb 08, 2023•47 min•Season 2Ep. 2
Hello Friends, and welcome to Mixology for 2023! We're starting the year off a little differently, with a wonderful conversation I had recently with Craig Smith. Best known for his work on the Monkees Mixography website and the upcoming Mixing Links: The Monkees on Disc book, Craig has worked with his partner Derek Miner to create the most comprehensive guide to the 900+ unique mixes in the Monkees US discography, in a resource used by everyone from Andrew Sandoval to this very podcast! Less of ...
Jan 25, 2023•1 hr 27 min•Season 2Ep. 1
Hello Friends! Well, with another year over, and a bout of illness delaying recording, it's time to look back over the year we've had. It's been one of incredible growth for the show, and I wanted to take some time to thank you all, not just in words, but by finally responding to some of the emails I've had over the last three years telling me everything I missed, and setting the record straight. So, with a bevy of seemingly unconnected mixes in hand from the likes of The Monkees, The Hollies, a...
Dec 17, 2022•21 min•Season 1Ep. 66
Hello Friends! We're back at it again today with, not only another new remix, but also a look at an album already covered on the show, The Monkees' classic 1967 LP Headquarters. In our original instalment we covered the original mono and stereo mixes, but today we're covering both the 1989 Bill Inglot remix on Arista, and the brand new 2022 remix by Andrew Sandoval from the Super Deluxe Edition of the album. While the 1989 was a remix from the final 4-track master, the new 2022 remix provides a ...
Nov 29, 2022•43 min•Season 1Ep. 65
Hello Friends! This week on Mixology we're riding back to 1967 with The Hollies (again - whoops!), and their fantastic LP Evolution. Recording at the same time as Sgt. Pepper, and released the same day, this is an album that has always had a very curious stereo mix, one that sounds identical to the fantastic mono. Are these two dedicated, but very focused mixes, or is the mono simply a fold? Today we'll be taking a slightly different approach through the story of this mix, with a discussion on w...
Nov 16, 2022•22 min•Season 1Ep. 64
Hello Friends! Thank you for your patience as I've been moving house, but now it's time to come back into things with a bang, as we breakdown The Beatles' 1966 All-Time classic Revolver, in celebration of the new reissue of the album. We'll not only be looking at the original UK Mono and Stereo mixes of the album, but also the many stray mixes issued in the USA (and the UK), the various remixes done in 1999 and 2015, and of course the new 2022 remix - a first for the Beatles episodes of Mixology...
Oct 28, 2022•1 hr 15 min•Season 1Ep. 63
Hello Friends! We're taking a trip back again with The Hollies this week, and their second LP on Parlophone, the wonderful In The Hollies Style, released in November of 1964. A huge step up from their debut LP, this saw the bevy of original numbers grown from 1 on the debut to 7 here, along with some fantastic covers to boot. But with this growth, do we see a development in mix differences? Well, with a mono mix only done for the UK, and a stereo mix made for export only, we shall have to dig in...
Oct 05, 2022•23 min•Season 1Ep. 62
Hello Friends! We're taking another trip out with The Monkees this week, jumping right back to the beginning with their debut LP. Released in October 1966, we once again have mono and stereo mixes of the whole album to look at today, as well as 3 unique TV mono mixes/edits used in the first series of the show. So Take a Giant Step outside your mind and see which mix truly is definitive, and if Rhino have kept the correct one in circulation... Happy Listening, Frederick Support the show and get h...
Sep 21, 2022•23 min•Season 1Ep. 61
Hello Friends! Today on the show we're journeying to 1967, with Aretha Franklin's 1st LP for Atlantic, the classic I Never Loved a Man The Way I Loved You. Kick starting her career on the new label, the album included both the title cut and huge hit 'Respect', but the album us full of many other equally fantastic cuts - including a few Aretha originals. But most importantly to us, there's a surprising amount of differences between the mono and stereo LPs, with some very fine tuned mixing decisio...
Sep 07, 2022•27 min•Season 1Ep. 60
Hello Friends, After the recent passing of Seekers member Judith Durham, I felt it only natural to direct my next Mixology efforts towards my favourite studio LP from the group, the wonderful Seekers Seen In Green from 1967. With it's ill-fitting psych-drenched jacket, this folk-pop gem was thankfully issued in mono and stereo upon original release, with no unique single mixes or subsequent remixes, and was reissued on CD in 1991 in both these mixes. While these sources aren't the best mastering...
Aug 24, 2022•20 min•Season 1Ep. 59
Hello Friends! This week on the show we're taking our second look at The Byrds, with their 3rd LP Fifth Dimension. Released in both mono and stereo in 1966, 5 of the tracks were treated to new stereo mixes in 1990, and then an unknown quantity in 1996. Today, we'll be comparing the original mono and stereo mixes, all the new 1990 mixes, and also all mixes used on the 1996 CD, regardless of the evidence suggesting remix or not, as honestly it's hard to tell (as you would know if you've checked ou...
Aug 10, 2022•35 min•Season 1Ep. 58
Hello Friends! We're taking another trip back to Kinkdom today, with The Kinks’ last LP to be released in both mono and stereo, 1969's Arthur (Or The Decline and Fall of The British Empire). A shockingly late period mono mix, this fantastic album explores a more matured, rock sound for the group, with plenty of British baroque elements mixed in, to give us a group of mixes that, while not as far apart as the UK and Australia, certainly have enough cultural differences to make them both worthwhil...
Jul 27, 2022•43 min•Season 1Ep. 57
Hello Friends! We've got an extra special episode of the show today, digging into all of the new mixes presented on the recently released Expanded Edition of The Beach Boys' huge selling compilation Sounds of Summer, newly remixed by Mark Linett. With 28 9not the listed 24) tracks to look into, we'll be breaking down each of these mix by mix, in the order they appear on the compilation, starting with the earliest mix offered, and working through a summary of all subsequent mono, stereo, single m...
Jun 20, 2022•1 hr 40 min•Season 1Ep. 56
Hello Friends. Many moons ago a listener of the podcast requested I cover The Lovin' Spoonful on the show, and I can only apologise that is has taken this long! On the show today we will be looking at the group's 1966 album Daydream, a mid 60s pop classic by anyone's measurement. Filled to the brim with fantastic singles, hooks, and original cuts, this album is a real treat for the listener. Between the mono and stereo mixes, we don't encounter too many true differences, but there is a real diff...
Jun 15, 2022•16 min•Season 1Ep. 55
Hello Friends! We're following on from our recent look at Please Please Me this week, with the earliest album by The Beach Boys to receive mono and stereo mixes, 1962's Surfin' USA. The follow up to their Capitol debut Surfin' Safari, this LP saw the production standards grow, with double tracked vocals and additional instrumentation entering the fray. What does this hold for the two mixes and their unique traits? And does the benefits of either mix hold true across the whole album? Let's go tri...
Jun 01, 2022•19 min•Season 1Ep. 54
Hello Friends! Today on the show we're taking another trip out with Nancy Sinatra, and her album of duets with Lee Hazlewood, Nancy & Lee from 1968. An album that for many years was seen as an underground classic, over the last few years it has risen to greater prominence in the music community, and today I want to take a look at that original 1968 stereo mix, the original mono single and LP releases of the 5 tracks released prior to the album, the Bill Inglot remix issued on CD in 1989, and...
May 18, 2022•34 min•Season 1Ep. 53
Support the show and get hours of extra content at: https://www.patreon.com/backtomono Hello Friends! Today on the show we're hitting the 50th album on the show, and I've decided to take it right back to the beginning, with The Beatles' debut LP Please Please Me. An album with a notoriously wide twin-track stereo mix, just how different could the mono and stereo mixes be? The answer is not too different, but there's a few key differences here that you may have overlooked, and a big hole to dive ...
May 04, 2022•17 min•Season 1Ep. 52
Hello Friends! It's time to get revolutionary, as this week on Mixology we'll be taking our second look at Paul Revere & The Raiders, with their fantastic LP Revolution! from 1967. The first in a line of 'featuring Mark Lindsay' titles thanks to their heavy wrecking crew involvement, Mark has gone on record as saying producer Terry Melcher only ever intended this album to be heard in mono. As a result, only 6 of the tracks received stereo mixes back in 1967, with Him or Me getting a stereo m...
Apr 20, 2022•21 min•Season 1Ep. 51
Hello Friends, and welcome to the first Mixology look at The Bee Gees. Today we'll be starting our journey with their 3rd UK LP Idea, released in 1968 in both mono & stereo mixes. With a drier and faster mono mix competing with a wetter and higher orchestra mix stereo, is one really superior to the other? Let's get an idea about the answer and find out... Happy Listening, Frederick Support the show and get hours of extra content at: https://www.patreon.com/backtomono Email the show at: backt...
Apr 06, 2022•28 min•Season 1Ep. 50
Hello Friends, today on the show we're taking our first trip out with The Association, and their huge hit 1967 album, Insight Out. Featuring hit singles 'Windy' and 'Never My Love', this album is somewhat of a mixed bag mix wise, covering everything from fold-downs, to multiple unique mixes across LP and single mixes for other tracks. Does this add up to a superior stereo mix, or a hodge-podge mono mix that somehow rises above it's creation? Let's find out in this long awaited requiem for the ma...
Mar 23, 2022•27 min•Season 1Ep. 49
Hello Friends! Today we're taking our first Mixology look at The Who, with their 1966 LP A Quick One. Following up on their first LP, this album featured far more original contributions from every member of the group, culminating in Pete Townshend's epic 'A Quick One While He's Away'. Originally released in the UK only in mono, the album received a mostly stereo mix in the US and across Europe, and these are the mixes we'll be looking at today. Many of the tracks were then remixed in 2003, mirro...
Mar 09, 2022•28 min•Season 1Ep. 48
