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Reviews: The Beach Boys: Pet Sounds

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Reviews: 1

Review by analogue September 24, 2015 (5 of 6 found this review helpful)
Performance:   Sonics:
1966/13 tracks/ MONO/ 36 minutes

Depending on whom one talks to there is a common belief that if a recording is originally constructed with mono in mind....that it should only be heard as such. There might be some wiggle room though but not always.
I have the Mobile Fidelity stereo sacd and am quite happy with it. I did however have a nagging suspicion that I was missing out by not owning and hearing Pet Sounds in its original mono form. Fast forward to 2014 and Universal Japan releases some Beach Boys sacds in MONO.

I wish that I could say that this mono version of such a classic album was incredible and a revelation......but alas its not. I am not saying it sounds bad at all...there are some improvements over the Mofi sacd........but all in all its a tad bland and unremarkable. This comment comes from a reviewer that is insane over the Shm Sacd catalogue.............so its a little difficult for me to be giving this disc a low grade review. However in my opinion it does merit such.

Some reviewers criticized that fact that the 1996 transfer of the mono to stereo transfer utilized low rez pcm technology and its with this I mind that there are some advantages to this newer transfer. For example.....voices are a tad fuller and more organic. There is a more transparency and openness to the overall sound. I think there were a few moments where the disc did in fact shine and sound like the way I wished the entire disc sounded. But again............I simply wasn't wowed or shocked in any way by this mono version...and it comes from the original U.S. masters.
There were, to be fair, a few moments where I got the distinct impression that there was more going on in the mix....more actual instruments being heard and more voices.......although for the life of me I cant really say precisely why I felt this.

To make a long story short: I believe that we as music lovers have a very definite idea of what mono is supposed to sound like. Its not stereo..it is different. It has a more sudden feel to it......it gets into ones head differently than stereo. I wanted this with this mono release and I felt that I was deprived of this. Its nobodies fault...I am not blaming anyone. The tape sounds like the tape sounds.

I would only recommend this sacd for the purist of the purists. Again it does not sound bad in any way..........but it doesn't shock the listener into believing that the mono version is the only way to listen to this great album. Its not.

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