Stereo Today -- what's still missing?

[Jonathan Blum]

Well, I've got some of the stereo-mix tracks, from the boxset, Endless Harmony, et cetera -- but ISTR hearing that the most recent hits collections had one or two more.  Could someone give me an update on what's generally available, what's known to be on the boot circuit, et cetera?  Will I ever get to hear a Dolby 5.1 mix of Bull Session With Big Daddy?

Cheers,
Jon Blum

[Wrightfan]

I think there's a boot from SOT that has a "stereo" Today.

[Bicyclerider]

"official" stereo remixes include Dance Dance Dance and Kiss Me Baby from Endless Harmony, When I Grow Up from Sounds of Summer, and She Knows Me Too Well and Please Let Me Wonder from the US singles collection.  There's also a stereo instrumental of Do You Wanna Dance on US singles.  We're missing a vocal stereo Do You Wanna Dance, Good to my Baby, Don't Hurt My Little Sister, Help Me Rhonda, I'm So Young and In the Back of my Mind.  And of course Bull Session.

[Wrightfan]

"official" stereo remixes include Dance Dance Dance and Kiss Me Baby from Endless Harmony, When I Grow Up from Sounds of Summer, and She Knows Me Too Well and Please Let Me Wonder from the US singles collection.  There's also a stereo instrumental of Do You Wanna Dance on US singles.  We're missing a vocal stereo Do You Wanna Dance, Good to my Baby, Don't Hurt My Little Sister, Help Me Rhonda, I'm So Young and In the Back of my Mind.  And of course Bull Session.

Actually, the alternate I'm So Young on the Today!/Summer Days two-fer is in stereo (kinda.)

[Ron]

Good to my Baby might be the greatest un-stereoized song left.  That's gonna be incredible when they finally get around to it. 

[Jonathan Blum]

Good to my Baby might be the greatest un-stereoized song left.  That's gonna be incredible when they finally get around to it. 

I vaguely remember hearing a bootleg version which melded the stereo backing track with the regular mono mix, worked pretty well...

Cheers,
Jon Blum

[Jonathan Blum]

and She Knows Me Too Well and Please Let Me Wonder from the US singles collection.

...oh boy, that's what I was afraid of.  One of my favorite tracks of all time, in stereo at last... but I have to buy the entire singles collection to get it.  I don't suppose iTunes US is putting the tracks up individually yet?

This is kinda like finding the first-ever true stereo "I Am The Walrus" hidden away in "Love"...

Cheers,
Jon Blum

[mikeyj]

...oh boy, that's what I was afraid of.  One of my favorite tracks of all time, in stereo at last... but I have to buy the entire singles collection to get it.  I don't suppose iTunes US is putting the tracks up individually yet?

This is kinda like finding the first-ever true stereo "I Am The Walrus" hidden away in "Love"...

Cheers,
Jon Blum

Hi Jon, not sure about iTunes but I assume they have the individual tracks there. But if not you can buy them individually at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Singles-Collection-Box-Beach-Boys/dp/B0018BWTSG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1219121590&sr=8-1

[lance]

"official" stereo remixes include Dance Dance Dance and Kiss Me Baby from Endless Harmony, When I Grow Up from Sounds of Summer, and She Knows Me Too Well and Please Let Me Wonder from the US singles collection.  There's also a stereo instrumental of Do You Wanna Dance on US singles.  We're missing a vocal stereo Do You Wanna Dance, Good to my Baby, Don't Hurt My Little Sister, Help Me Rhonda, I'm So Young and In the Back of my Mind.  And of course Bull Session.

Minor correction: When I Grow Up from Sounds of Summer is in mono. I believe the stereo version is on the new singles box-set(unfortunately, as no matter how big a fan I am, I will never ever buy that!! The good news is, these "new mixes" have a way of making it onto other compilations that follow...

[SG7]

I think Don't Hurt My Little Sister has not turned into stereo yet. The backing track for that song is incredible!

[Bicyclerider]

This is kinda like finding the first-ever true stereo "I Am The Walrus" hidden away in "Love"...

Cheers,
Jon Blum

Actually, the first ever true stereo I Am the Walrus was on the DVD Anthology.

The idea of Sounds of Summer was to present all the songs in stereo, remixing when possible, but I forgot that When I Grow Up somehow didn't make it into stereo fro that release.  I'll look at my SOT stereo Today/SDSN tonight and check out what's available there - but the "stereo" from that release is pretty dodgy, vocals on one channel, overdubs missing, etc.

[mjd180]

and She Knows Me Too Well and Please Let Me Wonder from the US singles collection.

...oh boy, that's what I was afraid of.  One of my favorite tracks of all time, in stereo at last... but I have to buy the entire singles collection to get it.  I don't suppose iTunes US is putting the tracks up individually yet?


Cheers,
Jon Blum

ITunes sells them individually. And, as someone else mentioned, Bicyclerider accidentally swapped "When I Grow Up" with "Please Let Me Wonder".

Note that stereo SKMTW is missing some original elements of the song. This is possibly why it was not previously considered as a remix candidate for the two previous, higher profile, compilations. Overall, it's still decent, but you will immediately notice the missing guitar part during the second half of the solo section. After the first guitar solos, there should be a completely different sounding guitar doing a "stab" solo. The guitar in this section is also missing from all the various SOT releases. So, it can be assumed it was recorded live as an overdub during mixdown, and no longer exists...

[She Dont Know A Thing]

My SOS has the "Original Stereo Version" of When I Grow Up.

[mjd180]

The idea of Sounds of Summer was to present all the songs in stereo, remixing when possible, but I forgot that When I Grow Up somehow didn't make it into stereo fro that release.  I'll look at my SOT stereo Today/SDSN tonight and check out what's available there - but the "stereo" from that release is pretty dodgy, vocals on one channel, overdubs missing, etc.

I especially like how SOT "borrowed" "Kiss Me Baby" and "California Girls" from 'Endless Harmony'!

[mjd180]

My SOS has the "Original Stereo Version" of When I Grow Up.

It's a mislabel. There's no such thing as an "original stereo version" of that song. Unless you count duophonic...

[Robbo]

"When I Grow Up" first officially appeared in stereo in 1993 on the GV box. And "Please Let Me Wonder (Stereo Remix)" was on WOTS.
Robbo

[Bicyclerider]

Are you sure about When I Grow Up?  I remember that Mark went out of his way to use the mono masters for that box - many of the songs were only available in mono on that box until the Greatest Hits Vols. 1 and 2 came out.

As for the missing songs, here's the breakdown of what's on the SOT stereo Today/SDSN:
Do You Wanna Dance - vocals left, instrumental track in "stereo" but overdubs only on the right channel, most of the track is in the left channel with the vocals.

Good to my Baby - stereo track (saxes on right, drums/percussion centered, guitars left) and mono vocal on left (with fainter sounding, same mono vocal on right).  Still, not bad.

Don't Hurt My Little Sister - mono track, vocals on left.

Rhonda (album version natch) - mono track, narrow stereo vocals.

I'm So Young - mono vocals, stereo track.  Decent.

Back of My Mind - best of the bunch, wide stereo track, mono vocals (again more on the left than right, but not as severe as Good to my Baby).

[mjd180]

"When I Grow Up" first officially appeared in stereo in 1993 on the GV box.

I thought that was just a stereo instrumental, or a binaural mix (1 "vocal" channel/1 "instrumental" channel), thrown in as a "bonus" on Disc 5?

That doesn't really count...unless your one of those strange people who like the first two Beatles albums in "stereo"...

[mikeyj]

I thought that was just a stereo instrumental, or a binaural mix (1 "vocal" channel/1 "instrumental" channel), thrown in as a "bonus" on Disc 5?

Yep it's a binaural mix.

[Robbo]

Well it is a binaural mix, but surely that's still stereo? It's sure not mono!

[Bicyclerider]

anytime the two channels do not contain the identical information, it can be called "stereo."  Binaural is a primitive form of stereo - the first stereo in fact, used on some elvis recordings in the 50's - where two microphones are used and everything recorded on one goes to one channel, everything on the other to the second channel.  "True" stereo would have information in left, right, and center (center information would be the same in both channels - like a vocal or drums might be in the middle while vocal overdubs are to one side, guitar to the other, etc.).  This creates a more realistic "soundstage" like someone is actually playing in front of you, it gives spatial cues and gives "depth" to the music.  Even more realistic is when is when guitar is mostly on the right, but also (softer) can be heard in the lest channel - this duplicates more what happens when someone is playing in front of you live (you hear it in both ears, just louder in the ear closest to the musician).  The stereo Pet Sounds takes this approach, different from the "wide" stereo that was popular in the 60's (largely as a result of the playback systems then in use - stereo speakers were usually small and close together, say on each side of a turntable, and in order to hear any stereo separation the "wide" stereo with hard left and hard right channelling was used).