mary wells greatest hits and vintage stock better in mono or stereo

[motown_anthony]

I currently have the stereo editions of Mary Wells’ greatest hits and vintage stock I was wondering if anybody has any opinions on if the mono editions of these albums are better or the stereo one is. i also have the same question about the heatwave and dance party albums by martha and the vandellas. shoulf i keep my stereo versions or get the original mono?
Thanks Anthony

[robb_k]

I currently have the stereo editions of Mary Wells’ greatest hits and vintage stock I was wondering if anybody has any opinions on if the mono editions of these albums are better or the stereo one is. i also have the same question about the heatwave and dance party albums by martha and the vandellas. should i keep my stereo versions or get the original mono?
Thanks Anthony

I've always liked the Mono versions of those 2 LPs better. They're more crisp sounding. You can hear each instrument more clearly.

[Philles/Motown Gary]

Motown_Anthony, if you aren't sure, why not keep both the MONO & the STEREO versions? That way, you'll have the best of both worlds! You'll also be leaving room for your tastes to change. I used to prefer Motown's MONO versions; now, years later, I find myself preferring Motown's STEREO masters. Just to confuse you a bit more, there are exceptions to nearly every rule. There are cases in which Motown's STEREO versions left out crucial ingredients like handclaps and strings which were fully utilized on the MONO versions. The choice, of course, is up to you. If it were me, I would keep both versions.

[motown_anthony]

I've always liked the Mono versions of those 2 LPs better. They're more crisp sounding. You can hear each instrument more clearly.

is it the same for the vandellas album?

[motown_anthony]

Ive heard many people say in other forums that the stereo version of where did our love go has much less distortion and is much more enjoyable than the mono version, is that the case for you?

[paul_nixon]

Aren't there some alternate versions on the stereo of Vintage Stock?

[Sotosound]

For me, I sometimes like that distortion as it speaks of the time when these albums first came out.

As far as I know, this distortion was also largely deliberate.

A favourite track of mine is "Heaven Must Have Sent You" by The Elgins.

The mono single master is certainly not an audiophile's dream, being rolled off in the treble, and also muddy-sounding and distorted. But it has something special about it nonetheless.

The original stereo mix has more top and bottom end and has a far more open sound that enables one to hear the distortion better. [[Honest!) Also, to my ears, there's more distortion in the stereo mix and its not the same distortion as in the mono mix.

Both the original mono and stereo mixes are just over two-and-a-half minutes long.

There are also two much later stereo remixes, with one running to 2:34 and appearing on most CD compilations, and with the other running to 3:09 and turning up in The Motown Box 4-CD box set.

Both remixes seem to be based around the original full take of the track whereas both vintage mixes seem to be edits of that full-length recording that chop out 30+ seconds from the middle, including the first run through of the "It's heaven in your arms..." passage.

I've mentioned the remixes because they're much cleaner and clearer mixes, with very little distortion, and they certainly have none of the deliberate distortion that marks out the original mixes as products of the mid-1960s.

For me, although the remixes both have a lot of technical merit, they also lack that authentic 1960s feel and the magic that goes with it, however, and neither of them is therefore my "go to" version.

For me, the two original mixes each have more merit, so I will normally listen to one of them.

Just to add to the confusion, my favourite version of "Reach Out I'll Be There" by Four Tops is the original mono single mix, but my favourite version of "What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted" by Jimmy Ruffin is the original stereo album mix.

In essence, therefore, it isn't as simple as mono or stereo being better. A general rule of thumb for me is that the more uptempo 1960s Motown is better in mono, and slower ballads are better heard in stereo but, again, there are exceptions.

The examples above also come from the time when Motown used 8-track recording whereas the material that you mention goes back to when they only had 3-track tape machines and had to "bounce" lots of stuff around from machine to machine in order to create finished mixes. This "bouncing" [[dubbing from tape to tape) led to a reduction in sound quality, so neither the mono nor the stereo mixes will be audiophile.

Having said that, even back then the mono mixes of the more uptempo tracks tend to have more pizzazz and energy whereas the stereo mixes of the slower tracks offer more feel and more focus on the expressiveness of the lead singers.

So, as others have suggested, don't dispose of one "mode" in favour of the other. Instead, have a listen to both mono and stereo mixes and choose your own favourite mix of each track.

[robb_k]

is it the same for the vandellas album?

Both Vandellas versions are good. As a Motown collector, I'd get BOTH versions of BOTH LPs, because they're 2 different kinds of music. I have both, asnd I wouldn't want to give up one.

[YourOldStandBy]

I'll have to check if one is stereo and one is mono, but I have both vintage stock and a 70s British greatest hits by Sounds Superb, which have a lot of similar songs on it, but Vintage Stock sounded much more crisp and vibrant then Sounds Superb, at least my copies do.

[paul_nixon]

Like I said when they came to issue VS in Stereo I think they went back and used severeal different versions

[Blaksoulfire]

Just to add in another ripple - if you are playing the vinyl versions - then the og mono versions only make sense if you have a mono cartridge on your tone arm. For the modern mono reissues you can play these with a stereo cartridge but I have more times than not been dissatisfied with the sound results. Cds are another animal!

[RanRan79]

Like I said when they came to issue VS in Stereo I think they went back and used severeal different versions

Anyone know which songs are different?

[Sotosound]

Just to add in another ripple - if you are playing the vinyl versions - then the og mono versions only make sense if you have a mono cartridge on your tone arm. For the modern mono reissues you can play these with a stereo cartridge but I have more times than not been dissatisfied with the sound results. Cds are another animal!

That might frighten the horses.

I get excellent results playing mono vinyl with my stereo cartridge. Indeed, I've never owned or really been set up to run a separate mono cartridge in my stereo system. It's not something that everyone can accommodate.

The excellent sound that I do get is helped by having a mono switch to fold the two channels together and get rid of any rumble and most crackles, pops, unwanted sibilance etc.. Because of how it helps the sound, I've always ensured that my gear included a mono switch.

To be honest, my only ever mono cartridges were on a cheap £8 Supraphon portable record player, and on my original disco, which used Acos GP.91-1SC cartridges, and which had a single 50W amp driving two very efficient but awful-sounding disco speakers. I also suspect that the cartridges were the best component in the signal path.