Beatles Dr Ebbetts Japan Cd - Help! (Mono)

Help! (DBM-018)

Help!, The Night Before, You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away, I Need You, Another Girl, You’re Going To Lose That Girl, Ticket To Ride, Act Naturally, It’s Only Love, You Like Me Too Much, Tell Me What You See, I’ve Just Seen A Face, Yesterday, Dizzy Miss Lizzie

The EMI CD release of Help! from April 1987 is in stereo, and there have been several needle drops of the mono edition since. These include Original Monaural Recording (PMCD 1255) in 1989, a release on (fake) Odeon (MO 984008) from Germany in the late nineties which has the mono LP, outtakes and incidental music from the film all on one compact disc and a version on B4 Records (CT-004) containing the mono album plus outtakes. Several years ago Millennium Remasters issued the mono on three unique releases. The Millennium Red Collection (EAS 70134/EAS 80554) with the stereo also from a Japanese pressing. The Millennium Original Monaural Recordings (PMC 1255) of the mono LP only, which that label said: “The sound work is not our own, but comes from an exclusive set of mono cd’s that came out of Japan (originals were housed in mock reel-to-reel boxes). The original sound sources are supposedly from safety copy tapes made by TOSHIBA EMI in the early 80’s when they first put out the ORIGINAL MONO RECORDINGS on red vinyl.”

The third is the Millennium Remasters (PMC 1255/PCS 3071) with both the mono and stereo albums. The mono is transferred from the 1982 vinyl black box set. Purple Chick released Help! Deluxe Edition Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 that has the stereo and mono mixes, and a disc devoted to outtake material on cdr released in 2007. Dr. Ebbett released the UK mono LP before on Help! (PMC 1255) in 2000 on cdr which received high praise. The current DBM is a new transfer pressed on silver disc. The mono version this LP is worth having since the vocal track on the title song is different than the one found on the stereo mix. Lennon sounds much more aggressive and makes one wonder if this is why there is another performance used on the stereo release of the album. The new Dr. Ebbett is very good with a tiny hint of distortion in the upper frequencies. Also, there are digital clicks during the final track “Dizzy Miss Lizzy” which sounds like a faulty cd glass master. It is unfortunate this is less than perfect since it could have been a solid release by a respected label.