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The Beatles

A perfect stereo remastering of the Beatles' second U.K. album, which officially exists only in mono; where these tapes were retrieved from is anyone's guess, because they're a match for the quality of EMI's official mono issue, except, of course, that they're in stereo. The separation does mute the impact of the bass just a little bit, but it allows one to hear the nuances in the guitar parts and the lead and backup singing in ways that the mono version simply doesn't permit. This is nowhere clearer than on George Harrison's "Don't Bother Me," the pounding opening of "Little Child," and "Please Mr. Postman," in which the division of the sound changes the whole texture of the songs and gives the listener a lot of musical detail that is otherwise denied. As bonus tracks, listeners get the stereo U.S. LP-issued mixes of "She Loves You" and "I'll Get You"; stereo versions of "Sie Liebt Dich" and "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand"; plus work-in-progress takes of "Don't Bother Me," "It Won't Be Long," and "Please Mr. Postman"; plus one John Lennon outtake from the same period, "I'm in Love." ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide