1-10: US London NP-2 (Side 1: ARL-8126-1C / Side 2: ARL-8127-1C)
11: UK Decca LK4955 (Side 1: XARL-8476-4A)
Vinyl transfer & Restoration / Torrent Produced by Prof. Stoned
Often criticized for being a poor imitation of Sgt. Pepper, ‘Their Satanic Majesties Request’ is definitely somewhat of a oddity within the Stones Discography. There are likely very few Stones fans who will name this one when asked for their favourite album. But who can resist the spacerock anthem '2000 light years' or the classic 'She's a rainbow' ? It could even have been a great album if 'We love you', 'Dandelion' & 'Child of the moon' (of which an early take was recorded during the TSMR sessions) were added in favour of (pretty bad) tracks like 'See what happens' & 'Gomper'.
This was the last Stones album to get a monaural release in the States. Although Decca UK would continue to release mono Stones albums up to Let it Bleed, pretty much all of these are fold downs (= mono mixes created from stereo mixes). In fact, TSMR was the last Stones album to get a dedicated mono mix (= mix made from the multitracks straight to mono). Strangely enough, this dedicated mono mix was only released in the US & Canada on the London label. Decca UK opted to use a fold down of the stereo mix, whether intentionally or by mistake is unknown *
* (Decca DID use the true mono mixes when they released the She's a rainbow/2000 lightyears single.)
Rhe opening track of Beggars banquet is a bonus here. For those who wonder why there isn;t the whole BB album in mono seperately: 'Sympathy for the devil' is the ONLY track on the mono UK Decca pressing of BB that happens to be a true mono mix. All other tracks are fold downs of the stereo mixes - including 'Street fighting man' of which a dedicated mono mix appears on the The Singles Collection 68-71 boxset. The reason why SFTD had to be remixed to mono was purely the result of a technical flaw in the stereo mix: when you add the two channels of the stereo version together the piano will disappear as a result of phase cancellation. After Beggars Banquet, Decca went on to release two more Stones albums in mono: 'Through the past darkly' and 'Let it bleed', both of these are fold downs (with possible exception of 2 or 3 tracks on the former).
So far, ABKCO -who holds the rights to all the Stones Decca-era recorded material- has never reissued the mono versions of Aftermath, Between the buttons & TSMR on CD. Neither were any of them reissued on vinyl after 1969. Or so it seems... In the late 70's, London did a reissue of TSMR with both the (none-3D) sleeve and label on the record carrying the word stereo(phonic). But this record was cut from the original '67 mono lacquers and thus has dedicated mono mixes on both sides. Said pressing was used as the source for this transfer.
WHY would you want to hear this in MONO when we have stereo? Answer: because the mono mix sounds more powerful: it has a more ballsy low-end and -most importantly- a better balance among the vocals and instruments. You will most certainly hear subtle differences if you are well familiar with the stereo version. And even if you like the stereo version better, it's always fun to hear a familiar album from a different angle.
If you are only familiar with the (Russian) import mono CD of this album which predictably uses the UK Decca LP as its source (= the stereo folddown), you'll be pleasantly surprised to hear how good the true mono version actually sounds.