Thanks first to Flaxton, Stewart, Phil and Joe for your comments in my 'Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) [UK original mono]' post. As I can't play vinyl albums now, I'm enjoying the next best thing - preferably HQ vinyl rips in flac format whenever possible of albums recommended by people who's views I'll listen to. What mono treasures are you not sharing?
So yes, I've really enjoyed mono versions of both Tomorrow's s/t album and Dylan's Blonde on Blonde. I read the official Dylan remastered mono CD box set fell below some expectations so I looked elsewhere and for now I got a very fine folder-full from Ebbetts [360 sound CDs]and a good vinyl rip of the Sundazed 180g vinyl reissue of original mono double album C2L 41 - 2008 remastered by Kevin Gray, fixing various issues of initial Sundazed release from 2002. What I'm now hungry for is a rip from the UNIQUE French version of the mono LP - with different mixes on 2 of the 4 sides and an alternative album cover! Here's some info about it:

A beautiful French mono pressing of Dylan’s 1966 masterpiece double album, Blonde On Blonde, with unique to the French issue alternate mixes and a different gatefold sleeve. As the superb Dylan discography website Searching For A Gem notes, ...



... “The French release is unique in that the gatefold sleeve has a completely different centre with French sleeve notes and pictures of earlier CBS France Dylan releases. All the pictures in the US/UK gatefold centre are missing. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again is here given as just “Memphis Blues Again” on the inside of the gatefold sleeve and record label. The records are unusual in that they have another set of mixes…(with the) US mix on Sides 1 and 4, but unique mixes on Side 2 and 3. (Expert) Roger Ford says: “The mixes unique to this release are of Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat, Temporary Like Achilles, 4th Time Around and Obviously 5 Believers. These mixes appear to be later than those on the Canadian mono album but earlier than those on the US mono.”



To avoid using up loads more of the limited space on UKPDF's server, here's a starter link to the chocolate factory of info about Blonde on Blonde's different mono releases. If like me you find such Dylanology gems fascinating and have the time [like, lots of it!], follow whatever links grab your attention, as there's enough info on this one record alone for a good few hours research!

http://www.searchingforagem.com/1960s/1966Blonde.htm

As always,
Enjoy!

Interesting about the French mono “Blonde on Blonde”, Steve. I never heard about that before. I have “Highway 61 Revisited” and “Bringing it All Back Home” in French mono editions, and they are gatefold albums with lyrics printed. I don’t know if the mixes of any of the songs are unique.
My mono collection on vinyl is mostly the Beatles (all albums) and Stones (up to Let it Bleed). My other mono, apart from some reissues like July which has only been reissued in mono include:

Small Faces “Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake” Immediate
Idle Race “Birthday Party” Liberty
Tomorrow (a reissue)
Honeybus “Story” Deram
Pink Floyd “Piper” and “Saucerful” (reissues)
The Monkees “The Birds, the Bees, and the Monkees” (true mono Australian RCA)

No Who or Hendrix unfortunately, although I have more mono on CD than vinyl. The recent Kinks box fortunately included a true mono version of “Village Green Preservation Society” . It’s a reissue of the Swedish version, with different mixes, and different song choices. And it’s unlike some reissues of the French version of that album in mono I’ve seen that have the correct cover art, but not the different true mono mixes. The reissue with the French cover is just a fold-down of the stereo mixes, using the same track listing as the mono, which is cheeky and lazy! I’m glad to report the recent boxed set included a true mono vinyl version.

Well, I've recently listened to the Floyd's Piper and Saucerful albums in mono again. They give me flashbacks to the first times I played these on my Dansette record player as a teenager listening with a few good friends, all of us in heightened states of mind! Interestingly, I came across something called Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd Gingerbread Men MONO Outtakes Vols.1 & 2 when I was browsing a friend's shared collection and naturally I needed to find out what it was. That's a story for another post on UKPDF.
Other fine mono sounds I've been enjoying are Jimi Hendrix's Are You Experienced and Axis Bold As Love LPs, Pretty Things SF Sorrow LP, Barclay James Harvest in concert BBC 1972 and Dave Brubeck Quartet - Time Changes, amongst others. When I wake tomorrow, I'll have Prof Stoned's vinyl rip of the Kinks Village Green Preservation Society to listen to.
So what have you guys been listening to in magnificent mono?

I'm in the mood for MONO.


The Doors - Strange Days (1967) Orig. US Mono 16bit/44.1kHz (CD Quality Audio)

Kinks Village Green Preservation Society

Electric Prunes - Underground (1967) Orig. US Mono 16bit/44.1kHz (Redbook Audio for CD burning)

Blue Cheer 1968 - Vincebus Eruptum [16-44 USA Mono - Prof. Stoned 2016] [flac]

Fleetwood Mac 1967-'68 - The First 3 UK Singles Mono [VR] [flac] PROF STONED

manfred mann 1966 - as is

frank zappa - lumpy money project, object (all songs mono)

The Who 1965 - My Generation (2011 Japanese Extended Re-release Remaster MONO). This is a folder I have with 29 tracks, yet the re-releases according to discogs only have 26 tracks.
Traffic - Mr Fantasy
Beatles - Beatles For Sale
Beatles - Rubber Soul
Strawberry Alarm Clock 1967 - Strawberry Alarm Clock
John Coltrane - Blue Train

Two noticeably different mono mixes of UK psych LPs are Blossom Toes - Everso and Family - Doll's House. Also, only the mono McGough and McGear has the phasing on So Much In Love. Often elements such as extra guitar, effects, vocals etc were added 'live' to the final mix down for the mono master and when it came time to do the stereo mix, usually an afterthought prior to 1968, these elements were obviously missing from the original multi-track tapes.

I have all those. They all sound great in mono.

The Sonics,The Wailers,The Galaxies Merry Christmas 1965
Jimi Hendrix Experience Axis Bold As Love 1967
The Sonics Boom 1966
Pink Floyd The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn Remastered Reissue 2018
Mint Tattoo ST 1969

Good to see the comments on great mono stuff and to see people also appreciate those things. Interesting to see you've the mono version of the Mint Tattoo album, Mr. musicarchives! I was prompted to check the album out as I didn't know it and pleased with hearing a new/old album. I could only get it in stereo though, so if you could share it in mono, that'd help my music research!



Cheers everyone,
Steve.

Recently aquired:
Blossom Toes: We Are Ever So Clean
Velvet Underground & Nico
Beatles: Magical Mystery Tour / The White Album
Dylan: John Wesley Harding
Beach Boys: Pet Sounds
Skip Bifferty

Hiya Steve and the rest of you good folk, Steve I'll get back to you concerning the email you sent, I've got so many to catch up on. I'll be honest I've never been one of the mono v stereo music lovers as in my experience the differences are usually small, but I know there are instances where there are big differences in the mix etc, I'm usually happy to hear or acquire the music no matter what mix or whether it's mono or stereo, by the late 60s mono was becoming less used and stereo became the main source to hear music. I know there are collectors who are pretty obsessed with it's gotta be original first pressing and in mono, but I've never been that person. I'm a collector of psych music amongst other sounds, but I'm a cd only collector, no vinyl for me, I'm more than happy with that, to me it's just a source that I choose to listen to music on. I feel some people look down on that, but it's the music that matters to me. I personally don't care or even impressed that someone has paid £300 for an original first pressing of some album from 1968,give me a cd of the same music for a tenner. I'm sorta the same with the mono and stereo thing, I'm happy with whatever is available, but I've heard the likes of the tomorrow album is far superior in mono and pretty different. That's fair enough if there's such a difference that it's like a different listening experience. But on the whole I've been underwhelmed by albums like piper and sf sorrow comparing the difference between the mono and stereo releases and mixes. Of course I'm not decrying anyone who has immense interest in it though, that's what a hobby or interest in something you love has on some people. And if it gives you joy and enjoyment that's brilliant, it's just I've never been that guy, I love this music we talk about here and that's my main interest, and of course knowing the history and making of said albums, I get a big kick out of that, hence I love cds with nice booklets and liners. We all have interests that keep some of us sane, to me this music does that, that's the main thing, enjoying it!! But I know people's obsession in their hobbies can drive them insane I'm lucky though I am a bit addicted to acquiring this music I'm fortunately quite balanced about it now, though that wasn't always the case, years ago I felt I needed everything, but financial constraints and worry soon put that to bed, I used to trade loads of cdr burns of stuff, but technology has moved on since then but I'm still stuck in the early 2000s. Sorry to ramble on, I'm sorry I've went off subject a bit, it's weird I disappear for a while then a reappear and you can't get me to shut up.... LOL... thanks for letting me ramble on anyone have any comments to make? I must just finally say Steve has kept this great place alive with all his posts, so hat off to you man!!!! You've been a fab addition and contributor to this place.