Beatles - That Means A Lot (True Stereo version)

[haltmusic]

Good mix. Hey, who knows what EMI/Beatles camp are/were thinking? I know for a fact that in 1991 "The Beatles At Shea Stadium" film was mixed and mastered into true stereo. The tapes included 2 songs not in the film. One of which was "Everybody's Trying To be My Baby", which appeared on the Anthology 2 CD package. Although they were given the superior stereo mix, the powers that be chose include a mono mix.

[kennyddd1]

Kind of suprised they didnt give this one away to some of the usual suspects. Might have made a top ten for someone eles on Parlaphone

[shutdafup]

This would benefit with a tad of old fashioned Capitol reverb -- i'm serious

[inkey2]

@cato1117moto i think it would be a lot better better with echo on the voices.

[Matrix803]

Really nice, cleaner-sounding version. :3

The one on the Anthology is, as tacarn said, nearly unlistenable.

Only issue with this is around 1:19 and toward the end, it sounds a bit muffled, but that could be the condition of the tape when it was digitized for mastering.

[leoconde]

@Matrix803 thanks for your comments. You're right, this problem is from John Barrett's original cassette tape. My dream is to see one day the original stereo mix released. If you see the Anthology DVD, there's a section where Paul is talking about the film Help and the ambient music is the stereo version of That Means a Lot. This means that they have the tape!

[AppleCorp3]

@leoconde Of course they have the tape!! I have NO idea why they put out the garbage mix they did on the Anthology, but the multi-track session tapes and mixes are all sitting in the vault right now....probably sounding just as good as ever.

[deepeemark]

The official mix should have sounded like other "Help" album tracks - with a hint of echo (such as "Another Girl"). The decision to use the 'Sessions" mix on Anthology was unfortunate - and probably money driven. (Same could be said for the Anthology mixes of 'While my guitar..." with the repeated end riff, and "Not Guilty" etc etc

[TheCatalanBraveheart]

I've opened a new playlist and named it 'GEMS' to save this version of the song... Thanks a lot, leoconde, for loading it...!

[justlookin626]

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! I love this song and thanks to you I will never listen to the Anthology version again. It's hard to believe that the Beatles still have all these great mixes in the vault. If Capitol (or EMI or Parlophone or Apple etc) would release a comprehensive box set of all these gems they'd make a mint. Despite what the recording industry thinks, if they release something worth while, the public will buy it.

[syleriam]

Is so beautful. Why they don't like it for a record why???? Great lyrics as usual definitely a BEATLE GOLD

[79goldmaster1]

Reminds me of the Hollies, with that beat....really good song.

[gajk041008]

does anyone know why this version was not on the anthology cd???? the anthology version sounds like an old transistor radio is playing under water!!!

[leoconde]

@gajk041008 I wonder why this stereo mix was not released on Anthology 2 since 1996...they sure have the original stereo mix on their archives (in the Anthology DVD this stereo mix appears as ambient music when Paul is talking about the film Help...)

[gajk041008]

@leoconde thanks....i'll have to check out the dvd, i haven't watched it for some time now.

[leoconde]

@gajk041008 Search for this video "THE BEATLES Anthology 4 (Part 1/3) Subtitulado Español.[HQ]" Listen carefully with a head-phone from 14:21 to 15:05. It's the stereo mix of That Means a Lot. So, they HAVE the multi-track master! we can conclude that they simply didn't bother tho remix it for Anthology 2 CD.

[gajk041008]

@leoconde thanks again....there's still so much great unreleased material of the beatles buried in the "vaults"! one example is 'carnival of light', i've heard some paul mccartney interviews in which he states that it will be released. i just hope as a huge beatle fan that more of it will be properly released.

[TheOneBeatleManiac]

leoconde, Of course they have the masters. It is a shame that a true stereo wasn't released. This true stereo mix was prepared for the unreleased Sessions. And Norman Smith doesn't say ''Can't You See - Take 1'', it actually says ''That Means A Lot - Take 1'', and there is a more extended breakdown.

[leoconde]

@TheOneBeatleManiac This stereo mix was in the John Barrett tapes that he selected for possible use on "Sessions", but they didn't include it in the "Sessions" master tape. For "Sessions" they used the same odd mono mix released on "Anthology 2". I think Norman Smith says "Can't You See" in the mix session. I have this recording. If you want, send me your e-mail adress and I'll send the mp3 for you. Regards.

[TheOneBeatleManiac]

leoconde, actually the Sessions one doesn't have the echo thing. I have it too. I have also the Take 1, and it says ''That Means A Lot - Take 1''.

[leoconde]

@TheOneBeatleManiac My post says: "if you hear the mix present on the monitor mix version, you'll hear Norman Smith announcing the song as "Can't You See". I meant the mix session, not the recording session. This is in the CD "Complete monitor mixes". Anyway, I'll post it in youtube later. About the echo in "Sessions" version, it depends of what "Sessions" you have. There's a lot of "Sessions" bootleg CDs. Some include the mono mix with lesse echo, some others included the full of echo version.

[diego39398]

@leoconde Olá Leo, eu gostaria se você pudesse me enviar o arquivo mp3 que o TheOne Beatle Manica nao quer porque diz ter tudo....

Muito obridado!

Esta é a primeira vez que posto um comentario no youtube..

Diego.

[leoconde]

@diego39398 você pode baixar o arquivo colocando a sua URL no site savevid. Caso não apareça a opção "mp3", vc pode salvar em mp4 e converter. Abs.

[diego39398]

@leoconde Leo, desculpe mas nao estou conseguindo...na verdade sou bem leigo respeito destas coisas, tem como me explicar o procedimento?? se eu te passar meu email pode me enviar o archivo?

[leoconde]

@diego39398 tranquilo, manda uma mensagem pelo meu canal com seu e-mail. Abs.

[tenniscollector]

My friend I don't know. I like the stereo mix but it lacks any of the oomph as heard on the Anthology release. Leonardo if you got nero wave editor can you create a new mix with a touch of reverb in order to match the Anthology reverb mix. If it comes up the same then that will be worth uploading on YT.

[sc013]

Listening to this song in comparison of the quality of the material they were putting out at the time, it's completely obvious this didn't measure up. It's my guess that as they were performing it, THEY kew it instictively, hence the lackluster performance. An interesting bit of history and great stereo mix way better than the Anthology mix...Bravo!

[BeatleThe]

Where did you get this version from??

[dogdogdogdogdog889]

i never heard this beatles song before its kind of cool in a simple way you know.

[leoconde]

Trivia: if you hear the mix present on the monitor mix version, you'll hear Norman Smith announcing the song as "Can't You See Take 1". This proves that this was the original name of this song, I think.

[vitoviolaenmano]

this song talks about an unrequited love with a friend? can someone please tell me?

[leoconde]

@vitoviolaenmano The lyrics of this song are very similar to She Loves You's. The singer is trying to convince his friend that the girl is good for him and that he should be glad to have her love. She Loves You #2.

[simbad909]

i think it wasnt allowed to be a hit coz of the word .. suicide .. in it. else its a good tune.. the other version is more of a rocker.. this one is nice.. mellow. with a drop of lennon screaming.or is that paul.. either way.. cheers.. good post.

[merubin75]

This is probably my favorite "lost" Beatle track. Well done on the True Stereo mix.

[surferriness]

1:48 Owned ;D

[famachris]

I think they booted this tune because its pretty stale sounding, and it suffers from horrible McCartney lyrics typical of post Beatles material. This tune clearly never made enough progress to go through a Lennon lyric pruning.

[Rominucka]

It has been said (I think by Lennon) that they gave away the song because Paul couldn't sing it very well and it's evident by this mix. This is not a great vocal performance.

And even though the Anthology mix is drowning in reverb it has much more power than this. What they should have done is remix the original, add a little less reverb, pan the piano and some of the background vocals left and right, with the band and lead vocal in the middle.

The Anthology mix is bad but this is worse.

[leoconde]

@Rominucka No surprise for me...because, after i heard someone saying that the Capitol fake-stereo mixes of She's a Woman and I Feel Fine were better than the true stereo versions, I know I must believe in everything...

[carmaj156]

@Rominucka Well Paul was still a kid, and they were self taught on everything they did, and it's obvious they hadn't so much experience on singing technique. You can see the difference on songs like Let It Be or Lady Madonna when Paul was already a quite good singer. Even so this performance is not bad at all to me, just below Paul's capability. And about the mix techniques used, well, I come again to the point: inexperince. Talking about one of the bands that changed sound mastering forever.

[xowaterisloveox]

Wow. The Anthology version sucks ass compared to this. Thanks so much!

[Rawego]

this song is so original, just incredible

[lolcattify]

Sounds better with the echo, lol

[switcherxx]

Notice, because this wasn't included in the movie/LP, John had lead vocals on four of seven songs, Paul had two, and George had one. That might explain (partly) why in the next releases (Rubber Soul & Revolver) Pauls vocals and songs were a lot more prominent. It seems after Help!, songs were a little less collaborated efforts than before. (It was also said during filming, the Beatles 'began' exploring marijuana.)

[supermd4589]

Wow, this sounds absolutely amazing! :)

[avivaben]

Nice! love this song

[capitolemiproducer]

Sometimes I wonder WTF George Martin was thinking. This was the official Sessions mix, that went to bootleggers. The Anthology muddy pseudo stereo mix sucks donkeys compared to this

[dascottjr]

@capitolemiproducer To be fair(?), the aborted Sessions album was responsible for the pseudo stereo mixing and weird edits (i.e. How Do You Do It, Mailman Blues), which the Anthology simply borrowed, rather than making fresh mixes. The mix presented here is a dub of the raw tape. Some copies of this take go even longer, rather than fading out.

[leoconde]

@dascottjr Yes, you're right. In the case of That means a lot, the Anthology mix is the same from the Sessions master. It's very hard to understand it because If You've Got Troubles, also present in Sessions with a terrible mix, was given a new true stereo mix when it was included on Anthology. I created this mix using the Barrett's raw tape, and created a fade-out similar to the mono version. Also did some EQ to enhance the sound. Let's hope one day the original stereo mix is released.

[andrefacil]

Trabalho de mestre. Valeu!!! George Martin fez um monte de porcaria nos Anthologies...

[giles422]

very good job. Not hairy and fuzzy. Thanks!

[LiveVideoAZ]

Thanks for a great upload and superb liner notes....Stay Gold

[bullbubb]

tacarn: You are right. This mix is so much cleaner!

[tacarn]

This is a great mix. The Anthology mix is unlistenable in my book.

[irisdoll25]

Nice info dude...thanks...