De Wolfe - DW/LP 3178 - Images Symphoniques - STEREO?

[Moon Monkey]

Hello, I was just wondering if any of you splendid people might have a copy of this album in lossless stereo? I've got the old mono rip that was circulated a while back, but it's in stereo on the website and was hoping that someone might be able to share...

[nidostar]

Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Moon Monkey. The DWLP (without "S") usually means it was a mono release. But you're absolutely right the version on their website is in glorious stereo which makes an enormous difference to a piece like this. Sadly I only have the mono original. So +1 if anyone has been able to get hold of the stereo version.

It makes me wonder how many other library albums released in mono were actually recorded in stereo. Anyone?

[KPMPK1001]

Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Moon Monkey. The DWLP (without "S") usually means it was a mono release. But you're absolutely right the version on their website is in glorious stereo which makes an enormous difference to a piece like this. Sadly I only have the mono original. So +1 if anyone has been able to get hold of the stereo version.

It makes me wonder how many other library albums released in mono were actually recorded in stereo. Anyone?

I know a few examples of library albums released in mono that were actually released in stereo. One example I know from the top of my head is DWLP 3185, Bumper Bundle. The vinyl rip I have is in mono but the recently digitized version uploaded in November is in stereo. Another example could be the KPM album Twentieth Century Portrait because the track "The Awakening" was later released in stereo. However, the rest of the album has not been digitized in stereo.

[Moon Monkey]

It makes me wonder how many other library albums released in mono were actually recorded in stereo. Anyone?

This album originated as a Teppaz release and according to Discogs was available as a stereo version in 1960. It's unclear what the relationship between De Wolfe and Teppaz actually was but numerous recordings from the one end up with the other. There definitely are anomalous stereo mixes though!

A couple I've noticed -

Sunspots by Derek Laren - released on a 78 in 1962, DW 2752, never reissued on LP, but finally appears in a true stereo mix on B-Movie Monsters in 2000. Either they retained the multi-tracks and remixed it for the occasion (unlikely), or De Wolfe were routinely making stereo mixes of their output throughout the 60s. Which is exciting.

Stormy Weather and La Rue Morgue - both from DW 2710 in 1961. These were reissued on DWCD 0192 - not finished stereo mixes as such: every instrument is mixed either extreme left or extreme right, so basically they're the original 2-track multitracks. They sound horrible but obviously were never supposed to be heard in this form.

Probably many more examples.

[Lord Thames]

This probably merits a separate thread, but the KPM 1000 series stuff recorded in Cologne was done in stereo right from the outset, though a fair bit of it only survives in mono - some of the master tapes have a mix of tracks in stereo and mono, even if they were recorded at the same session and appear on the same album! 

Some stereo KPM tracks also survive on vinyl only thanks to the short-lived Aristocrat label.  The LP by the Carnaby Street Pop Orchestra and Chorus also has some stereo versions of KPM tracks which are otherwise now lost.

De Wolfe persisted with mono into the 70s, long after everyone else had made the switch to stereo, but they seem to have kept stereo masters for most of them - the stereo version of The Best Of Johnny Hawksworth actually includes alternate takes, some of which are quite different from the vinyl.

[oliverino]

don't know if it's stereo or mono

hxxps://www.swisstransfer.com/d/a3cb9f30-52a9-4b6a-9e2d-bbd2792a93e2

[Moon Monkey]

Its stereo! Thank you so much, oliverino, that's very kind of you. Much appreciated!