The Beatles - Unique Australian Singles

A small selection of Beatles songs unique to Australia.

1 - I Want To Hold Your Hand (1963 stereo mix; rhythm left channel, vocals right channel, like a twintrack mix)
2 - The Ballad Of John And Yoko (folddown of the standard UK stereo single mix)
3 - Old Brown Shoe (folddown of the standard UK stereo single mix)
4 - The Ballad Of John And Yoko (New Zealand/Australian radio edit)

Some of you may have seen and/or downloaded my "Australian 20th Anniversary Singles Collection - Vol 1" torrent. It was my intention to continue the series by upping volumes 2 and 3--encompassing the remaining 22 singles--however, the quality of the majority of singles is not up to acceptable standard. For the 1982 box set, EMI Australia chose to recut a number of the more worn singles, but budget constraints meant that they stopped about halfway through. Thus, most singles are pressed from the original 1960's or 1976 stampers, which were cut from UK vinyl or tape dubs at that, so as you can imagine the sound is not that great.

I decided that the effort spent on cleaning up the tracks when there are far better sources of the same mixes already available was simply not worth it...

...EXCEPT for the few tracks that have mixes or mastering unique to Australia. So I decided to put my best effort into three tracks that you are not likely to find elsewhere easily, and present them in one small file.

I wanted to add the other two folddown singles, viz "Something/Come Together" and "The Long And Winding Road/For You Blue" as well, but they sounded dreadful. 

All the other singles from the "Australian 20th Anniversary Singles Collection" have mixes that can be obtained either officially, or via better sources.

FWIW I must admit that I have always preferred the "mono" versions of "The Ballad Of John And Yoko" and "Old Brown Shoe". They're well worth a listen!

As a bonus, I've also included a transfer (not made by me but restored by me) of the rare censored radio edit of "The Ballad Of John And Yoko", which was pressed as a 7" single by HMV New Zealand for radio broadcast. It's little known, but EMI Australia also pressed copies of the same edit on their "custom" label for radio airplay in Australia.

I've included both 16bit (CD Redbook) and 24bit versions.

==Vinyl transfer and 24bit restoration by Q==

Source:
1-3: 1982 "Australian 20th Anniversary Singles Collection"
4: 1969 HMV NZ single

Linage: 7" -> Ortofon 2M Blue -> Project Xpression III (w/ SpeedBox II) -> Denon PMA-700AE -> 32/96 -> ClickRepair/Audition -> 24/96 and 16/44.1 (iZoptope RX 5 Advanced) -> FLACDrop

Enjoy!

Download
CD/Hi-Res quality (188mb)