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I prefer the mono version of Thunderbirds Theme as it has more 'punch'.
Not sure why they were never issued in stereo as EP's back then were usually issued in mono and stereo? Or am i wrong?

Only some EPs were issued in stereo.

As I recall, the following were available in stereo:

The Shadows (ie, Mustang), 1961
The Boys (1962)
Rhythm And Greens (1964)

Plus some, but certainly not all, of the EPs extracted from The Shadows' albums.

None of the late EPs (1966 / 1967) were issued in stereo. The contents of "Thunderbirds Are Go!" (Columbia SEG 8510, 1966) were never made available in stereo in the heyday of vinyl. Thunderbirds Theme and Zero X Theme were first issued in stereo on the CD "The Shadows At Abbey road" (1997), though they had been reissued in mono on vinyl and CD several times before that.

Lady Penelope took a little longer - well, another sixteen years - to appear in two-channel format. It was mixed and issued in stereo on the 2013 CDx6 "The Early Years (expanded edition)", which is probably still the only source for that stereo version.

Overall (but not always) i mostly prefer the 60's Shadows tracks in mono as they tend to have more punch but some do sound better in stereo.

This is the only album I have on mono reel to reel, i still have a good selection of the old cassette albums ... shamefully looking at some of my old mono vynl I would often write the bass, treble and balance knob positions for my old Grundig radiogram (which I still have) on the rear face of each album cover in biro, would that be deemed as patena or vandalism.....oh and my address.

Rich Cowling wrote:This is the only album I have on mono reel to reel, i still have a good selection of the old cassette albums ... shamefully looking at some of my old mono vynl I would often write the bass, treble and balance knob positions for my old Grundig radiogram (which I still have) on the rear face of each album cover in biro, would that be deemed as patena or vandalism.....oh and my address.

Ah, what memories! I bought all my Shads albums, including DWTS - one of my favourites, right up to Jigsaw on reel to reel pre-recorded tape for playing on my 4 track Elizabethan tape recorder. It wasn't until I got From Hank, Bruce, Brian and John on vinyl that I realised how poor the sound of those tapes and the Elizabethan was. In particular, the rhythm guitar and bass sounded like a wall of mush. And, much later, when I got the first two albums on CD that was another revelation.

Tony

I bet those old reel to reel tapes are collectors items now and would trade for high prices but would probably fall apart if you tried to play them!
My Aunt had an old reel to reel tape machine but threw it away a couple of years ago as it was broke.