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October 25, 2020 9:45 am  #61


Re: Where Do These Alternate Versions Of Hit Records Come From?

I have the original 45 which my sister bought in 1965. Neither version you reference is the one in my collection. The one on vinyl has a different orchestration and it was a lot faster tempo. I'm not sure which version they played, but if you go to the YouTube page where the video you posted is housed, this is the very first comment made by a listener:

"Sounds much better than the one that was released as a single in '65!"

That's a matter of opinion, of course, but it proves it was not the single that was on the charts back in the mid-60s.

I'm not sure it matters in the end, but to these ears it was noticeable. It seems that the first version you hear is the one that becomes "official" to you. To me, the 45 I have on the old Mercury label simply sounds better and punches through the speakers in a far superior way than the one played on Ashby's show.  

 

October 25, 2020 9:50 am  #62


Re: Where Do These Alternate Versions Of Hit Records Come From?

Here's the one I know:


     Thread Starter
 

October 25, 2020 10:14 am  #63


Re: Where Do These Alternate Versions Of Hit Records Come From?

You are correct the single is different but I think that's the first time I have heard that version. I found a few references to that version including these two and I believe the single version was re-released on an album  :

Lesley Gore's 'sleigh bells' single version of Look of Love is far superior to the plain version on the album.



Tuesday, December 28, 2010LESLEY GORE - HITS AND RARITIES A great new TEENSVILLE release - Lesley Gore, direct from the masters, with many tunes and versions you simply haven't heard before!

Hear LOOK OF LOVE, sleigh bells version, unfaded! TWO previously unreleased Gore tracks! Plenty more where that came from - It doesn't get much better, folks.
 

Last edited by Fitz (October 25, 2020 10:15 am)


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October 25, 2020 10:25 am  #64


Re: Where Do These Alternate Versions Of Hit Records Come From?

In the grand scheme of things, this isn't all that important. But my contention is if you're going to do an oldies show - unless the point is to deliberately play a different version of a well known song, which can be pointed out before you play it - you should always default to the original 45 that listeners heard on their radios. Otherwise, to those who grew up with these songs, it stands out like a sore thumb - or at least a sore ear! 

     Thread Starter
 

October 25, 2020 11:11 am  #65


Re: Where Do These Alternate Versions Of Hit Records Come From?

RadioActive wrote:

In the grand scheme of things, this isn't all that important. But my contention is if you're going to do an oldies show - unless the point is to deliberately play a different version of a well known song, which can be pointed out before you play it - you should always default to the original 45 that listeners heard on their radios. Otherwise, to those who grew up with these songs, it stands out like a sore thumb - or at least a sore ear! 

Kudos to you for remembering the 45 version because I thought the one played was the original. I think that's the only one I have heard until today. One challenge may be finding a clean copy of that single version. I would think the 45 in mint condition is quite valuable now even though an album version may have come out in 2010 ( without the fadeout ?). Wonder if Kopps has a copy of the single in good condition ?


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October 25, 2020 12:36 pm  #66


Re: Where Do These Alternate Versions Of Hit Records Come From?

I didn't notice what I originally heard on the radio as being any different than what was played on Roger's show today.  But playing them back to back there are differences. Good ear to notice this RA!  Lesley Gore sounds the same, but the mix is different, background singers more prominent with slightly different lyrics and the hand clapping and jingle bells isn't on the less punchy version that Fitz put up from Roger's show.  

Look of Love is from the 1964 album Girl Talk and I believe was the third single release after Maybe I Know, and Hey Now.  This album didn't sell as well as previous albums and Hey Now never tracked as a hit. 

Look of Love  cut would have been remixed and sweetened for the single release and this version is what was heard on the radio.  The album would have the first version which sounds more stripped down and somewhat different than the single.  Unless you owned the single, I doubt if most people would notice the difference which is fairly noticeable when you play back to back.

 

 

October 25, 2020 6:40 pm  #67


Re: Where Do These Alternate Versions Of Hit Records Come From?

I found a YT clip that has both versions side by side and the single version has a definite Phil Spector feel with the bells. This one sounds clearer than the other single versions on YT. A case perhaps  like the Neil Young's version of Cinnamon Girl where the single mix has been forgotten and the album version gets the airplay. 






 

Last edited by Fitz (October 25, 2020 6:40 pm)


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November 28, 2020 6:49 pm  #68


Re: Where Do These Alternate Versions Of Hit Records Come From?

It's happened again, and I should probably just get used to it. On Ashby's show this week, he did a Top 5 countdown that ended with The New Vaudeville Band's "Winchester Cathedral." Or at least it was supposed to. 

I have no idea what version of the song they played, but it certainly wasn't the one that topped the charts in the 60s. Not only wasn't it close to the original but I'm not even certain it was actually the New Vaudeville Band at all, it was that different. 

While I agree this is not the most important thing on the planet, I wish they would fix whatever's causing this. It simply doesn't sound good when a very famous tune that topped the charts and won a Grammy and became famous around the world isn't the one that reached that pinnacle.  

     Thread Starter
 

November 28, 2020 7:02 pm  #69


Re: Where Do These Alternate Versions Of Hit Records Come From?

I haven't heard the show yet, but there was another version that charted on CHUM (#27) and Billboard (#71) ... 


 

 

November 28, 2020 8:14 pm  #70


Re: Where Do These Alternate Versions Of Hit Records Come From?

Pretty sure that's not what they played. It was definitely a male voice but the entire arrangement was different and there wasn't the same instrumentation as the famous version.

When Bell bought CHUM, they must have inherited all of their library. (Not that I'm thinking they're still playing anything off of 45s or LPs.) You'd think there would be someone there to identify the right version by the right group. This is almost a weekly occurrence now.   

     Thread Starter
 

November 28, 2020 9:20 pm  #71


Re: Where Do These Alternate Versions Of Hit Records Come From?

A similar thing happened in Sept on the occasion of Jerry Lee Lewis' 85th birthday.    Gene Stevens (a man who seldom screws up) announced Jerry Lee's cover of Chantilly Lace and the Big Bopper's original came up.   

At least it was a great tune (both versions are) and not Winchester Cathedral which IMHO is not 

 

November 28, 2020 10:27 pm  #72


Re: Where Do These Alternate Versions Of Hit Records Come From?

This is what happens when you get interns or young'uns who aren't paid enough to know better to slap together a show for you. 

What's even worse, with today's tech, you could quite conceivably put together a voicetrack to the music without ever really listening to the song.  Just line the waveforms up and voila -- you've hit the post.  Never mind it's to the wrong song.
 

 

November 28, 2020 10:36 pm  #73


Re: Where Do These Alternate Versions Of Hit Records Come From?

Worse yet, this was a request from a listener that Ashby tuned into a promo, noting it was coming up later in the show. So it got a lot of exposure, only for them to run the wrong version of the song.

For those interested in hearing this on the replay Sunday morning, it's in the Top 5 countdown segment. I believe it comes in the second hour.  

     Thread Starter
 

November 29, 2020 12:50 am  #74


Re: Where Do These Alternate Versions Of Hit Records Come From?

Ok, I caught it on the podcast version and it's ... The New New Vaudeville Band. In other words, it's a rerecorded version of it. I think this is what you heard.


 

 

November 29, 2020 7:43 am  #75


Re: Where Do These Alternate Versions Of Hit Records Come From?

In fairness, Ashby's technicians aren't the only media professionals who frequently err.     In this morning's Toronto Star, an interesting article from the New York Times contains a photo caption "during the second world war, U.S. president Woodrow Wilson . . . etc".       

In fact, Woody was POTUS during WWI while FDR was POTUS during WWII 

Last edited by geo (November 29, 2020 7:46 am)

 

November 29, 2020 9:42 am  #76


Re: Where Do These Alternate Versions Of Hit Records Come From?

Lorne wrote:

Ok, I caught it on the podcast version and it's ... The New New Vaudeville Band. In other words, it's a rerecorded version of it. I think this is what you heard.


 

Yes, I think that's it. It's certainly a far cry from the original.

     Thread Starter
 

November 29, 2020 10:06 am  #77


Re: Where Do These Alternate Versions Of Hit Records Come From?

The conclusion that I’ve come to is that ‘someone’ should invest in a Quality Control step at the end of the production process. It’s only a three hour show, once a week. Couldn’t be that expensive to get it right.

 

November 29, 2020 10:23 am  #78


Re: Where Do These Alternate Versions Of Hit Records Come From?

RadioActive wrote:

Lorne wrote:

Ok, I caught it on the podcast version and it's ... The New New Vaudeville Band. In other words, it's a rerecorded version of it. I think this is what you heard.


 

Yes, I think that's it. It's certainly a far cry from the original.

That sounds like it might be a budget-label version. I remember seeing a lot these compilation CDs in places like Walmart and Zellers and other places like that. They'd usual include a whole wack of hits from a particular decade, so the consumer was oftentimes duped into thinking that they were getting good value for their money. If you looked closely at the disclaimer on some of these discs, however, they would say something along the lines of "The artists on this compilation include at least one original member of the group". So, something like Gerry and the Pacemakers would actually be just Gerry and whole new set of Pacemakers (or sometimes, one Pacemaker and a new Gerry).

I suspect a lot of 60s and 70s recording stars signed contracts that, to put it bluntly, were not in their best interests and probably made very little money when they should have made a fairly tidy sum. To recoup some of their losses, I imagine a good number of these musicians would probably be only too willing re-record their hits, so they could see type of profit from their glory days.


PJ

Last edited by Paul Jeffries (November 29, 2020 10:29 am)


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November 29, 2020 11:14 am  #79


Re: Where Do These Alternate Versions Of Hit Records Come From?

Yes, I agree with the above comments. The whole situation with the group was convoluted to begin with, and the info at Wikipedia mentions a revived version of the band that only included the original drummer. Whoever sang on the rerecording, it wouldn't have been the original singer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Vaudeville_Band

 

November 29, 2020 11:34 am  #80


Re: Where Do These Alternate Versions Of Hit Records Come From?

Even worse then, because Ashby goes out of his way to point out before the tune plays who the singer is and that he got the Rudy Vallee megaphone effect by crooning through his cupped hands. So it only compounds the error, because it makes Ashby's statements wrong.  

     Thread Starter
 

November 29, 2020 11:48 am  #81


Re: Where Do These Alternate Versions Of Hit Records Come From?

The lead singer of this non hit version sounds a little like Bobby "Boris" Pickett from Monster Mash fame.

Can't believe this song won a Grammy in 1967, for something call Best Contemporary Rock and Roll Recording.

As Ashby correctly said the song was not rock and roll and look who else was nominated that year for the award-

The Association (Cherish)
The Beach Boys (Good Vibrations)
The Beatles (Eleanor Rigby)
The Mamas & Papas (Monday, Monday) 
The Monkees (Last Train to Clarksville)

Not hard to see why the Grammy's had a credibility problem back then.  They were accused for quite a few years of not reflecting contemporary music especially rock with their awards and the above sort of shows this. 

I did enjoy Elton's version of Signed Sealed and Delivered and Stitch in Tyme with Got to Get You Into My Life.  But those songs were played intentionally.

 

 

November 29, 2020 11:03 pm  #82


Re: Where Do These Alternate Versions Of Hit Records Come From?

Jody Thornton wrote:

When you listen to what was actually the mono radio version of Steppenwolf's "Magic Carpet Ride", there is an entirely different voice track than the version everyone knows.

True. The first verse on the 45 version sounds like John Kay just smoked a joint. 

Also, the squealing guitar at the beginning gradually fades in on the LP version, whereas on the 45 it starts cold and is slightly shorter, as well as the guitar and keyboard bridge towards the end.

To make matters more confusing, Steppenwolf's 1973 compilation, 16 Greatest Hits, contains a version that's about the same length as the 45, but it's actually the album version edited down to the single length.





PJ
 

Last edited by Paul Jeffries (November 29, 2020 11:04 pm)


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December 5, 2020 6:00 pm  #83


Re: Where Do These Alternate Versions Of Hit Records Come From?

It's 5:00 o'clock on a Saturday
Usual crowd shuffles in
Someone says Roger can you play me a memory
I know exactly how it goes
We're all in the mood for a melody
So this week, please get it right
Now Grilled.Cheese at the bar is a friend of mine
He's quick with a joke and to light up your spliff
Its a pretty good crowd for a Saturday
And the Moderator gives me a smile
He knows that its Roger they've been comin' to hear
To forget about SOWNY for a while

Oh la-la-de-de da
 

 

December 5, 2020 8:28 pm  #84


Re: Where Do These Alternate Versions Of Hit Records Come From?

Kudos to Roger Ashby today for playing the early Americana tune ( 1935). Can The Circle be Unbroken  by the Carter Family in the roots of rock segment. Probably never heard before on the stations carrying the show. Will  tune in to more of the show tomorrow.





 

Last edited by Fitz (December 5, 2020 8:29 pm)


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