B-side, myself
Apple is now vending through the iTunes Store something called “Digital 45s,” which purport to be original singles plus their original B-sides, sold for (sometimes) less than the cost of the two tracks separately.
The most essential offering is the Doors’ “Light My Fire” b/w “The Crystal Ship,” originally Elektra 45615, mostly because this is about the only source for the original 45 version in mono except for the actual vinyl (mine was styrene) single; the band is reputed to dislike the edit, and all compilations have included the full seven-minute version. I actually bought this to make sure that’s what it was.
Not everything is what it’s supposed to be. Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit,” originally RCA Victor 47-9248, was backed by “Plastic Fantastic Lover.” For the D45, Sony, curator of the RCA archives, has chosen to include both mono and stereo mixes of “Rabbit” and no version of PFL whatever. One reviewer at the iTunes Store has already flamed Sony for this gaffe. Another Sony title, Boston’s “More Than A Feeling,” has the correct B-side, “Smokin’,” but there’s a different flub: the version of “More Than A Feeling” is LP length, at 4:46, while the actual single version (Epic 50266) was edited to 3:25. For the time being, I’m going to assume that Sony is unclear on the concept.
(Muchas gracias: Kim_Lou.)
Old Grouch »
17 July 2009 · 3:39 pm
Are they doing any of the late 60s Warner stuff, and are they using the singles mixes?
(The difference between what you heard on the radio – and radio wasn’t as heavily-processed in those days[1] – and what you heard off the LP led me to eventually stop buying WB albums and seek the singles out.)
[1] Though I do recall a few stations that ran their turntables fast to make the music “more exciting.”
CGHill »
17 July 2009 · 5:36 pm
Earliest Warner title I saw was T. Rex, “Bang a Gong (Get It On),” Reprise 1032. Proper B-side: the non-LP “Raw Ramp.” (Which did show up on an Electric Warrior CD reissue as a bonus track.) The A-side shows up at 4:25 length, which matches the LP; I don’t have a copy of the 45 handy, but apparently this is the correct length, though I remember a radio edit that ran about 4:10. Definitely sounds like the LP mix.
I recall some fairly lame Warner LP mixes in that era: perhaps the most annoying was “Morning Girl” by the Neon Philharmonic, which throws most of the instrumentation to the left, with strings on the right and Don Gant dead center. (Jimmy Webb’s production for his “MacArthur Park,” with Richard Harris on Dunhill, is similarly unbalanced, though here it’s the brass that are left to fend for themselves on the right.)
Rather a lot of singles were sped up even before release; Andy Kim once complained that the label, or owner/producer Jeff Barry, cranked the speed so high Kim couldn’t sing the darn songs live.