SH Spotlight The True Story of the "Into the Mystic" mixing goof on Van Morrison's "Moondance" album

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Steve Hoffman, Jan 17, 2007.

  1. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles


    This album is not like the earlier album at all. At any rate, it shows all concerned wanted this to be the best it could and it IS a most important album from this artist.
     
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  2. heaudio

    heaudio New Member

    Location:
    Glendale, AZ
    I'm glad the track sequence wound up the way it did-- hard to imagine it any other way. :)
     
  3. -Ben

    -Ben Senior Member

    Location:
    Washington DC Area
    There's probably 20 Moondance LPs without the tambourine for every LP with the tamborine. I have the German WEA 180g, sounds great. I have at least two green WBs with the tambourine and several without.
     
  4. Another Side

    Another Side Senior Member

    Location:
    San Francisco
    This puzzles me as well. I suppose they could have gotten a dub from the master a la Die Beatles. :shh:
     
  5. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter


    Could be an East Coast vs. West Coast thing. Perhaps the EQ cutting dub (with the incorrect non-tambourine mix) was sent West while the original tape stayed at A&R in New York? When the album took off maybe both places cut replacement lacquers? Just a guess..
     
  6. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I would like to own a lacquer cut with all 69 mixes just for the fun of it.:agree:
     
  7. Ben Sinise

    Ben Sinise Forum Reticent

    Location:
    Sydney
    Thanks for the behind-the-scenes perspective. It illustrates how these pressing anomalies occur.
     
  8. -Ben

    -Ben Senior Member

    Location:
    Washington DC Area
    Certainly possible.

    What I was alluding to is the fact that the tambourine version was basically extinct by the mid seventies. Since then, every LP pressed (US or elsewhere) seems to have the non-tambourine version.
     
  9. pcain

    pcain Forum Resident

    Location:
    Minneapolis, MN
    Steve, thank you so much for posting this information. Sharing stories like this is what made me fall in love with this forum many years ago. It's such a treat to learn intersting things about albums I love. I can't wait to reprogram the Moondance CD and listen to how those alternate running orders sound. And maybe if Moondance ever gets remastered, we'll be treated to the tamborine mix for all to enjoy. Thanks too, to your friend who shared the info! :cheers:
     
  10. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Due to the habit that the majors had of not using the actual master tapes to do any recutting. The Direct Disc Labs version cut by Jack Hunt is probably the first time the actual masters were used since the year they were first sequenced..
     
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  11. nin

    nin Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sweden
    Thanks for the info Steve. Very intresting.
     
  12. Thanks Steve, for the wonderful story! I love when mysteries like this are solved. More history made at SH.TV! :righton:

    Now the search begins to find the "tambourine" version of the album.
     
  13. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Funny, I just did the same thing with my CD (had it for years, never played it much). I wanted to hear the old programmings. I'm so used to the final song order and that awesome Side One that anything else just doesn't make it for me. Obviously they came to that same conclusion as well way back in January of 1970...:)
     
  14. -Ben

    -Ben Senior Member

    Location:
    Washington DC Area
    I can just see an eBay "question for seller" under every Moondance LP listing.

    "Can you play "Into The Mystic" and tell me if you hear a tambourine in the right channel? :biglaugh:
     
  15. I just copied your quote into a word.doc so I can save time on ebay. ;)
     
  16. -Ben

    -Ben Senior Member

    Location:
    Washington DC Area
    :laugh: :thumbsup:
     
  17. sberger

    sberger Dream Baby Dream

    well, for what it's worth, i have a "regular" green wb lp, and it has the tambourine on it. so there...
     
  18. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Scroll numbers, please?
     
  19. Doonie

    Doonie New Member

    Location:
    ...
    Really? Cool!!

    Is an industry big shot reading this?

    KNOCK IT OFF WITH THE DYNAMIC COMPRESSION ALREADY!!
     
    Jack_Straw likes this.
  20. 51nocaster

    51nocaster Senior Member

    Great story, Steve. Thanks for sharing what you learned with the rest of us; it allows us all to feel like insiders. Congratulations on five years of the finest music forum on the web.
     
  21. Pug

    Pug The Prodigal Snob Returns!

    Location:
    Near Music Direct
    Steve, that was very cool to read. Thanks for sharing that with us.
     
  22. Greatest Hits

    Greatest Hits Just Another Compilation

    First of all:

    YES!!! THE VERSION I FELL IN LOVE WITH IS THE "CORRECT" ONE!!

    Second of all:

    Thank you so much, Steve for clearing it all up and sharing it with us.

    And a very special thank you to the industry "big shot" (hey, it wasn't Billy Joel, was it?! :shh: :winkgrin:) for keeping such a detailed journal!
     
  23. nosticker

    nosticker Forum Guy

    Location:
    Ringwood, NJ
    Wow. Up until today, I had never known there was more than one mix of MYSTIC. I just listened to my beige label, mid-80's WB pressing and it sounds great(no tambourine, as you could imagine).

    FWIW, I know and have worked with someone who played on that album....I would have asked him about the alternate mix straightaway years ago!

    Good thing it doesn't need more cowbell!

    Do we get to know if it's Elliot Scheiner who lurks here? :) I'm a huge fan!



    Dan
     
  24. ChristianL

    ChristianL Senior Member

    Location:
    Berlin, Germany
    Now I understand why some CD reissues came up with different mixes of certain songs. ("Tarot Woman" on Rainbow's Rising, " Wanna Hold You" on The Rolling Stones' Undercover for example). Just a guess.
     
  25. James Glennon

    James Glennon Senior Member

    Location:
    Dublin, Ireland
    The reason! They were working on MUSIC not 'product'!

    JG
     
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