To expand on what Maggie wrote: The 1990 box features some remixes and some original mixes. The CD booklet identifies which tracks are remixed and which are not. So does wikipedia, but since it's wikipedia I wouldn't necessarily bet on it being 100% accurate. The individual CDs of the first four albums released in 1996 also feature some remixes and some original mixes. These remixes were done by Bob Irwin (so in cases where the same song was remixed they are different remixes than the box). It's unknown for certain which tracks were remixed and which were not on these CDs, as it does not say in the CD booklets. In an interview Irwin said vaguely that "part" of the first two albums were remixed, "a third" of Fifth Dimension was remixed, and only three songs from Younger Than Yesterday were remixed. It's unclear exactly which songs were and were not remixed on these discs. The remixes were all made from the three-track reduction mixes, so there's not going to be a huge amount of difference between them and the originals in most cases. I've never done a close comparison other than to note that Time Between and Have You Seen Her Face are two of the three remixes on the YTY CD. I'm not sure about the third song on there. Aside from that, the remaining albums are all original mixes, except Dr. Byrds which has an anomaly on This Wheel's of Fire which suggests it is a different mix, despite Irwin claiming that album is entirely original mixes. Dr. Byrds also has some longer edits.
On YTY, "Everybody's Been Burned" and "Renaissance Fair" are definitely new mixes (they contain elements not in the original stereo mixes), and "Have You Seen Her Face" and (IIRC) "Mind Gardens" both run longer than the original releases as well.
As Crosby once said (not that I generally follow his advice) "Music shouldn't have any rules."* Goodbye 'Mind Gardens'. Hello 'It Happens Each Day' on my YTY comp. *unclear if he punctuated that sentence with 'man!' or 'you dig'. Probably did, but not verified.
What are the elements in Everybody's Been Burned and Renaissance Fair not in the original mixes? I've lost track of all this. The fixed solo in EBB?
Renaissance Fair is an obvious remix, the sax lines are buried/non existent in the original mix and can be heard clearly in the remix. The booklets contained within the reissues contain the sentence "Produced for Compact Disc by Bob Irwin", the mixes and mastering however are attributed to Vic Anesini and this is the case for every one apart from Live at the Fillmore and Farther Along. So since Bob Irwin didn't do the remixes for these releases it's entirely possible that some of the 1990 mixes made their way into the individual reissues. Certainly some of the remixes on the 1990 box were made from the 8 track master, The World Turns All Around Her, The Times They Are A-Changin', 5D, I See You, Hey Joe, Mr. Spaceman, John Riley, Have You Seen Her Face, Time Between, Renaissance Fair, Everybody's Been Burned, The Girl With No Name, Lady Friend, Lover of the Bayou. And from the 16 track masters we have remixed versions of This Wheel's on Fire and Lay Lady Lay.
The "fixed" solo in EBB was evident in the original stereo mix, the flub was in the mono AFAIR. Sax lines can be heard in RF that were buried before,
That's right, the fixed solo on "Everybody's Been Burned" (a punch-in or overdub flown into the remix from the mono mix), plus three notes of soprano saxophone just before the last refrain of "Renaissance Fair." A really cool part actually. No, it's the other way around. The original stereo mix of "Everybody's Been Burned" had a guitar flub, while the mono mix (made for the "Rock 'N' Roll Star" single and then reused on the album) has always had the corrected/punched in version. I have a needledrop of an original stereo issue and it definitely has the flubbed take.
Thanks Maggie, my memory failed me on that one, thanks for the correction. I remember now, I had cobbled together a home made stereo back then, added a stereo cartridge to the record deck running it through two huge old radios in opposite corners of the room and had bought the stereo version of YTY...the flub stuck out like a sore thumb lol. I hear the sax more clearly too under the guitar parts so I think that's been brought up in the mix.
I'm curious now - what was the nature of the flub in Everbody's Been Burned? Was it just a subtle little mistake that you'd barely notice, or was it something that really stood out like that weird bass note in Spanish Harlem Incident?
Thanks. Comparing the 1987 Edsel original mix CD to the 1996 Sony remastered CD: Have You Seen Her Face not only is edited on the Edsel, but at the beginning of the song the right channel fades in while the left channel starts cold. On the 1996 CD both channels start cold. So that one presumably is a remix on the 1996 CD. On Time Between, the maracas sound more prominent and further right on the 1996 CD. Not sure if that's a mix issue or if EQ is making them sound louder. Mind Gardens sounds like exactly the same mix on both CDs, though of course it runs longer on the 1996. The order of operations for the original mix presumably was mix first, then edit. So my guess would be that it's the same mix but in edited and unedited forms on the two CDs. So Everybody's Been Burned, Renaissance Fair, and Have You Seen Her Face are definitely remixes on the 1996. And I'm pretty sure Time Between is, but curious what others with better ears think.
Fonda's character used the phrase "I trust everything will turn out all right", didn't he? That came directly from McGuinn.
FWIW, Bob Irwin claimed the Dr. Byrds album was not remixed. Of course, that anomaly in This Wheel's on Fire makes it clear it's a different mix. I wonder if it's an alternate vintage mix rather than a remix, and was used by mistake?
I think you're right about editing following on mixing and longer fades not necessarily being dispositive of stuff being remixed. For example, a lot of issues of Beach Boys stuff have earlier fades than the current standard versions, but the mixes are the same. Never noticed that about the original stereo "Have You Seen Her Face" before. Cheers! I also trust your ears about "Time Between," but I've never noticed that difference either. I'll have to check my YTY needledrop but the computer it's on is currently packed away.
It's not subtle and is more comparable to the "Spanish Harlem" bass flub for sure. If you listen to the solo on the Legacy version (or any mono release), you'll notice that McGuinn's tone quality changes quite starkly in the final strain, in the last four bars or so before Crosby resumes singing. There is a very audible editing "seam" there. It's because McGuinn's solo breaks down in the original take. I haven't listened to it in a while, but I think he sort of tries to finish the solo but the guitar fights with him (as 12-strings tend to do) and he hits a string of notes that don't speak right after the edit point. He does try to play the same idea -- I think the solo was to some extent pre-planned -- with the Spanish-style flutter, but it doesn't work. The edit "seam" indicates the start of a punch-in that lasts from the edit point until the end of the solo. I guess it was on a different track than the rest of the solo and whoever mixed the stereo version in the first place forgot to drop the fader on one track and raise it on the other. I get the sense that McGuinn planned to do a similar punch-up/"comp" of the ending of his solo on the RCA "Eight Miles High" and the ending of the track, but when Columbia insisted the track be re-recorded, he left the RCA take unfinished. I wonder if several McGuinn solos were "comped" in this way, but "Burned" is the one where it's incontrovertible.
I really like the Spanish Harlem bass flub. I find myself making the noise every time it comes up haha
Hey, man, what you got against sweaty hippies? I used to be one & since COVID has kept me at home I am steadily regressing into one again after all these years....
Me too. We discussed it elsewhere in this thread, I think, but it's only a "flub" in the sense that it was clearly an accident. But musically it works just fine. Chris (accidentally) hits the dominant seventh and then rights himself by climbing back up to the tonic. It has a bluesy sound that works perfectly well in the context of the cadence. Oh I agree with you. It's one of my favorite rock guitar solos. I certainly don't fault McGuinn for wanting to make sure it was perfect in the studio. It's clear from the many live recordings that he was perfectly capable of laying it down live.
As a non-musician, I had no idea it was a mistake for decades of listening. I think it sounds cool, and I'm glad there's a theoretical explanation for why it does.
