Upcoming WHAT NOW MY LOVE reissue: Will we finally hear the "finished" album?

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Mike Blakesley

Mike Blakesley

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I hadn't thought about this before, but I'm real curious about what mixes we'll get in the new release of What Now My Love.

Hopefully (Badazz, are you out there?) the completed version of "Brasilia" (with opening trombone riff and the little trumpet figure in the mid-first-verse) will finally see the light of day again.

I wonder if Randy has ever been made aware of those various versions of the album and has anyone been able to give him an A/B comparison on the various cuts that are different across the versions?
 
From what I recall from a previous post, they weren't (or at least Herb wasn't) aware of the two versions. I suspect it's the same stereo version we've had all along on CD. Having grown up with the mono LP, the stereo CD never seemed right to me. It's very interesting to consider how it could have happened. Given that my one stereo pressing is the same as the mono (in terms of the details), I wager it was not supposed to be released that way. The changed tracks might have made good bonus tracks (ditto the Lonely Bull mono vs. stereo differences), but they are sticking to the albums as originally released in these reissues.
 
I would love to have a properly remastered version of the old WHAT NOW MY LOVE LP version that I grew up with. The dry version on the two CDs released thus far just don't sound right to me. I've taken to digitizing the LP just for my own sanity.

As for them not being aware of the two versions, well, I suppose that memories can fade, but consider this: the 'wet' version of "Brasilia" appeared on the MUSIC BOX compilation, and the 'wet' versions of both "If I Were A Rich Man" and "What Now My Love" appeared on the promo-only DEE JAY SAMPLER (in both mono and stereo).

The first place I ever heard the 'dry' version of anything from the album was on SOLID BRASS. There, both "What Now My Love" and "So What's New" appeared in their, to me, new, dry versions. Then GREATEST HITS VOLUME 2 followed along with those same two tracks and "Brasilia" all in dry versions.

Oddly, back around 2000, I found a copy of SOLID BRASS on LP in our radio station's library that was mono for AM, and the two WHAT NOW MY LOVE tracks on there are mono and 'wet'.

Any other comp that's come along in the digital age has always used the dry versions.

Harry
 
I haven't played the stereo DJ Sampler in ages.

For me it is not so much the reverb but the difference in tracks such as "Plucky" (the strip-tease section makes no sense) and the added trombone in "Brasilia."
 
It's as if something happened in the early 70s that forever changed the tracks on WHAT NOW MY LOVE.
 
I think it's been there since day one. All TJB albums up to a certain point were recorded to 3-track at Gold Star. Mono mix and stereo mix were done separately. OK, standard ops so far.

But what if someone were running a 2-track while they were mixing the mono version? That mixdown would have ended up on both a mono and 2-track version. Perhaps it was in error, or maybe a time-saving move to create both at the same time. (Remember, this was the TJB album that had the biggest number of preorders, so pressure was on to release it.) I know my original stereo version (purchased used) is essentially the mono mixes and versions (shorter "Plucky," trombone on "Brasilia," etc.), but in stereo.

Then they mix the "real" 2-track (stereo) version from the 3-track, the one they intended to be the official stereo version. Oh, and throw some reverb on that. (Adding reverb was a common bit of slop added during the early stereo era--some of those Capitol LPs were so drenched in reverb that it muddied the sound completely, and even RCA added reverb to some of their earliest titles in stereo, like the Peter Gunn soundtrack. Everyone did it.)

So they ended up with, essentially, two stereo versions without somehow recognizing one was different from the other, and thinking one might have been a safety or mastering copy rather than being a separate entity. Tapes were mislabeled all the time, at all of the record labels.

If there were differences between sides, that is explainable as well--a "hybrid" of both stereo versions would be a mixup of the metal parts at the pressing plant, nothing more. Not hard to do if they had no idea there were two stereo versions floating around. (Not so much mislabeled, but mishandled.)

To me, that is the only theory that makes sense. Especially since once the album was mixed for the last time, that would be the final time they would have touched it.
 
Rudy said:
Then they mix the "real" 2-track (stereo) version from the 3-track, the one they intended to be the official stereo version. Oh, and throw some reverb on that. (
Click to expand...

My problem with THAT theory is that the "real" mix (the ones we hear on CD) are the dry versions.

I wonder which versions appeared in foreign territories?

Harry
 
I just wish there was some way to get word to Herb about this anomaly. (Steve S?) I remember on the "unedited" BBC interview, he was asked by Tony about the various versions and said "There's only one version that I'm aware of." So it makes me think, if he was to hear the comparison he would probably be horrified that this "unfinished" version has been floating around as the "official" version for all these years, and maybe he'd want to do something about that. On the other hand we all know how Herb likes to live in the present, so it's also possible that he might say "Oh well" and be done with it. But that doesn't really sound like him either.

Of course there's also the possibility that the long-lost definitive version went up in that Universal fire...?

Anyway to me the "dry" version just sounds unfinished and it's managed to pull "Brasilia" off my list of favorite TJB songs, which is sad because I used to love that song. But without those missing touches, it just loses its luster somehow, at least to me.

I've never been a huge fan of "Plucky" so the changes in that song don't bug me. My theory on what happened there is, Herb considered that he'd done some other songs with "striptease" segments and decided to re-edit "Plucky."

One other thing on that album is the song "So What's New." It always had an echo added to the trumpet "punches" in the choruses, but in the Shout! CD version there is also a "pre-echo" which was caused by tape print-through, I'm assuming. Kind of ruins that song too, especially for high-volume listening.
 
Geez that Youtube version sounds awful. At first it sounds like the speakers are inside a trash can, and then the volume fluctuates and things straighten out. But it still sounds like a pair of microphones placed in front of speakers, or something. But, still good to hear the "finished" version again.
 
I think that's one of the hallmarks of the "wet" version of the album. Much like S.R.O., there's a lot of bass over-modulation on the whole album, but I always viewed that as part of the charm. The YouTube video sounds pretty decent on my end - and just like the record. Your description sounds like maybe your connection was "improving" as it went along. Some of their videos do that - they start with a lower bandwidth and improve as you go along. A lot of streaming services do that.

Harry
 
Wow, you're right -- I still had it loaded on Youtube when I read your post, so I played it again and it sounded great this time. Doggone technology! I attribute any further limitations to my computer speakers which aren't exactly "Klipschorns!"
 
I just listened to the you tube version in the video listed, , was Brasilla the original version with the trombone as the original back in 1966 as we all remembering hearing it. or is the original version without the trombone. as one would listen and you

can hear the differences. for the new bie in here. take a listen to the video listed about.it is played in a slightly lower key. and the shout factory version is played in a slightly higher key I like the shout factory version better it is more livier. so that

version on the shout version version is the wet version?

bob
 
the video I was talking about was the video harry listed in his post compare it the the video I posted listed above. it is played it a slightly higher key, so my question was the video listed above was that the version that we all are talking about or was it with the trombone version that was on the original album back in 1966? I am a bit confused.

bob
 
bob said:
the video I was talking about was the video harry listed in his post compare it the the video I posted listed above. it is played it a slightly higher key, so my question was the video listed above was that the version that we all are talking about or was it with the trombone version that was on the original album back in 1966? I am a bit confused.

bob
Click to expand...

The video you posted, bob, is the dry version, taken from someone's turntable that was running fast. All versions I have run at the same speed. Neither video is coming from a Shout! Factory disc. Both are from LPs on turntables, despite the picture that the second video used.
 
thanks harry, so the version that is talked about hear is the version with the trombone and the little added parts after the first riff , and the completed one is on the music box album?and the album that came out in 1966.

bpb
 
MUSIC BOX has the wet version, with additional CSG processing applied to it.
 
thanks harry, now since we are talking about what now my love, a quick question the song plucky from what I heard all these years since 1966 was the short version. now was the striptease version on any of the original albums from 1966 I don't

have any of the wnml albums with the striptease version.

bob
 
The story I've heard is that the dry album with Plucky striptease was issued right from the start on some LPs. Others got the wet mix without the striptease. The theory is that maybe west coast people got the dry mix and east coast got the wet mix, but even that is likely too simplistic.
 
Wet means that reverb has been applied to some part of the recording, usually the lead.

Dry is the opposite, with no reverb applied.

On the track "What Now My Love", Herb's trumpets have reverb applied on the wet mix. No reverb on the dry mix.

"So What's New" has reverb on the whistler on the wet mix, but not on the dry.

Harry
 
thanks harry for the answer, so it is like a taste of honey from whipped cream the original has the bass drum with a bit of reverb on the stereo version and the mono does not. so the stereo version of honey would be the wet version?

bob
 
I had an MP3 file of the differences between albums but haven't seen it since several hard drives ago...
 
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