Calling John Eidsvoog

Ed, I'm going to ask a favor. Can you look at the underside of your CD (the playing side) and read the tiny machine print around the hub? There's a section that looks like a lighter-silvered bar and in the rightmost part there's even tinier print that has a date and time of manufacture. You might need a magnifying glass to read this.

My Target disc in this section has the following:

11/02/2018 06:02:36 PM #179525

Just getting home for this. Here you go:

This was purchased at Target on Saturday evening.
Matrix #: B0029419023313875

Ed
 
Can you see the tiny date field? It's inside a longer silver bar and in its upper right corner there's a date and time.
?
 
Can you see the tiny date field? It's inside a longer silver bar and in its upper right corner there's a date and time.
?

So I messed up...

The Target CD I have does contain the pre-release tracks. My sincere apologies for the confusion I caused. When I was playing it back in my car, I was asking Siri to play it and she defaulted to the Apple Music tracks which are the new ones. Again, my bad.

According to @Eyewire, Japanese version is the same as the Target version. FYI.

Now, off to Amazon to get a copy with the new piano tracks...LOL!

Ed

P.S.: Date was November 2, 2018 at about 6:02pm.
 
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So I messed up...

The Target CD I have does contain the pre-release tracks. My sincere apologies for the confusion I caused. When I was playing it back in my car, I was asking Siri to play it and she defaulted to the Apple Music tracks which are the new ones. Again, my bad.

According to @Eyewire, Japanese version is the same as the Target version. FYI.

Now, off to Amazon to get a copy with the new piano tracks...LOL!

Ed

P.S.: Date was November 2, 2018 at about 6:02pm.

Ed, thank you for solving the mystery. It looks like the CDs have the earlier versions of YOM and TTR. I have ordered the Japan CD and it is due to arrive in the next couple of days. It will be interesting to see what versions are on that CD, but I have a feeling it will probably also be the earlier versions.

I am guessing that Richard did see the lukewarm reaction to the earlier versions of TTR and YOM from some fans and decided to make some changes, but it was too late to change the CD pressings to make the Dec 7th release date.
 
Ed, thank you for solving the mystery. It looks like the CDs have the earlier versions of YOM and TTR. I have ordered the Japan CD and it is due to arrive in the next couple of days. It will be interesting to see what versions are on that CD, but I have a feeling it will probably also be the earlier versions.

I am guessing that Richard did see the lukewarm reaction to the earlier versions of TTR and YOM from some fans and decided to make some changes, but it was too late to change the CD pressings to make the Dec 7th release date.

So your regular CD has the pre-release versions too?

Ed
 
I am guessing that Richard did see the lukewarm reaction to the earlier versions of TTR and YOM from some fans and decided to make some changes, but it was too late to change the CD pressings to make the Dec 7th release date.
Is it possible that someone at Universal simply screwed up and sent the “single” versions to manufacturing by mistake?
 
So your regular CD has the pre-release versions too?

Ed
So far, the standard CDs from the US and Canada, Target, and Japan have been reported to contain the earlier versions. Hopefully, members from the UK and Australia will let us know which versions are on their domestic CDs as well.
 
So far, the standard CDs from the US and Canada, Target, and Japan have been reported to contain the earlier versions. Hopefully, members from the UK and Australia will let us know which versions are on their domestic CDs as well.

Universal strikes again! LOL!! I wonder what the LPs will have.

Ed
 
My Australian CD has the earlier pre-release YOM and TTR as well. So does my Japanese CD. So I have not actually heard the updates versions . I guess I need to download another copy from iTunes .
 
Is it possible that someone at Universal simply screwed up and sent the “single” versions to manufacturing by mistake?

Most anything is possible I guess, but knowing what is involved in releasing a CD, this is what I think happened.

The mastering engineer is the one who assembles the final album files and that would get approved by Richard before going to a pressing plant. So I think what was sent to the pressing plants was considered "final" at the time - the album with the early versions of YOM and TTR. There was a deadline here in place to make the Dec 7th release date. We know from the detail on the CD pressing information by Harry and others that the CDs were pressed on November 2nd. This is about the time the YOM and MCD appeared online as "singles." TTR followed a couple of weeks later. Obviously, Richard made changes to these tracks (possibly because of the lukewarm reception to them as singles?) but it was too late to update the CDs because they went to press already. However, changing the files for download is just a matter of an instantaneous swap and a change of those songs could have been made a lot closer to Dec 7th.
 
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I think most of what you posted above is true, except I don't necessarily think that there was any response on Richard's part to any perceived "lukewarm" reception to the two tracks. I think they just flat out weren't finished to Richard's perfection on time.

Really, the "Yesterday Once More" change starts with the harp in the "Overture" and continues with the harp figures along with Richard's piano intro. So it in effect changes two tracks.

"Merry Christmas Darling" was released early and it didn't get any changes at all.

"Ticket To Ride" wasn't released until two weeks later, and no-one is talking about the changes to "We've Only Just Begun" (added flourishes at the conclusion of the orchestral intro).
 
It could very well be that Richard wasn't completely done with the album in time for the CDs to be pressed, or it could be another reason. That is why I am hoping John Eidsvoog will chime into this thread ans give us some additional insight.
 
It could very well be that Richard wasn't completely done with the album in time for the CDs to be pressed, or it could be another reason. That is why I am hoping John Eidsvoog will chime into this thread ans give us some additional insight.
John Eidsvoog has already said that the last time that he had any involvement with the album was September 24 and it was before any final mixes were done. So whatever changed occurred between September 25 and November 2 when he wasn’t involved and he’s just as surprised at what the final mixes are as we are.
 
Thanks for that clarification. So even John was surprised that there were changes to the mixes from what he knew as of Sept. 24th. By his being surprised, it sounds like he may have possibly thought the album was final by then.
 
Thanks for that clarification. So even John was surprised that there were changes to the mixes from what he knew as of Sept. 24th. By his being surprised, it sounds like he may have possibly thought the album was final by then.
I think a lot of people, even those like me who have only heard the singles, are surprised as just how far back in the mix the RPO is, especially when you listen to other RPO albums like the Beach Boys one (of course Richard re-recording everything from the piano and drums on up, is the same as what the RPO did on the Beach Boys CD with a number of the where the instruments were recorded in the 60's & 70's in mono, so no stereo tracks exist, and were even mastered in mono for the original 45's and LP's, due to the limitations of the technology of the day) where the new RPO flourishes are right up there with the re-recorded classic parts.
 
If I had the choice of who I'd want far back in the mix...it sure as heck wouldn't be Karen so I'm ok with how the RPO sounds. So for this I commend Richard. In fact, this is something so new, Karen up front and clear vocally with no reverb that I am in awe how great she sounds on this RPO cd. Could this put a bug in his ear to remix the entire catalog using the same technology (minus the RPO) and make Karen's vocal sound like this RPO cd on the original studio recordings, get rid of all those reverb mixes he has used on so many compilations. I could only dream....
 
If I had the choice of who I'd want far back in the mix...it sure as heck wouldn't be Karen so I'm ok with how the RPO sounds. So for this I commend Richard. In fact, this is something so new, Karen up front and clear vocally with no reverb that I am in awe how great she sounds on this RPO cd. Could this put a bug in his ear to remix the entire catalog using the same technology (minus the RPO) and make Karen's vocal sound like this RPO cd on the original studio recordings, get rid of all those reverb mixes he has used on so many compilations. I could only dream....
If you're gonna dream Rick, you might as well dream BIG! :D I think you have a fabulous idea. Imagine how awesome the "50th Anniversary Remastered Classics 2.0" would sound, with the "vocal restoration" magic applied!

"If I had the choice of who I'd want far back in the mix"... I'd choose the OK Chorale, everyday and twice on Sunday. In fact, I'd want them SO far back in the mix, that they'd be out of the studio, and on the parking lot! :laugh:
 
If you're gonna dream Rick, you might as well dream BIG! :D I think you have a fabulous idea. Imagine how awesome the "50th Anniversary Remastered Classics 2.0" would sound, with the "vocal restoration" magic applied!

"If I had the choice of who I'd want far back in the mix"... I'd choose the OK Chorale, everyday and twice on Sunday. In fact, I'd want them SO far back in the mix, that they'd be out of the studio, and on the parking lot! :laugh:
Murray, that was hysterical...still laughing...yeah I agree too on the Chorale.
 
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