Cat Stevens' "Moon Shadow": Proof in the Pudding

[W.B.]

In anticipation of Cat Stevens' third A&M album, Teaser and the Firecat, being spotlighted as the Album of the Week, let us look at the label for the first single off that album, "Moon Shadow":

As you can clearly see, it says right there, "From the A&M album SP-3506." (And on Monarch-pressed promo copies too, I might add.) By all appearances, the album number designated was what was originally intended for the LP, a reversal of the Carpenters SP-4289 - to - 3502 trajectory. (A question: Did any first pressings of their "Rainy Days And Mondays" single -- promo or stock -- mention SP-4289, or did the catalogue change take effect prior to the single's release?) But of course SP-3506 became Humble Pie's Performance: Rockin' The Fillmore -- and the Stevens LP was switched to the 4100 series. The reasons, I remember, were touched on some time back at the time Carpenters was the AOTW, quoted herein:

I wonder if someone at Island Records in the UK, from which A&M licensed Cat Stevens' material, or Cat Stevens himself, had an objection to the higher price for the LP in the States. Perhaps there was some fear of "parallel imports" of the UK version of the LP. My recollection is that imports used to cost about a dollar or two more than the US edition of the album when stores carried both, and if the UK version had a dollar lower list price than the US version, then the two would sell for about the same price in the US! . . .

Consider:
"Moonshadow" first made the singles charts for the week ending June 26, 1971.
Teaser and the Firecat first charted on the week ending Oct. 9, 1971.
Performance: Rockin' the Fillmore didn't chart until Nov. 6, 1971.

"Moonshadow" was released as a single several months before its LP came out -- plenty of time for record execs to change the catalog number and pretend the first one never existed. Call it Eight Arms To Hold You Syndrome.

However or whenever it happened or whatever the reason, the catalogue change in fact occurred during the course of "Moon Shadow's" run on the singles charts. Later pressings referred to that which became the final catalogue number, to wit:

(The rest of the label copy artwork is exactly the same as on the earlier pressings, hence the showing of only the top.)

Possessing copies with both catalogue numbers cited, I also noticed another difference between the two: namely, that the mix on the "4313" copies is somewhat different from that on the "3506" copies (the lacquer on my "3506" copy is indicated as "A+M 2130S-P3"; on my "4313" copy, "A+M 2130S RE1-P1"). From my listening to both copies, I noticed these characteristics, to wit (if you can find any more, feel free to pipe up):
- On the "3506" copies, the opening guitar intro moves from right to left; on the "4313" copies, the guitar intro is more or less centered throughout.
- On the first recitation of the chorus, Cat seems to be singing "Moon Shadow, Moon Shadow" by himself on the "3506" copies, while his background singers were moved a little bit more up into the mix on the "4313" copies.
- There was a high amount of hiss on the "3506" copies; conversely, while that factor was brought down on the "4313" copies, so too was the high end which ended up sounding somewhat duller.
- The song is about 1% slower in pitch on the "4313" copies as compared to the "3506" copies, and after the last note is strummed fades out 2 seconds sooner. (Let me specify that: Both versions are 2:48, time listing on the label notwithstanding, and no other editing was done, but the final note was :07 on the "3506" copies and :05 on the "4313" copies.)

And again, this was before the album came out!

Oh, and did I mention that both variations as shown here came from the Columbia Records pressing plant in Pitman, N.J.?

But a serious question: With this info in mind, would anyone know the value of the 3506 vs. 4313 copies of AM-1265-S?

 

[W.B.]

Possessing copies with both catalogue numbers cited, I also noticed another difference between the two: namely, that the mix on the "4313" copies is somewhat different from that on the "3506" copies (the lacquer on my "3506" copy is indicated as "A+M 2130S-P3"; on my "4313" copy, "A+M 2130S RE1-P1"). From my listening to both copies, I noticed these characteristics, to wit (if you can find any more, feel free to pipe up):
- On the "3506" copies, the opening guitar intro moves from right to left; on the "4313" copies, the guitar intro is more or less centered throughout.
- On the first recitation of the chorus, Cat seems to be singing "Moon Shadow, Moon Shadow" by himself on the "3506" copies, while his background singers were moved a little bit more up into the mix on the "4313" copies.
- There was a high amount of hiss on the "3506" copies; conversely, while that factor was brought down on the "4313" copies, so too was the high end which ended up sounding somewhat duller.
- The song is about 1% slower in pitch on the "4313" copies as compared to the "3506" copies, and after the last note is strummed fades out 2 seconds sooner. (Let me specify that: Both versions are 2:48, time listing on the label notwithstanding, and no other editing was done, but the final note was :07 on the "3506" copies and :05 on the "4313" copies.)

Incidentally, the mix as on the "3506" copies of this single was also on my copy of the LP. (For the record - no pun intended - the LP lacquer in question, as mastered by Lee Hulko at Sterling Sound in New York, was marked 'SP 4526 RE-1 P3.')