"Ticket To Ride" the fourth "Greatest Debut Single"

[Actorman]

Carpenters' "Ticket To Ride" was named the fourth greatest debut single in this article on U Discover Music.

http://www.udiscovermusic.com/debut-singles

There is also another article on the same site discussing some of Karen & Richard's lesser known songs.

http://www.udiscovermusic.com/carpenterss-undiscovered-gems

So cool to see their music still being talked about and recognized today.

 

[Harry]

While investigating some recording anomalies I uncovered a slight variation in the 1973 version of "Ticket To Ride". A visit to the Resource reveals that there are quite a few variations that had been documented - those that were segued, those that were reversed; well now I've identified and cataloged one more: the narrowed stereo variation.

In most recordings issued with this track, Rich's piano starts out in the hard left channel, meaning that there is virtually nothing on the right channel. If you listen to this with headphones on, it can feel uncomfortable since your right ear isn't hearing anything at all. It turns out that several masterings of this recording narrowed the stereo a little bit. This is accomplished by panning the left channel ever so slightly toward the right so that the right ear is hearing something rather than nothing.

Many that prefer to listen on speaker systems will not mind the dramatic hard-panning, but those who listen on headphones might appreciate the slight;y narrowed stereo.

I've updated the Resource with this information.

Harry

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

So speaking about this track and how it appears so many different version with it hard panning to the left and on other CD's it just the opposite. So which is the "correct version" regarding, panned left, panned right and narrowed stereo? What I mean is which version is the one Richard intended it to be?

 

[Harry]

Since it first appeared on SINGLES 1969-1973, we can assume that the orientation with the piano on the left is correct. Sometime around 1985, the stereo got reversed for YESTERDAY ONCE MORE (85) or ANTHOLOGY in Japan. In both cases, "Ticket To Ride" was segued with the shimmery outro of "(Want You) Back In My Life Again". I, personally see no special reason for that reversed orientation, but it seemed to have stuck around awhile before being corrected in most modern releases.

Harry