What Now My Love LP versions

[Harry]

I believe that our current theory about why the What Now My Love album appears in several different 'mixes' is that there were at least two different stampers created to master the album, perhaps an East coast and a West coast version, if you will.

The two main iterations are:

- The echoey version. On this one, "What Now My Love's" main lead trumpet track has a reverb to it. Same with the whistling on "So What's New", and "Brasilia" has the full trombone part in it. "Plucky" is short in this version, without the strip-tease middle section.

- The non-echoey version. On this one, "What Now My Love's" main lead trumpet is more forefront, without reverb. The whistling part of "So What's New" is not reverbed, and "Brasilia" is missing a trombone part in the mix. "Plucky" has a strip-tease middle and is longer.

We've learned that while Larry Levine mixed the mono versions of the albums, Herb himself would do the stereo mixes. I submit that Larry Levine, a known lover of bigger, reverby sound, may have mixed the echoey version of the stereo album, while Herb mixed the plainer one.

Harry
...just a theory, online...

 

[Rudy]

I found out that in some cases, rather than making one stereo mix and copying it for the east/west manufacturing facilities, Herb would make a stereo mix for each plant. That would explain why What Now My Love has the different versions. FWIW, I grew up with the alternate stereo version (which is the same as the mono version in many respects), the one that is NOT on the CD.

I wonder if Larry Levine could shed any light on this? If he didn't do the stereo mixes, perhaps not.

I actually had made up an MP3 file of the differences between the key songs. An interesting listen.