Jethro Tull – Living In The Past – stereo mix from 1969 promo 45

After a long search on eBay I found a 1969 promo copy of Living In The Past / Driving Song in Stereo. I read about this years ago and was starting to think that it did not even exist.

This was a Reprise promo release from July of '69, not the later stereo remix released in conjunction with the compilation of the same name. That collection included a remix with a slightly different edit for the last sixty seconds or so of the song.

The mix is certainly different.

Does anyone know if this was ever released commercially, or on any other release, analog or digital?

 

Would you like to explain in more detail what the difference is?

 

Sure..

On the '69, some of percussion on the right is on the left in the '72 version .

On the On the '69 mix the guitar is centered. On the '72 (based on the CD version I am familiar with), the guitar is in the right channel.

The flute seems to be mixed more up front on the '72 mix.

At forty one seconds into the '69 mix, there is a hard pan of the orchestra from right to left. The '72 seems to be more centered.

The '69 mix also has the orchestra in the left channel. On the '72 mix, it is centered.

The edit at about 2.20 on all stereo versions of the '72 stereo mix I have heard used a different flute overdub than the original 1969 single.

The '69 stereo has the same flute section heard on the '69 single. In stereo.

 

Thanks.

There's folks here who know every burp and grunt on every Tull record, so I would think you'll hear more from them.

 

Thanks. I know. I was kinda hoping that would happen.... I think

 

Wow, this is an interesting find. The most noticeable difference between the 1969 mono mix and the 1972 stereo mix is that Ian replaced the second instrumental passage with a repeat of the first when he remixed it in 1972. My question is are there any differences between the 1969 stereo and 1969 mono mixes?

 

I don't think this was commercially issued. I think the commercial single would have been mono in that era. Reprise was forward looking in the sense that they realized FM needed current singles in Stereo for airplay. Remember that most FM Top 40 formats needed current singles in Stereo to succeed. And most singles in that era were still mono only or Stereo side promos. Often the single would get released and be in heavy rotation if popular and then a Stereo LP would get issued. So many a Stereo FM Top 40 or Rock format would be stuck with no Stereo version to play until the LP came out 6-9 months later. Which meant then the tune was a recurrent or even an oldie by the time Stereo LP was available to play. Until 1975, there were a few holdout labels who did not issue Stereo 45 singles commercially, Bell and London labels major examples. I think Reprise went Stereo in 1971-1973 on commercial stock 45 singles along with Warner Brothers.

 

Maybe tootull or tullman can provide some info.

 

I think I have the WLP from 1973 with a mono version of the later mix. Not sure though.

 

This should not be confused with the '69 mono promo or the '72 stereo promo.

 

Over here in the UK there were at least two mixes for the song.

One was the "original" mix which was used on the Island single WIP 6056 (1969) and the second one is the "Island" mix with was used on compilations issued by Island Records after the band had switched to the Chrysalis record label. The difference between the two mixes is the addition of a second flute track on the Island mix. Both, as far as my memory goes, were in stereo although I'm not sure the exact configuration as to what instrument/vocal was placed where on the mixes.

Feel free to join The Jethro Tull Forum at http://jethrotull.proboards.com as there will, no doubt, be folks there who can answer such queries as the above.

Cheers

Maddog

 

"Driving Song" is also a unique stereo mix on this promo 45.

 

Yes. I did a quick compare this morning against the version on the Living In The Past LP. It is different too.

On the '69 promo, the guitar tracks are in the left channel. The '72 version has them split between left and right.

The '69 has the bass and drum tracks in the right channel. They are centered on the '72 mix.

The flute starts in the left channel and pans to the center and remains there on the '69 version. The '72 copy pans from right to center and then bounces back and forth between right and left for the remainder of the song.

 

Just a word of caution for anyone who may be looking for a copy of this. The US '69 WLP was released in both mono and stereo versions. The stereo has the word STEREO on the label above the cat number 0845. See my post #10 that shows a more common MONO copy.

 

Posting because I deleted the image from the database to free up server space for the forum upgrade. This photo is from a link.

 

I don't suppose anyone in this thread would be willing to do a needledrop of the promo stereo mix, would they?

 

The best anyone could do would be a sample of a portion of the song. I don't have an account anywhere that I could drop a sample.

 

I suggest using sendspace.com to post the sample. It's free and used by many of us in the "post your needledrops" thread.

 

I'll see what I can do. I have a digital copy I made as a reference. I'll see if I can get a segment of it up for review.

 

For what it's worth,I was mostly curious to hear what the second flute section sounds like in stereo.

 

That is one of the downloads. If it works, let me know.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/pnn3n3

http://www.sendspace.com/file/oeeu2v

 

Cool, thanks!

 

Really nice to hear that in stereo - I've always been sort of dumbfounded as to why Ian didn't use this in the1972 stereo mix - it sounds so much more "mysterious" to me. Now, anybody got a copy they're willing to part with? ;-) (not that I can afford it...)

 

No doubt the question has been asked and answered before but...

Are the stereo mixes of LITP and Driving Song on the Stand Up deluxe the LITP compilation mixes or are they the 45 promo mixes?

Also, is there a digital release of the mono mix of Driving Song?

 

As far as I am aware, the mixes on the promo are unique to that release and have never been available in any digital format.

Here is a photo. The stereo copy on top of the more common mono promo. Note the "STEREO" over the cat number.