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Eddie Heywood "Soft Summer Breeze" |
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Pat Downey ![]() Admin Group ![]() Joined: 01 October 2003 Status: Offline Points: 1 |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posted: 04 August 2017 at 3:02pm |
A chat board member has emailed me that his 45 of Eddie Heywood's "Soft Summer Breeze" states and actually runs (2:42) with matrix number YWM-11954-3 while my 45 runs (2:30) not (2:42) as stated on the record label and has matrix number YW ..954 2F. Both 45's are Mercury 70863. Since the matrix numbers are very different there very well could be two different pressings of this 45 so could those of you that own this 45 please check and see which pressing you might have. Being a fairly short instrumental I don't see why they would bother editing just :12 off the length.
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Yah Shure ![]() Music Fan ![]() Joined: 11 December 2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1 |
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My copy resembles the first one you posted, Pat: a maroon-label Mercury 70863X45 Capitol Scranton pressing; deadwax matrix "45-YMW-11954-3", with five tiny, indecipherable hand-etched figures across from it, and the International Association of Machinists "anvil" logo (characteristic of the Capitol Scranton plant at the time) machine stamped between them. The deadwax area is wider than the playing area, so those big. machine-stamped matrix numbers really stand out.
The printed time is (2:42); actual is (2:41.9). Going from the "2F" matrix number suffix on your copy, I'm going to guess that yours is a black-label RCA pressing, with the matrix numbers machine-stamped in a straight line. Is there a single "I", "R" or "H" letter stamped opposite it? That would indicate which RCA plant pressed it. Since the printed label matrix number should be "YW11954" on both Capitol and RCA pressings, might the two dots on your "YW ..954 2F" deadwax number be a case of the two "1" numerals being stamped too lightly to show anything except their bases, resembling dots? As for your shorter (2:30) playing time, here's what I suspect happened: Mercury contracted out both the mastering and the pressing to Capitol and RCA, supplying each with a tape. It's likely that the mastering engineer at the RCA plant erroneously assumed that the long, repetitive ending was intended to be faded out earlier during the mastering stage, and did just that. Any (2:30)-length 45s likely came only from RCA plants. I have a Mercury Celebrity Series reissue 45, bought in 1972 (mastered and pressed by Mercury) and a Mercury Wing budget line reissue of the Eddie Heywood LP, and the timings on those were (2:41.4) and (2:41.6) respectively. |
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Pat Downey ![]() Admin Group ![]() Joined: 01 October 2003 Status: Offline Points: 1 |
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Yes you have guessed right as my copy is a black label Mercury 45 pressed by RCA so there are 2 different pressings of this 45.
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