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Todd Ireland
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| Posted: 27 September 2012 at 8:05pm | IP Logged
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According to the database, the actual 45 run time of the Grass Roots' "The River Is Wide" is 2:38, not 2:30 as stated on the record label. Yet the lone database CD containing a "45 version" comment shows a run time of 2:50. Clearly, something doesn't quite add up here.
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Yah Shure
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| Posted: 28 September 2012 at 8:46pm | IP Logged
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"Something doesn't quite add up here" is right. The 2:50 track on Rhino's The Grass Roots Anthology 1965-1975 CD does not match my Monarch-pressed Dunhill 4187 45 (deadwax matrix 01299.....(Monarch "MR" logo)......delta number 75492, actual time is 2:38).
For starters, there's a major speed difference between the two, plainly evident from the very first note during an A/B comparison. The CD track runs much faster than the 45; a difference of 4.719 seconds at the 2:35 mark of the 45, just before it fades out. The CD track fades later and continues on longer past the corresponding point where the 45 ends.
Here's where the 45 differs from the Rhino CD track: the final line sung on the 45 is "...so baby don't you fight and say you belong now to me." It's that final word "me," which occurs at 2:35.7, that is unique to the 45. It's flown in from somewhere else and does not appear on the CD track. The tone changes abruptly, due to the presence of a bass overdub that isn't on the single up until that point. The word "me" is also sung differently than it is on the CD track as follows:
45: occurs at the 2:35.7 mark. Sung as a straightforward "meeeee," for two seconds, followed by one second of just the backing track as the fade ends.
CD: occurs at the 2:30.7 mark. Sung as "meeeee yeah-eah because the river runs wide..." Rob Grill is singing over the backing track the whole time.
Past the end of the 45, there's one final refrain on the CD track as it nears the end. This occurs at the 2:47 mark. This time, Rob sings "meeeee yeah now the river runs." Once again, he's singing over the backing track the entire time.
Seems like a lot of fuss over a three-second ending that few would ever hear, let alone notice, but there it is.
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Todd Ireland
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| Posted: 29 September 2012 at 4:10pm | IP Logged
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Thanks much for helping set the record straight here, Yah Shure. How odd that the Rhino disc in question would have an alternative ending spliced in during the point where the song is fading out on the commercial 45!
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Yah Shure
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| Posted: 29 September 2012 at 5:58pm | IP Logged
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Todd, just to clarify what I'd stated: it's the 45 that has the last three seconds spliced in from an alternate take. It's unique to the 45.
The Rhino CD track does not have the spliced-in ending.
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Todd Ireland
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| Posted: 29 September 2012 at 9:27pm | IP Logged
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Gotcha. I appreciate the clarification, Yah Shure.
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Topic: "The River Is Wide" - The Grass Roots
