B.J. Thomas- "Raindrops Keep Fallin’..."

Part 2 of my epic analysis (see previous message for part 1):

What Ron called the "previously unreleased edit" is what the database is calling "single version but slower than the single and missing the last :07 of the trumpet ending on the single", and this is also what the database is calling "alternate take". They are all the same mix, which LunarLaugh learned is in fact a Bill Inglot remix. The fade length varies quite a bit, with the longest fades longer than the 45 (I think) and the shortest ones missing like 9 seconds.

Therefore, I think the database should consistently refer to this version as something like "remix which is a failed attempt to re-create the single version in stereo". The reason why I say it failed is because, as was already pointed out, the 2nd half uses the previously unheard slow take.

As for it being slower than the retail 45, well, it's using the slow takes for both halves, so this makes sense. Until the 2nd half, the speed and content are actually the same as on the 45 and LP, which are using the same take. However, in the remix, the first half has slightly narrower stereo, there's extra reverb on the intro (creating what sounds like an unintentional "ping"), and, in most appearances, the channels are swapped throughout (the piano is erroneously on the left).

More database corrections:
• If the rip I found is right, The Hits... and Much More has the soundtrack version, not LP version.
• If the rip I found is right, The Very Best Of B.J. Thomas (Special Music 4827) is all vinyl transfers with extreme, crude noise reduction and terrible EQ.
• I'm uncertain whether it's correct that the LP version on 20 Greatest Hits was mastered from vinyl. It seems to me it's the same master shared by most CDs, so the note would need to apply to all of them. I think the background noise in certain parts can be explained as tape damage and splices making their way through.

Edited by mjb50 - 2 hours 20 minutes ago at 10:36am