foreigner "that was yesterday"

This U.S. commercial 45 version is different from the LP version clearly. Especially, I'm able to understand that only the 45 version has the "now" voice of the strong echo with delay at (2:30)! We can at least hear the "now" voice of three on the 45 version. But the LP version has one time only. The actual U.S. 45 running time is (3:45), also the listed time is "3:45" (Atlantic 7-89571). However, my stock LP is a Japanese product. Could anyone compare the 45 with the U.S. LP?

--abagon

Edited by abagon

Wow! Nice catch indeed, abagon!

And, Pat, abagon does mention in his post that the U.S. commercial 45 contains the echo.

It really doesn't make sense as to why someone at Atlantic took the trouble to go back and add echo to only one word. At any rate, it appears the 45 version has become the "go-to" version on CD releases since the initial pressing of Agent Provacateur. (I'm glad I decided to hold on to that pressing. I've toyed with selling it a number of times over the years!)

As mentioned, the 45 version has a delay-type echo on the vocal "now" at 2:30; the LP version does not.

Also:

The LP version has a sudden jump in reverb on the second half of the vocal "day" at ~0:40; the 45 mix does not.

In the 45 mix, the synthesized white-noise splash sounds that repeat during the chorus are panned left and have a delayed echo on the right, creating a 4-note
pattern (though it sounds like 3 because the last part is quiet). On the LP version, this sound is mostly centered and there's no delay echo, so it's only a
2-note pattern.

Crash cymbals in the LP version are relatively quiet. They're plainly audible in the 45 mix. Listen for them at the beginning of each chorus and at the end of
the song.


Edited by mjb50

NightAire wrote: Any estimates on how many top 40 stations at the time cued past the fade-in to start the song? Feels like I remember my local top 40 doing that (but they did that kind of thing a lot).

FWIW, I have a WLOL-FM (Minneapolis) aircheck from May '85 that includes the intro.