"Moon Shadow" vs. "Moonshadow"

Pat,

A new e-subscriber (but have had your books for years). As others have said before me, be gentle.

A few observations, and/or suggestions for updating of some early 70's listings (my main interest).

Cat Stevens-Moon Shadow Pat, please pull your original 45 copy (no reissues) of Moon Shadow. The commercial 45 is quite a different mix from the LP- the background vocals are more pronounced and the guitar is mixed differently. The 45 mix is somewhat muddy compared to the LP, particularly at the end of the record, perhaps it was rush released as a follow-up to "Wild World", as it predated the LP release, "Teaser and the Firecat". Indeed, the single is the only place I've ever see the title in 2 words, "Moon Shadow" as opposed to "Moonshadow" which denotes the LP mix and has appeared on the original LP and every subsequent re-release of the song, either vinyl or disc, to my knowledge.

Dramatics-Whatcha See is Whatcha Get   The commerical copy I have is (M), runs 3:30 and features no strings on the intro. All of the disc versions I have run 3:30 and are (S) and feature strings. I am not familiar with the LP version, but could it be the 3:30 stereo version with strings is pulled from the LP version in an attempt to recreate the 45 version?   There is one listing as (M) in your current edition-Rhino's "Can you Dig It?" box set- could this be the true 45 version?

Three Dog Night- Mama Told Me As we all know, the commercial 45 faded out at 2:58-The LP version ended cold at 3:19. To my knowledge, the 45 length has never appeared on CD. Perhaps a distinction needs to be added to this listing.

I've read many of the postings and threads and have to say this is quite an educated and dedicated group.

Regards,
John

John, welcome to the chat board and you have distinguished yourself with the comments that you have made.

Regarding the "Moon Shadow" discussion I agree that there are some significant enough changes in the mix to make an LP vs 45 version distinction and the database now reflects this.

Regarding the Dramatics, I guess I became so used to hearing the stereo version that I never noticed the string overdub until you pointed it out. The only cd that features the true 45 version is the Rhino "Can You dig It" box set and this information has also been changed in the database.

Thanks for your input and your valuable contributions.

Edited by Pat Downey

Aaron, there are 3 songs being discussed in this thread so which one are you referring to? I checked the database for all three songs and I don't see any "length" comments at all as they all say "version".

Aaron, sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you but I kind of spaced out your request. The "Mama Told Me Not To Come" situation is similar to other discussions lately where the 45 "version" can be obtained by simply fading the LP "version" but since the LP ending is so dramatically different than the 45 I elected to give it a "version" designation rather than "length" designation. As we have seen lately in chat board postings, some feel this is the correct way to categorize certain songs while others do not agree. Whatever designation I give in this case will be satisfactory to some and unsatisfactory to others -- it is just a no win situation.

Thanks Paul... and Paul! I did a search for Cat Stevens and just didn't search for Moon Shadow.