Del Shannon - Hats Off To Larry

David:

I don't have a vinyl 45 dub at the moment, so I'm unable to help confirm if this a 45/LP version situation. (My guess is that it is.) But I do notice that most of the mono appearances of "Hats off to Larry" in the database are reported to be mastered from vinyl. Does the mono mix on the Rhino Greatest Hits CD sound like it came from a vinyl dub or a tape source?

Very interesting observation David. Here is what I come up with. The organ I believe is really a mellotron and on the Rhino "Greatest Hits" cd where the song is in mono, I hear the mellotron at :16 but it is really buried in the mix. My original 45 which is obviously mono, has this mellotron at full volume at :16, and on the stereo version found on the "Little Town Flirt" cd I also hear the mellotron at full volume. I even tried to fold down the stereo version to see if there would be some phase cancellation that would reduce the volume of the mellotron at :16 and it did not reduce the volume. I do not have a mono copy of the "Little Town Flirt" vinyl LP where this song first appeared so I cannot verify what you would hear at :16 on the mono vinyl LP.

Edited by Pat Downey

Hmm... my Del Shannon import of his "Runaway With" and "Hats Off to Larry" albums, which are mono on this disc from Mole Hole/Beat Goes On Records (and from tape), has the muffled mellotron at :16. Looks like we may have a mono single/mono album difference.

on another note, so to speak....my commercial 45 issued as
big top 3075 lists the run time on the label as 2:00, but
actually only runs 1:56...if you fade the mono rhino
'greatest hits' cd version for 0:06 from 1:50 to 1:56 you
can effectively re-create the vinyl 45 version.....this 45
run time s/b added to the db....

I have looked into this question again David and here is what I come up with
1) I have the mono "Little Town Flirt" vinyl LP and it is identical to the 45 mix of Hats Off To Larry
2) again, my copy of Rhino 70977 has this musitron or whatever it is called at :16 but it is lower in volume than on the 45 or LP. Perhaps there are 2 pressings of this cd so my matrix information is 4/90 1DA1
3) other mono cd's with a lower volume are Heartland 1042, Laurie 1013, Laurie 4102, Laurie 6014, Collectables 2510 and 4510 and 1656, Music Club 50044, Curb 77756 and Time-Life 2RNR-04 first pressing
4) other mono appearances have the musitron but at 45 and LP volume

Perhaps certain mono CD appearances where the musitron is audible are actually a fold-down created from the stereo mix?

Interesting to see this thread that started so long ago
come back! The BIG question, is there a CD with the
correct US mono 45? Most seem to contain the incorrect
British mix (info from The45Profs YouTube post of his Big
Top 45)? That's what I use for my source at the moment.