"Did You See Her Eyes" - The Illusion

Jon, it appears that our 45s are at least on the same page, even though they aren't from the same cutting. That wasn't the case with another Steed 45 from a few months earlier:

I have three copies of Andy Kim's "Baby I Love You" on Steed 716. Two are Monarch styrenes; one is a promo and the other is the stock copy I bought when the record was brand new. The promo is a mono double-A sider, and one of the two cuttings is identical to my stock. The etched deadwax matrix and delta numbers are in a different spot on the other side of the promo, even though the numbers themselves are the same. Etching differences aside, the stampers used on both sides of the promo appear to have been sourced from the same mother, and they sound identical.

My third copy is an east coast stock vinyl pressing, which had long been retired from one of the local top-40 stations. The label is the same as the one used on the Monarch stock (prepped by Alco Research & Engineering) right down to the identical fonts and placements.

I never bought 45s without first giving them a visual inspection, and what immediately caught my eye upon doing so with that Monarch stock back in '69 was the unusually wide groove spacing at the beginning of the A-side. It was the first time I'd ever seen variable groove pitch utilized on a 45. Having already become familiar with the tune on the radio, I knew it had to be on account of the loud drumbeats during the intro. Needless to say, those drum salvos on that record crack like rifle shots: BOOM! BOOM! After the initial volleys, the grooves resume a normal pitch pattern for the duration of the side.

I hadn't listened to the vinyl copy until fairly recently, since it isn't in the best of shape. Upon taking it out of its sleeve, the first thing I noticed was that it did *not* utilize variable pitched grooves at all. The deadwax bears the "LW" initials of the Long Wear Stamper Company, although the handwriting isn't the same as it is on the more-familiar Atlantic/Atco "LW" etchings. The other deadwax marking on this vinyl copy is simply "ST-1031". No "RE" or "RE-1".

Upon playing the vinyl copy, it was apparent from the start that the mastering engineer had taken a decidedly more conservative approach to cutting the side than his or her west coast counterpart. The opening drumbeats were about half as loud, and the highs on the rest of the song weren't nearly as sparkling. I'd guess that the east coast cutting lathe lacked variable groove pitch capability, so the engineer felt it necessary to tame the wild beast... not that that decision should have excused the muffled high end.

One thing was certain: the west coast cutting engineer went the extra mile to bring out the best in one of Jeff Barry's finest production moments.

Edited by Yah Shure