Avril Lavigne - Complicated

Interestingly, I found info online that indicates both a US 7" and US CD single was issued with the "Tom Lord-Alge Mix" as the A-side / lead CD track.

aaronk wrote: we always played the album version (aka "The Matrix Mix").

My copy of the Let Go CD (which is a Canadian pressing, but I doubt it would differ from the U.S. pressing since Avril Lavigne was signed directly to Arista US), states that "Complicated" was produced by The Matrix but mixed by Tom Lord-Alge. This version is identical to the "Tom Lord-Alge Mix" on the Promo Only CD.

Paul C wrote: My copy of the Let Go CD (which is a Canadian pressing, but I doubt it would differ from the U.S. pressing since Avril Lavigne was signed directly to Arista US), states that "Complicated" was produced by The Matrix but mixed by Tom Lord-Alge. This version is identical to the "Tom Lord-Alge Mix" on the Promo Only CD.

Paul, you are absolutely correct. My post from several years ago had the album version matched to the wrong mix. To correct myself above, WDRQ where I worked in Detroit played the "Tom Lord-Alge Mix," which is the album version. When I worked for Radio Disney, we always played "The Matrix Mix," which has a different drum track and some other noticeable mix differences.

I'm actually quite surprised that Arista put "The Matrix Mix" as the lead track on the promo CD. In my opinion, the album version (aka "Tom Lord-Alge Mix") is much more polished and sounds like a radio mix.

Edited by aaronk

Good catch! Not only have I added Greatest Hits for "Complicated," but I also discovered something Pat had missed back in 2024. All of the songs taken from Let Go use the 20th anniversary remixes. That means her top 40 hits "Complicated," "SK8ERBOI," and "I'm With You" are all remixes and not the original hit versions.

Until today, I had never heard these remixes. They don't deviate very drastically from the original mixes, but there are noticeable differences. For instance, the original mix of "Complicated" has a lot of trailing reverb on the very last vocal of the song ("no, no, no"). It's totally dry on the remix. The drums also have a different sound. For "SK8ERBOI," the open drum fill is by itself, whereas on the original mix, there's an electric guitar along with the drum fill. The remix for "I'm With You" sounds a tad more polished than the original mix, especially the drums.