Paul Simon - "American Tune"
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Topic: Paul Simon - "American Tune"
Posted By: Paul C
Subject: Paul Simon - "American Tune"
Date Posted: 27 May 2009 at 1:35pm
| On my U.S. commercial 45, there is, in addition to the accoustic guitar, another instrument heard before Simon starts to sing. (I can't quite make out what the instrument is.) I purchased a download of the song from the Essential Paul Simon CD, and it does not have this additional instrument. I don't know if this is the version from the There Goes Rhymin' Simon LP. |
Replies:
Posted By: Hykker
Date Posted: 27 May 2009 at 5:34pm
|
I compared my commercial copy with my promo copy and there is what sounds like some sort of additional stringed instrument in the intro that's missing from the promo copy. The commercial 45 also sounds much more compressed.
The promo has a non-standard catalog # (AE7-1105) which is what Columbia often did when they'd release an album-only track for radio. Listed time on the promo is 3:40 vs 3:44 on the commercial copy. Matrix # on the promo is ZSS 161953-1B on the stereo side & ZSS 161952-1B on the mono side. I don't have the album to compare. |
Posted By: Todd Ireland
Date Posted: 28 May 2009 at 4:40pm
| I just listened to "American Tune" on my copy of the Paul Simon 1964/1993 box set (Warner Brothers 45394) and I don't hear the additional stringed instrument reported to be on the commercial 45. Has this 45 version appeared anywhere on CD? |
Posted By: Pat Downey
Date Posted: 31 May 2009 at 10:40am
| The 45 version has not appeared anywhere in the U.S. on cd. |
Posted By: Todd Ireland
Date Posted: 31 May 2009 at 5:10pm
| Thanks, Pat. |
Posted By: eriejwg
Date Posted: 07 June 2009 at 11:34am
|
Purchased a commercial 45 and ran off a dub last night. I think the instrument at the beginning is a steel guitar. Even the vocal sounds a bit different, as in another vocal take?
The 45 version is definitely superior to the LP. |
Posted By: Yah Shure
Date Posted: 07 June 2009 at 9:25pm
The AE7-1105 promo-only 45 is actually a reissue that was timed to coincide with the American Bicentennial observance in 1976. One wouldn't know that by looking at the label, however, which only lists a (P)1973 date on it. The accompanying white-and-red picture sleeve featured a portion of the U.S. flag on the front side, and the song's lyrics on the back. At the bottom left corner on the http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh240/YahShure/AmericanTune-1976AE7sleeve.jpg - back side is a "©1976 CBS,Inc. / (P)1973 CBS, Inc...." notation. My copy is a vinyl Terre Haute CBS pressing. The Terre Haute plant was still pressing styrene-only 45s in 1973, and did not begin pressing DJ 45s on vinyl until about 1975. The AE7 promo 45 series was also used for some more general, non-commercial purposes. We played "Where You Think You're Going," the 1972 Robert Lamm anti-dope public service announcement (AE7-1054) into the ground at my college station. It clocked in at a very awkward (for a PSA) seventy-three seconds. |
Hykker wrote: