Van Morrison - Brown Eyed Girl

It's possible that the original stereo mixes have
deteriorated. This seems to be common with several 1960s
artist catalogs that Sony controls. Simon & Garfunkel, Bob
Dylan and The Byrds are just a couple that have had
selected works of their output subtly given the remix
treatment.

Edited by LunarLaugh

Regarding the Mark Wilder remix first released on the
Amy Herot produced ‘Bang Masters’ CD:

You can tell the difference as the original stereo mix
has high-volume nasal male Sha-la-las in the phantom
center channel at about 2:40.

The original mono mix has low-level nasal male Sha-la-
las at approx. 2:40 buried by the predominately female
Sha-la-la chorus vocals.

The Wilder remix has mid-level nasal male Sha-la-las
at 2:40-ish with the predominately female Sha-la-la
chorus vox in the right-channel more audible than the
original stereo mix.

I know this is a weird description but it’s the best
way for me to describe the differences between the 3
versions…

I remember I was working with Bob Irwin on a Sundazed
project when he gave me “insider information” that he
was working with Amy Herot & Mark Wilder on a Bang
material Van Morrison multi-track project.

I played “Brown Eyed Girl” at just about every mobile
gig I booked and I always played the stereo version,
even though I hated the loud nasal Sha-la-las of the
stereo mix.

I remember asking Bob if he could goose the project
leaders to mix it more like the 45, but with the
stereo placement of the LP mix.

I was reasonably happy with the result; I think they
took a nice middle-ground approach.

Andy

Thanks for the tip! How's the sound quality on "Brown Eyed Girl"?

So doing my 1967 assembly this is a gem of a song, it should have done much better back then on the charts. Great song of course, a classic and one of my favorites.

I went to the Prof on youtube and of course at 2:20 the mono 45 has the lyrics "making love in the green grass" as confirmed by Hykker.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6KzkJ5L2j0

Is it possible to just fold down the stereo LP with the making love in the green grass lyrics to make the 45 version of the mono unedited and then download the two files from the 3CD release The Authorized Bang Collection to have the stereo and the mono edited mix for completeness?

Listening I hear nothing unique about the mono 45 at all as compared to the stereo.

Edited by PopArchivist

Revisiting my post from above...

I can confirm that the Best Of from my original post was the 1998 reissue, not the original 1990 release. The 1998 reissue is a digital clone (about 3 dB louder) of the CD Bang Masters (1991), which was remixed by Mark Wilder.

The Sony, Realm, and Time-Life discs I listed above are all differently-EQ'd digital clones of Bang Masters (1991).

In addition to the sha-la-las-at-2:40 difference that Andrew noted above, the fade on the Mark Wilder remix starts much earlier than the 1967 stereo mix. The end of the fade stops about one beat before the 1967 stereo mix.

So to tally up, I count four versions of the song:

• 1967 mono mix, laughin' and runnin' lyric at 2.20, found on original pressings of Best Of (1990)
• 1967 stereo mix, makin' love lyric at 2.20, found on JCI's Mellow Sixties (1988)
• 1991 stereo remix by Mark Wilder, makin' love lyric at 2.20, found on Bang Masters (1991)
• previously unreleased alternate take from 1967, found on Bang Masters (1991)

Edited by crapfromthepast