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Todd Ireland
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| Posted: 06 October 2005 at 12:32pm | IP Logged
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In a recent e-mail conversation, David Clark and I were discussing "Puff (the Magic Dragon)" by Peter, Paul & Mary and he brought to my attention that the version on the Best of/10 Years Together CD (Warner Brothers 3105) contains reverb and echo (it's most noticable in the vocals), yet the new PP&M Very Best of disc on Rhino 73161 does not. I did an A/B comparison between the two and also found that: 1) the stereo channels are reversed, and 2) Peter Yarrow and Mary Travers' background vocals are mixed much more "up front" on the Rhino CD than on the Warner Bros. disc.
Does anyone have a commercial 45 copy and/or the original LP version of "Puff" who can describe for us which mixes appear on each?
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Paul Esch
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| Posted: 07 October 2005 at 8:09am | IP Logged
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I'm afraid I can't precisely answer your question, as the only vinyl
copy I have is the re-issue 45 (Warner GWB 7101, palm trees and
street label). Warner has always seemed to be reliable (as far as that
era goes) for putting the original single version on the re-issue, so
I'm basing my comparison on that. Anyway, this version has no echo
on the vocals, and the background vocals are more pronounced, just
as on the Rhino CD. The single is in mono, of course, and the guitar
has no echo/reverb on it either. On the Rhino CD, the guitar sounds
like it has at least a little echo. My single timed out to about the
same as the Rhino CD version.
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Roscoe
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| Posted: 07 October 2005 at 10:37am | IP Logged
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When they first issued the PPM albums on CD in the late 80s, Peter Yarrow decided to go back to the multi-tracks and remix the early albums.
In this remixing, it's clear that they added alot of digital reverb. In fact, for simple 3 track recordings, the changes from the original mixes are pretty shocking (The Cruel War barely even sounds like the same recording). The differences are most pronounced on the PPM debut album and their second album, Moving, which contained Puff The Magic Dragon. Indeed, the remix of Puff reversed the channels and added a significant amount of digital reverb.
The CD issue of 10 Years Together used these remixes.
The Carry It On box set and the recent Very Best Of on Rhino are the first time the original mixes have been issued on CD. So, Puff is in its original stereo mix, which is very similar sonically to the mono mix.
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Todd Ireland
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| Posted: 07 October 2005 at 7:46pm | IP Logged
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Thanks for helping set the record straight, Roscoe. I've become so accustomed to hearing the Peter, Paul & Mary reverb remixes on CD that I hadn't realized the original mixes were dry (no reverb).
For the record, I think the sound quality on the new P,P&M best-of disc is just superb! One of the sonic standouts in my opinion is "Puff (the Magic Dragon)".
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jimct
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| Posted: 27 August 2010 at 6:47pm | IP Logged
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My commercial 45, confirmed as WB 5348 with machine-stamped deadwax info of "E 12960-1A", has a listed time of (3:20), but an actual time of (3:24).
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Topic: "Puff (the Magic Dragon)" - P,P&M
