Chicago-"Look Away"

10 years later...

The promo CD single (Reprise PRO-CD-3219, copyright 1988) has two tracks:

1 - "CHR Mix", no printed time, actual 3:59
2 - "AC Mix", no printed time, actual 3:59

The two files track exactly together, so you can align them in a digital editor and subtract the two to find what's different between them. They're off by a fraction of a sample, though, so it's not exact. Doing this subtraction highlights a guitar that's mostly playing power chords during the chorus. This guitar line is present in the CHR Mix but absent from the AC Mix. Around 3:35, between the words "look away" and "don't look at me", listen for the high-pitched guitar line playing descending sixteen notes in the CHR Mix, which is absent from the AC Mix.

As best as I can tell, Reprise's Chicago 19 (1988) includes the CHR Mix, although it's a different analog transfer of it. As reported above, the 45 matches the Chicago 19 album version, so it too includes the CHR Mix.

The same analog transfer as 19 is used on:

• Reprise's Greatest Hits 1982-1989 (1989)
• Time-Life's Ultimate Love Songs Collection Feelin' Good (2005) - absolute polarity inverted, which is insignificant

The version on swaitek's promo 50-CD set The A List Disc 44 (1994) is the AC Mix. Most (all?) of the tracks on The A List use masterings from TM Century discs, so I assume that there's likely a TM Century disc out there that also has the AC Mix.

If you're just looking for a CD copy of the song, I recommend Reprise's Greatest Hits 1982-1989 (1989), which has stellar sound overall and an all-hit track selection. You'll get the CHR Mix of "Look Away", which matches the LP version, the 45 version, and Track 1 of the promo CD single.

Edited by crapfromthepast