Little Lover

[dirtyfaz]

Yesterday I looked again at the Look Through Any Window DVD and realised that the version of Little Lover on there was much longer than either the mono or stereo versions of that song. I think the stereo version is a different recording to the mono as the intro is different and verses are rearranged.
The video version is in mono and I think it maybe is the mono take. The video version is approx 2:43 long and has a second 12 bar break plus the Writing You A Letter verse repeated again. It also has the intro the same as the stereo version.
There is a Scopetone video jukebox version that has the mono intro so is different to the LTAW video. My audio quality of this is not great so I can't be sure if it the same take as the mono LP version.
If they are the same take then there was some severe editing done to the LP version.
It may also have been an earlier take but can't be sure.

Any members got any ideas about this?

[gee]

It's always a bit of a tricky one to decide if different recordings were made

'Little Lover' is listed as being recorded only on 15 May 1963 - when they cut FIVE songs in one day ! (three released) - featuring Don Rathbone on drums, it could have been that a few takes were 'edited' together etc (as George Martin did for The Beatles 'Thank You Girl' 'B' side)

mono and stereo versions DO have notable differences, besides the guitar intro (in stereo) being absent in mono and the rearranged verses mono to stereo there are also a few other small differences I've noticed....  

In mono Clarke calls out; 'Woah let's shake now...' at about one minute ten seconds into the track just before the guitar solo commences

but in stereo this call is absent...tho' Nash yells; 'Oh Yeah' at about one minute seventeen seconds into the stereo version's guitar solo that is not there in mono ! (this kind of thing could do your head in !)

Both versions clock in at approx one minute 57 or 58 seconds (depending on your CD counter) and overall sound very similar if not almost identical as performances 

- I'd guess ONE basic 'best version' recording on 15 May 1963 was then 'tweaked about with' by Ron Richards & the engineer for the two versions (mono/stereo) included on the album, possibly bits of another take(s)  laid down that day were edited in where maybe a slightly stronger part of the performance (a verse or the guitar solo etc) was combined to give the best overall version, tho' for some reason the guitar intro was edited off the mono version & left on the stereo take...

that might explain Clarke's & Nash's differing calls on each version IF they were from seperate takes on 15 May 1963, tho why they would add differing calls (from presumably different takes) to the mono and stereo versions seems strange  (?) - tho' that did happen alot on the mono & stereo versions of songs by many artists (notably groups) in that era...and nobody ever seems to know why

sadly alot of the key figures in the recording control rooms back then who might have given us the awnswer are gone - George Martin ought to be asked if he knows why it was while we still have him with us !

Remember takes WERE combined (like 'Thank You Girl') to create a 'best' version - another example is when The Beatles 're-cut' George Harrison's guitar solo on 'Can't Buy Me Love' but due to a faulty 'erase' on the master tape a part of the original guitar solo can STILL be heard in the background behind George's later solo
(The Beatles really liked the odd effect and so they left it on !)

Re length of songs - we do know Ron Richards chopped both of Tony's guitar solos on '(Ain't That) Just Like Me' for single release....and later both 'Stop Stop Stop' banjo solo in 1966 and the guitar 'tick over' parts on 'Curly Billy' (1973) were also duly edited down by Ron Richards for single releases too...(all three full length versions have emerged one way or another)

so the video (or 'promotional film' as they used to be called) recorded at De Laine Lea Studios of 'Little Lover' has very probably been extended with studio 'lengthening'(repeated verse & second guitar break etc) while The Hollies visual performance is of them then singing & playing along to the 'longer' version in order to to fit the promo film duration of 2 mins 43 secs - that's my guess !

If you hear the old original Deram (Decca) cassette of The Moody Blues 'Days of Future Passed' album John Lodge's song; 'Peak Hour' has been 'lengthened' by a vocal passage and the guitar solo  being repeated (that was done for cassette tape running time purposes, and it resulted in a rarer 'long version' of the song) - this has happened on other songs too.
 
The overall performance of 'Little Lover', notably Allan Clarke's singing & Don Rathbone's (basic) drumming seems too similar in mono & stereo to be completely different recordings I feel, tho' adding bits from 'other takes' to each version would at least account for the differing 'calls' from Clarke & Nash during the song.

The 'mixing' too can make one recording sound quite different in various formats of course, to me the stereo version does feel 'looser' and certainly the mono version sounds more 'direct' and dynamic (well to me) which I suspect is down to the mono and stereo mixing.

[cameron]

Speaking of editing, one edit I realised yesterday was my UK 8-track version of 'Distant Light' cuts the "wind" section out of "You Know The Score" as it's on a join in the tape. A much welcome edit for once!

[gee]

yeah it was rather overlong and drawn out I agree !

I think it was all meant to aurally represent a 'post apocalyptic nuclear devastated world' (with radiation filled winds blowing and 'ghostly' voices asking; "where have all the rainbows gone" etc...) there was a 'haunting' bit of harmonium like keyboard during the 'wind' section too I recall...

some think it 'silly'...while others find it 'atmospheric'

[dirtyfaz]

Thanks for the input Gee. My information shows that there were 6 takes of Little Lover with the first take recorded earlier in the session and that they returned later to retry it. Of the total of 6 takes 3 were false starts and the longest runs at 2:01 but the best take was deemed to be take 6 at 1:57.

In my variations book which severely need to be updated I suggest it was just a different vocal take between the mono and stereo. On the stereo version all the backing comes from the right with vocals on the left. I am pretty sure they would have just used the same backing track. The differing hoots and call backs during the break tend to support that the vocal track at least was rerecorded.

I tend to agree with you re the extension of the track via editing. It could be that from the break to the end was added to the end of the original take. I haven't listened to closely to the guitar during the break to see if they are the same.

I do find it interesting that the Scopetone version has the mono edited intro but the LTAW DVD has the stereo intro under Graham talking. I am assuming that the promo video you mention is the same as the Scopetone versions. Do you think the promo and Scopetone version have been speed up just a tad?

Do we know what tracks the Hollies recorded as a demo prior to their first recording session on the 4th April 1963?