Two Mixes of 'Magic Woman Touch'

[cameron]

As we know, there's the two versions of MWT, the original 'Romany' LP version and the acoustic version, but did you know there's two mixes of the album version? The single mix was different. 

It was recorded on 8th - 9th May 1972, but there's an entry in the session listing for 6th October, which presumably was a remix of the single, which was released the same day as 'Romany' on 1st November 1972. 

The single mix is noticeably "hotter" with Bernie's bass way further forward in the mix and much more power behind Bobby's drums. The backing vocals on the intro are much quieter and the percussion during the bridge section are louder. It also seems to be about ten seconds longer than the album mix as the outro runs for longer. 

Gee pointed this out to me, and it's not been issued on CD as there's a drop out on the surviving master tape during the intro, which they found while compiling 'Hollies Greatest Hits' (cloud cover, 2003). But there's definitely two different tapes with two different mixes. When comparing my 45rpm singles, the German and British pressing have the remix but the Belgian one doesn't appear to, it seems to be the tamer album mix. Not sure about any other pressings. 

[Mevrouw Bee]

So which one is this? It's the US promo version on Epic.

[dirtyfaz]

Referring to the notes in my old tome from 2000 I show the entry from Oct 6 as being the UK single version and being issued in MONO Polydor 2058289 (my copy is mono but for sure it would be a fold down).
The 45 was issued November 10 so that means the Oct 6 recording was put together and readied for Nov 10. Pretty quick.
Cam is your UK 45 stereo? I have those 45 u mention plus that US promo but all my Hollies 45s and EPs are in storage so I can't check.

[baz]

I have the UK 45 and can confirm my copy has the A side in mono and the B side in stereo. Baffled me when I bought it around 30 years ago as to why!

[cameron]

Yes the UK is mono but the German one (I think?) is stereo with the same mix. It would explain the punchier sound if it's a mixdown, but not why it runs for much longer than the album version. So it must be a dedicated mix.

[dirtyfaz]

I have copied my UK 45 to a wave file and the times for both the 45 and LP versions are almost identical. I checked the intro length and they are the same. You do have to wonder why the mono(?) version was put together. Cam, how long does you 45 version run. Mine is about 3.17.

[dirtyfaz]

I revisited MWT and the different copies I have of this today via headphones. On revisiting the UK 45 it is MONO, but fades (maybe @ 3.16) a few seconds before to stereo LP versions (I didn't really notice any differences). It is amazing the difference in masterings of the different CDs that get issued around the world. The hottest one I heard and maybe liked best was on the Japanese "Hollies Greatest - Singles Vol 2 (Disc 1) (Japanese Replica LP Sleeve)" It is most certainly the loudest and normally that doesn't make it best. The 50 x 50 isn't bad as well.

Interesting the dates in the sessionography show the 2 dates and different releases relating to the dates. My assumption would be that maybe the May 8,9th sessions were just remixed for the 45 (Maybe). The October sessions could be for the film being prepared for the 45 release. Unfortunately none of us were there so I guess we are left with assumptions.

[cameron]

I've just found the single mix on an LP; 'The Hollies Collection', a Dutch compilation from 1980. Seems to be stereo (not heard through headphones yet) and doesn't have a drop out in the intro.