What Happened to the Original Mix of Brenda Holloway's "Too Proud to Cry?"

[kenneth]

Perhaps Rossholloway or the powers at be at Ace/Kent know the answer to this. One of my favorite songs on Brenda Holloway's "Every Little Bit Hurts" album is "Too Proud to Cry." I have the original Mono LP [[it was only issued in Mono in the States, oddly). I love the song. It's a dramatic showstopper which absolutely suits Brenda's over-the-top, sultry delivery.

This album came out again in the crop of 80s reissues, in Stereo, and the take of "Too Proud to Cry" was completely different, and in my opinion, not half as good as the original. The vocal is more rambling, less focused, and to my mind doesn't put the song over nearly as well.

Ever since then, on every Brenda compilation [[The "Greatest Hits and Rare Classics," and the "Anthology" 2 CD set, and now the "Atristry" collection), it's always the second, less dynamic mix we hear on this song.

I'm wondering why the different take? Is it because it would have been rerecorded for Stereo? That would be rather an unusual practice, wouldn't it? I thought usually the same takes were used, just mixed from Mono to Stereo for the Stereo version of the LP.

Any thoughts? Also, if you Holloway fans know both versions, I'd be interested if you agree or disagree that the original mix is so much better.

[robb_k]

7747
I prefer the mono version. But that's no surprise. With Motown, I almost always prefer the mono versions.

[kenneth]

@Robb_K,

Why would they have rerecorded it for Stereo? Wasn't that a rather unusual practice? If it hadn't been recorded on tape that could be mixed in Stereo, would that mean the entire Stereo version of the album is different than the Mono, in terms of takes?

[Methuselah2]

Kenneth - Here's an interesting link with some useful observations:

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/motown-stereo-mono-mixes-different-takes-used.307909/

Don't miss the link within the link, too.

I clearly remember when I first listened to I HEAR A SYMPHONY on its stereo version album when it was first released. I thought "What's going on here? This is not what had been played on the radio!" Not too long ago, I heard an interview with some of UMe's producers in which they discussed the procedure of that time of using different takes/different mixes for the stereo albums.

But the I HEAR A SYMPHONY stereo version album had yet one more interesting--OK, incredible--facet to it: The initial stereo album pressing that contained the stereo takes was actually--although inadvertently--released in mono!

[kenneth]

@Methuselah2 - Interesting stuff, thanks...kenneth

[nabob]

Perhaps Rossholloway or the powers at be at Ace/Kent know the answer to this. One of my favorite songs on Brenda Holloway's "Every Little Bit Hurts" album is "Too Proud to Cry." I have the original Mono LP [[it was only issued in Mono in the States, oddly). I love the song. It's a dramatic showstopper which absolutely suits Brenda's over-the-top, sultry delivery.
Kenneth, An original stereo copy of the album was released by the Columbia Record Club back in 1965. This original release was branded as "Electronically Re-Channeled Stereo". The interesting thing about this format is the basic mono track with either strings or brass panned off to one side, but not both on individual tracks. This mix and the others from the album are the same versions you mentioned on the subsequent "collection" CDs.

[kenneth]

@Nabob, So is that really fake stereo then? [["Real" fake stereo...that sounds odd.)

Does that mean that the collection CDs do not contain true stereo mixes of the "Every Little Bit Hurts" tracks also?

I imagine "Too Proud to Cry" could be an exception, as it is a totally different take, very obvious from the vocal.

I'm sure that CRC LP is worth quite a lot for its rarity.

[keith_hughes]

Brenda recorded two versions at more or less the same time, in California, and both were sent to Detroit for consideration. Evidently they chose one version for the mono version of Tamla 257 and the other for the stereo [[which was issued in November 1965, Kenneth, according to Motown paperwork). All subsequent releases of the track have been in stereo ... EXCEPT for the UK LP "The Artistry Of Brenda Holloway", which was issued in both mono and stereo. I just gave this a play, expecting to hear the mono version, but instead what I heard was what was presumably a fold of the stereo version!

An easy way to check which is which, is a line near the beginning of the song: "I think of love we had together / Filled with ecstasy". That's the original Tamla 257 mono version. On the other version she sings "I think of love we had together / It was filled with ecstasy".

[kenneth]

Thank you Keith. I never knew the LP was issued in Stereo in the states. I don't think I've ever seen a Stereo copy. The reason I always assumed it was never issued in Stereo was that in all the LP inserts, it would only show the TLP catalog number, unlike almost all the other LPs which would have the M/G/TLP catalog number followed by the Stereo indication SLP with its equivalent number.

I guess there's another good reason to hang on to my original LP! [[As if I would ever part with it, anyway...!)

[theboyfromxtown]

This kind of situation is always going to occur until the time comes when every release contains both mono and stereo versions of the same album. I have the same problem with Shorty Long's Night Fo Last [[vocal) version. The mono 45 was a vocal version of the instrumental and released on TCMS but that mono album version is still not available on cd. Like you, those mono albums will stay with me for a good while longer whilst I can still hear them!

Japan recently released the Dionne Warwick albums with mono and stereo versions and even added bonus tracks, so I guess it's possible.

[762rob]

Kenneth, An original stereo copy of the album was released by the Columbia Record Club back in 1965. This original release was branded as "Electronically Re-Channeled Stereo". The interesting thing about this format is the basic mono track with either strings or brass panned off to one side, but not both on individual tracks. This mix and the others from the album are the same versions you mentioned on the subsequent "collection" CDs.

That is correct I have one of those with the STEREO logo on top combined with the "electronically" notation.

The album was also released in 4 track and 8 track stereo tape cartridges. But the standard issue Tamla Lp remained in mono only.