I never heard it abbreviated but Good Time Oldies did just that this morning.
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Magic Carpet Ride
- Thread starter vchimpanzee
- Start date
Check out the song on You Tube, and the original hit single mix can be heard.
It's not falsehood of nostalgia. Indeed many old songs that sometimes sound lackluster and dimmed now, were in fact much better sounding on the original hit singles. It's not just the eternal mono-stereo debate. The original mix and the audio processing added at the disc mastering stage on the original single is not duplicated or respected when the stereo album mix or re-mix is done.
Re-makes and re-recordings are revisionist history. To be fair, in original recordings from back in the day, they pulled every trick available to make a hit. I recall reading an interview with a retired CBS recording engineer who nonchalantly mentioned he recorded some Sly and the Family Stone songs in NYC. It was just another session to him, but he said he did everything he could to make them sound like hits. Those happen to be the group's hits that jump out of the radio.
It's not falsehood of nostalgia. Indeed many old songs that sometimes sound lackluster and dimmed now, were in fact much better sounding on the original hit singles. It's not just the eternal mono-stereo debate. The original mix and the audio processing added at the disc mastering stage on the original single is not duplicated or respected when the stereo album mix or re-mix is done.
Re-makes and re-recordings are revisionist history. To be fair, in original recordings from back in the day, they pulled every trick available to make a hit. I recall reading an interview with a retired CBS recording engineer who nonchalantly mentioned he recorded some Sly and the Family Stone songs in NYC. It was just another session to him, but he said he did everything he could to make them sound like hits. Those happen to be the group's hits that jump out of the radio.
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There was an abbreviated version on a locally programmed oldies station as well. That long instrumental turned out to be very short and then they went back to vocals and the song was over soon after that.
Also known today as "Madacy syndrome".
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Steppenwolf - Magic Carpet Ride (Version 1969) - YouTube
Obviously not the version I heard because the instrumental lasts a long time, which is what I expected.
Steppenwolf - Magic Carpet Ride 1968 HQ - YouTube
This isn't it either.
I think these two are the original hit mix played on the radio:
Steppenwolf - "Magic Carpet Ride" (Original MONO Mix) - YouTube
The person at the link below has a fantastic site for original versions. Be aware he runs the audio through a single band compressor. And note that for a few years You Tube processed many user uploads through dynamic level control.
Steppenwolf - Magic Carpet Ride - 45 RPM Original Mono Mix & Lead Vocal - SHORT Version - YouTube
Btw, in some live performances of Magic Carpet Ride posted on You Tube, John Kay did a great job, although they did not perform the bouncy rhythm and vocal meter of the original hit. Wasn't an issue of being older, song and music is within capability of Kay and the band. Kay might prefer his later interpretations.
Things have changed these days, with re-mixes, mash-ups, mixer shows, multiple audio delivery paths to the audience, etc.
Thus, the definitive version of a hit is more in the ears of the beholder.
People are alive who remember original versions of songs from the '60s. What about longer ago?
Cole Porter's "Anything Goes" got the re-write. What appears to be original hit version was outrageous for the time.
1935 HITS ARCHIVE: Anything Goes - Paul Whiteman (Ramona Davies, vocal) - YouTube
Far different is Frank Sinatra's sophisticated, urbane version, delivered in impeccable vocal performance and cadence.
Frank Sinatra - Anything Goes - YouTube
Steppenwolf - "Magic Carpet Ride" (Original MONO Mix) - YouTube
The person at the link below has a fantastic site for original versions. Be aware he runs the audio through a single band compressor. And note that for a few years You Tube processed many user uploads through dynamic level control.
Steppenwolf - Magic Carpet Ride - 45 RPM Original Mono Mix & Lead Vocal - SHORT Version - YouTube
Btw, in some live performances of Magic Carpet Ride posted on You Tube, John Kay did a great job, although they did not perform the bouncy rhythm and vocal meter of the original hit. Wasn't an issue of being older, song and music is within capability of Kay and the band. Kay might prefer his later interpretations.
Things have changed these days, with re-mixes, mash-ups, mixer shows, multiple audio delivery paths to the audience, etc.
Thus, the definitive version of a hit is more in the ears of the beholder.
People are alive who remember original versions of songs from the '60s. What about longer ago?
Cole Porter's "Anything Goes" got the re-write. What appears to be original hit version was outrageous for the time.
1935 HITS ARCHIVE: Anything Goes - Paul Whiteman (Ramona Davies, vocal) - YouTube
Far different is Frank Sinatra's sophisticated, urbane version, delivered in impeccable vocal performance and cadence.
Frank Sinatra - Anything Goes - YouTube
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I wondered why anyone would want to listen to the organ for as long as it is played in the long version, then I realized one time I went to the beach and was seeing what the various radio stations were doing, and one was playing the long version of "Twilight Zone" by Golden Earring, and I just had to stay for the whole thing.
I'm not absolutely sure. Even here I think the organ lasted longer and there was more "extra" stuff. The vocals after that may have ended that suddenly. I just remember thinking that sure was over fast and it didn't sound like a proper ending.
That is the one that was on the radio in '68.
I have a mastered-from-grainy-45 copy of this exact single version (on a collector's CD of 'lost hits' -- they dubbed Magic Carpet Ride off a well-worn 45).
I also remember hearing the original hit. A friend of mine had the original 45 from when he was a kid.
I used the 'collectors' CD copy to to come up with a genuine-sounding single version for radio stations in the 2000's. There was a poor edit used by one of the major compilation disc versions that really didn't do the single justice. My edit wasn't perfect, but was closer to the original single, and it went out to a few classic hits stations in the 2000's. I've heard my edit on the radio once.
By now the classic hits stations who wanted the original single probably use the one you linked. It's a good clean copy. The collector's CD (put out on a major CD label) said that the original master of the Magic Carpet Ride single was lost. Apparently they found a tape of it.
The first two verses are my favorite part of the song, more so than the long instrumental, but listening to Magic Carpet Ride just isn't the same experience when radio stations cut it short. You have to hear the full instrumental in order for the song to have its desired effect. Kool Radio 96.1/990 in CT usually plays the abbreviated version. They also play a shortened version of Piano Man where some of the middle verses are cut short which I can't stand. Radio stations often feel the need to play a certain amount of songs within an hour and thus play some abbreviated versions of hits to fit the time slot.
There's a detailed discussion about the single version of "Magic Carpet Ride" here:
www.top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1641
Apparently the vocals on the single version were from an early take that were "accidentally" used on it. The album version replaced it with the vocals they actually intended to use.
Barbra Streisand did the same thing with "The Way We Were". She didn't like her singing on the single, so she re-recorded the vocal track for the album version -- which is the only version you hear anymore, since the single version has never been re-released in digital form.
www.top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1641
Apparently the vocals on the single version were from an early take that were "accidentally" used on it. The album version replaced it with the vocals they actually intended to use.
Barbra Streisand did the same thing with "The Way We Were". She didn't like her singing on the single, so she re-recorded the vocal track for the album version -- which is the only version you hear anymore, since the single version has never been re-released in digital form.
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