Door To The River/ Solidarity the 'new' bits
 

Hi thought it would be good to start a new thread to identify the 'extra' bits that are in the KYE remixes. I haven't got the best ear (or memory to be honest) but the ones that jump out to me are :

Let Robeson Sing : Extra Nicky vocal at 0.56 "The Price of Leaving"

My Guernica: "Alfred J Prufrock" corrected to "J Alfred Prufrock" at 0.40. Can't work out if this is a different vocal take or has been cut up (sounds more like it to me). Extra guitar lick after the phonecall at 3.57

Intravenous Agnostic: extra 'breathing' (?) and possibly guitar in the breakdown section 2.37 onwards ?

Baby Elian : different vocal take for the choruses (or massively double tracked?)

Dead Martyrs : New outro (instrumental chorus and extra guitar, assume this is Kevin Shields) from 2.43

I'm not 100% sure on those and am sure there are loads I have missed. The new mixes of My Guernica and Freedom of Speech feel significantly different but is there anything truly 'new' in the mixes or just things being turned up/down ?

What has everyone else spotted ?

Excellent idea for a thread


I wouldn't be surprised if every note of Masses Against the Classes 2022 is new. It sounds too informed by the way it's played now.

My Guernica Rehearsal has the little wobbly sound at the start that went into the final version - what is that, anyway? Sounds like the start of a studio tape being played back (EMG era rehearsal tracks have something similar on them)

Miss Europa has an additional funk guitar break at the end (I think) with a wah solo instead of the similar notes played on synth (that part is definitely new)

I was thinking of starting this the other day too! Think you've covered most of it.

Pretty sure there is an alternative vocal line on Groundhog Days - the bit about the sunset (almost sounds Welsh what he sings now).

A lot of the demos have stuff that sounds very much like the finished product such as the end of Ocean Spray and SWSS demos.

Yes - sounds like an anglicised pronunciation of 'Llŷn' in the original and a more 2022 Manics Welshy one now. Cofiwch and all that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llŷn_Peninsula

Good spot! Yes as UEF says that does sound like Llyn and that's one of the places where R.S Thomas lived so that ties back to the This is My Truth era.

Am going off topic in my own thread already but I found the Freedom of Speech demo really useful as it answers the question "what is Kevin Shields playing ?". No wonder it originally sounded so rough on KYE. Reminds me of how they similarly used the demo of No Surface All Feeling.

I didn't spot much in Masses to be honest ,although the loss of the Camus quote has probably distracted me. More echo ,(as per almost every other song) and I thought it was now easier to hear the extended parts of guitar solo which carry on under the last chorus but that was about it. Will have to go back and investigate.

Good point about Miss Europa, feels like they have tried to make it feel more Nile Rodgers in this mix.

I know it's not new, but I love the way the more abrasive, acerbic mastering of 'Intravenous Agnostic' accents Nick's drawled "what a mess!", referencing Dinosaur Junior in a similar guitar mess during 'Freak Scene', I'd like to think?

Someone let me know I'm crazy. At the beginning of the bridge for Intravenous Agnostic, it sounds like there is now a vocal track where someone is going "ch-ch-ch-ch-ch..." to rhythm of the drums. Anyone else hear this?

Definitely! I had put it in as 'breathing' above but yes it does sound more like Nicky mimicking the drum beat .
Going back to the original mix I don't think now that there is extra guitar in that bridge but the 'lead' line has been turned down so that the other guitar lines are most noticeable.

The gorgeous Ocean Spray mix omits the delay of Sean's trumpets. That was the best thing about the old mix. The way the delay worked was -- there was two of them. One echo in the far-left and the other in the far-right channel. The delay bounced between them, first right then left, beautifully widescreen. I can understand why the effect has been taken off the new version, though. The new version has different architecture -- the screen widens in the chorus, with the beautiful guitar line that's now much further left and clearer than before. So, the verses and trumpet solo are narrower for that to have full effect. Trumpet has a bit more compression now plus a shorter less flashy delay. Still very, very good. Sean's played it with great emotion.

All and all the new Ocean Spray mix with the gorgeous stereo effects in the chorus and post chorus elevates the song into top 6 for me and the loss of the delay is understandable.

I have also noticed the mouth-drums in Intravenous Agnostic's breakdown. Radiohead's All I Need has a similar sound doubling the drums. In IA's case I think it's Sean's digital percussion, the kind of little detail he likes to add to mixes, for example on Rewind the Film.

Not a new detail, but have you noticed the bouncy bass that joins SWSS at ca 4.00. Soooo nice.

Yeah, on My Guernica, I was confused when singing along to Alfred J Prufrock and it was the other way around haha, glad I wasn't imagining it.

My guess it's Sean hyping himself into the drum rolls into oblivion!

Didn't Shields play on Freedom of Speech? Unless he also appears on Dead Martyrs as well...

Groundhog Days has always been a decent song to listen to but this new version is a different beast.

Baby Elian’s chorus is also a massive massive highlight

to me it sounds like a mixing mistake - there is a 1/8 or so missing!