DESCRIPTION:
Original ABC Dunhill Records #4352 radio station promotional copy

Debut 5/19/1973
Peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart.

As featured in the TV Series "Lost".

Interesting history behind this record - There does NOT exist a true stereo version of this tune. Only true mono and fake stereo versions exist, and unfortunately there are WAY too many of the fake stereo versions floating around!

This is the original radio station promotional copy, and ironically, the side that says "stereo", is completely wrong. It is a true mono version only. The side I play on this video is of the mono side, and this too is in true mono, but with one major exception. Knowing that the monster Top 40 AM radio stations of the day would only play the mono side, ABC Dunhill pumped up the compression, which made the record louder, which made the song jump out of the radio speakers. That attracted the listener's attention, which resulted in a more popular record, and hence greater sales!

There are many stories out there about why this tune was never mixed in true stereo.
The most popular is because ABC Dunhill rushed Three Dog Night to record the record, then rushed to get promo copies out to radio stations in order to get a jump on the B.W. Stevenson version of the same song.

Here is a very detailed description courtesy of the web site "top40musiconcd.com":
In comparing the "stereo" and mono sides of my DJ 45, they're both straight mono, and run an identical 3:26. The difference is that the mono side is more compressed, and is cut about 28% louder than the "stereo" side.

The story, at least according to the liner notes from the Celebrate CD:

Cory Wells: "That one had all kinds of repercussions. An unethical song pitcher pitches me the tune, and I tell him to freeze it. He takes it to B.W. Stevenson. You see, people wanted to know what we were gonna do so they could beat us out."

Chuck Negron: "Cory and I had a big fight, because I didn't want to put it out as a single. I said, 'You are letting RCA, who had Stevenson, decide our next single' instead of releasing the album and letting radio and the public decide."

Richie Podolor (producer): "We had two days to do it. Michael (Allsup) did one overdub, but I ended up playing seven guitar parts because not everybody was available. It was such a rush-rush thing. We used helicopters to fly out acetates to DJs to get that going. We didn't have it pressed, and we were reviewed and we had a hit with it, just hand-carrying it to stations."

There's more drama there than on your average daytime soap! :) It must've been fun north of the border, where Dunhill was distributed by RCA.

This is the original mono mix as heard when this was a huge hit on AM Top 40 radio on stations like WABC New York.

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