1962- Wish You A Merry Christmas (stereo)

.....I posted about Kim Weston's "WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS" last year, but neglected to mention that an alternate mix exists and that many compilations containing the song don't distinguish between the two. First, you may want to read the original post:

http://lgcmusic02.blogspot.com/2011/02/1962-wish-you-merry-christmas.html

.....The different versions are the original monaural version discussed in that post, which appears on:

• VACD CHRISTMAS IN THE CITY Motown Master Series 37463-6326-2 (Germany) 10/19/93
• VACD A CHRISTMAS PRESENT FROM MOTOWN VOLUME 2 Spectrum 544 684-2 (UK) 10/05/01

.....At about the same time that Spectrum/Universal licensed the earlier version for Europe, a previously unreleased stereo mix was released in the United States. At 2:47 it was twelve seconds longer and had a noticeably better dynamic range; the difference between the softest and loudest parts was more pronounced whereas the monaural version seems to spend too much time "in the red". Without so much distortion listeners get more of an indication of the headliner she would be in just a few years. The new mix is credited to Kevin Reeves, who also handled new mixes of "X-MAS TWIST" and two Marvin Gaye songs. The liner notes give a more specific recording date, October 31, 1962. There's also a change in the song-writing credit: it adds Kim Weston's name to William 'Mickey' Stevenson's. While the monaural version continued to show up on European compilations (especially those that licensed tracks from sources besides Universal) the stereo version appeared in the U.S. three times in one decade:

• VACD A MOTOWN CHRISTMAS VOLUME 2 Motown/Universal 440 016 364-2 (US) 11/06/01
• VACD 20TH CENTURY MASTERS: THE CHRISTMAS COLLECTION-- THE BEST OF MOTOWN CHRISTMAS [VOLUME 1] Motown/Universal 602498-60566-0 (US) 09/23/03
• VA2CD THE ULTIMATE MOTOWN CHRISTMAS COLLECTION Motown/Universal B0013383-02 (US) 10/13/09

.....From repeated listenings I'm certain that both mixes use the same take as a source. Both start abruptly, although the stereo sounds as though it starts a half-second later. The greater difference is at the end. While the monaural mix fades out, the stereo has a longer edit and an entire additional line, "Oh, I've got to be with you..." before fading out.