[PLEASE NOTE: This post was created on Feb 20, 2022 and is not really the second post in this thread. However, I wanted this information to be found for those searching for this disc and looking to understand it's history and how they can tell which disc they might get if the find a sealed copy]
:-jon
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So here's the deal. When this DTS disc appeared, it was sold in a CD sized jewel box along with the other newly released DTS CDs, and these were marketed through the mail and also in displays in LaserDisc and Home Theater shops. It was very cool for us fans to be able to actually hear an old, long forgotten quadraphonic mix coming from something other than a Q8 or old quadraphonic media. To hear old quad coming from a CD was mind boggling at the time. Trust me on that one, as it sounds moronic today.
Anyway, back in the early days there were some issues with DTS Decoders where they would lose sync if the DTS stream stopped, like in between tracks on a disc. When fans got the DTS disc of Band on the Run and they put it in their players, right away they noticed that the 4 familiar lead in notes to the title track were now just one, with the first three missing. Many immediately blamed their decoders.
As it turned out, it wasn't their decoders, it was the disc! For some reason, when the disc was mastered from the quad tape (allegedly by Peter Mew), the first 3 notes were left off! For those of you who like to look at wav files, below is a look at the audio from the first track 'Band on the Run'. I have highlighted the first four notes. On the original DTS CD, notes 1, 2 & 3 are not there! That's why we did not hear them.
The original DTS CD starts AFTER the yellow vertical line I placed on the wav form. Like I said, the original DTS disc was sold in a CD sized jewel case and the disc inside had a purple label. Just like the pictures below:
This disc remained this way well into the 2000's. As the DVD-Audio format emerged, DTS Entertainment decided to repackage their most popular titles in the larger DVD-Audio sized jewel boxes. (Much to everyone's dismay, they did not create DVD-Audio discs for these titles, they just remained as DTS CDs)
So at the time they began this change over, the disc remained as it was, missing the three introductory notes. For reference, here is a look at the first appearance larger sized release that still contained the disc without the first 3 notes. As you can see, the larger case still contained the purple CD.
Then, suddenly, around 2007, QQ Member
@dr. simple discovered that his "Band on the Run" DTS CD was NOT missing the first three notes. In fact, if you read ahead in this poll to his
post, you can read through this discovery in real time. He thought we were all crazy!
As it turned out, somewhere along the way DTS Entertainment actually went ahead and fixed the disc! The first three notes were added back in, and the corrected disc was issued with a new yellow label. It retained the same large sized jewel box with the yellow background, but there was a difference between the two, but no one actually noticed it yet. More on that later. Here's a look at the 'fixed disc'.
So now there were multiple versions of the disc out in the stores (when you could actually find one), but you had no way of knowing if you would get a purple disc or a yellow disc if you bought a sealed disc in a store or on line or on eBay.
Well, I recently had a correspondence with a Beatles collector from California, Mark, who told me there was in fact a way to tell the difference, even if the disc is sealed. He discovered that the shade of the yellow background, which can be seen when the disc case is closed, is actually a different shade of yellow when you compare the two discs side by side. There is also a difference in the type face used on the edge spline between the two.
So this is what he found:
The corrected disc has a slightly darker yellow color, more mustard where the purple disc case has a lemon yellow. The Yellow disc is in the FRONT jewel case in the picture below.
Also, the text on the spline that says "PAUL McCARTNEY & WINGS" is clear and sharp on the original release (with the purple CD) and the second run has the words a bit out of focus (these have the yellow disc in them)
So there you go! Thanks to Dr. Simple and Mark! The definitive history of the Band on the Run DTS CD