Big Time Rush (Unreleased Infopost + Masterpost)

[Ninjser]

For now I'm trying to separate the art from the artist kinda with him. There's a reason they agreed to not bring politics to work whenever they're together, and I think as long as they follow that formula, I'm kind of comfortable considering I know I've always looked up to Kendall and Logan more.

<3

[yasmeenbaiji]

I don't know if any of this information is relevant but I found this https://www.discogs.com/release/6031630-Big-Time-Rush-BTR that is the unofficial promo CD titled B.T.R. rather than BTR (name also seen on the original cover you have on the master post). I also found this review https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RP8HPWT3OHRVZ?ref=pf_vv_at_pdctrvw_srp that talks about Til I Forget About You on the very first released CD being a different master. That Amazon account has reviews on every single international version available, with information for them. I searched the username on Google to find more posts. That username also has some old blog posts, https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Talk:BTR_(album)

Edited December 30, 2023 by yasmeenbaiji

[Kipper]

6 hours ago, yasmeenbaiji said:

I don't know if any of this information is relevant but I found this https://www.discogs.com/release/6031630-Big-Time-Rush-BTR that is the unofficial promo CD titled B.T.R. rather than BTR (name also seen on the original cover you have on the master post). I also found this review https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RP8HPWT3OHRVZ?ref=pf_vv_at_pdctrvw_srp that talks about Til I Forget About You on the very first released CD being a different master. That Amazon account has reviews on every single international version available, with information for them. I searched the username on Google to find more posts. That username also has some old blog posts, https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Talk:BTR_(album)

Hi, welcome! AFAIK the promo is identical to the public master, audio-wise. It was meant for in-house use or whatever so I'm guessing whoever printed it didn't put much thought to the label, and/or used the abbreviation format interchangeably - though it's certainly possible the title was the latest revision!

For the TIFAY master, I have heard of this being true of the physical single CD (sold at Walmart in US when the song first came out), but it is sadly the only one I don't own Passed on it a while ago and haven't found it for a decent price since. The person who left that review is extremely reputable and I'm willing to bet it is slightly different (see Halfway There, Any Kind of Guy, other early songs) though I'm not sure how so.

Since you brought it up, though, lemme see what I can do...

Edited December 30, 2023 by Kipper

[yasmeenbaiji]

14 hours ago, Kipper said:

Hi, welcome! AFAIK the promo is identical to the public master, audio-wise. It was meant for in-house use or whatever so I'm guessing whoever printed it didn't put much thought to the label, and/or used the abbreviation format interchangeably - though it's certainly possible the title was the latest revision!

For the TIFAY master, I have heard of this being true of the physical single CD (sold at Walmart in US when the song first came out), but it is sadly the only one I don't own Passed on it a while ago and haven't found it for a decent price since. The person who left that review is extremely reputable and I'm willing to bet it is slightly different (see Halfway There, Any Kind of Guy, other early songs) though I'm not sure how so.

Since you brought it up, though, lemme see what I can do...

Audio absolutely would be the same (if final version). There is no importance to it at all but take another look at the “early artwork” you have posted from, coincidently, the back of the TIFAY CD. That version uses the abbreviated too!

And the Walmart promo sticker has it officially written abbreviated too! 

 

As for the other version of TIFAY. It was put on US iTunes only on Sep 21 https://twitter.com/jamesmaslow/status/25145416283 at this removed iTunes link https://music.apple.com/us/album/392165606. Exactly a week before the Walmart physical copy (Sep 28). I assume this specific version matched what is on the physical single copy?

It is not available on US iTunes as a single anymore at all, but is internationally with a Jan 11 release date. I believe those match the final version though. 

 

Edited December 30, 2023 by yasmeenbaiji

[Kipper]

2 weeks and $70 later...

What do we think?
https://krakenfiles.com/view/TlPSBUet9O/file.html

Side-by-side there is definitely a difference... (top is single, bottom is album track)

I don't know much about audio but I think there's more range between the instruments. By ear I don't really notice anything though the little guitar solo after Logan's verse seems a little less drowned out (not sure if Placebo lol)...

Thanks again for bringing this up You're right about the iTunes single, most of the early ones that got re-included on BTR don't seem to be available anymore, so it's possible that version was the same as the CD. I know the 'Any Kind of Guy' opening is different between single and the UK album. Worth looking into for sure!!

[Ninjser]

1 hour ago, Kipper said:

2 weeks and $70 later...

What do we think?
https://krakenfiles.com/view/TlPSBUet9O/file.html

Awesome find! The effects definitely sound more prominent in this version, I think this is what was used for promotional materials as well. I much prefer this one to the final.

[ronaldonater]

6 hours ago, Kipper said:

2 weeks and $70 later...

What do we think?
https://krakenfiles.com/view/TlPSBUet9O/file.html

Side-by-side there is definitely a difference... (top is single, bottom is album track)

I don't know much about audio but I think there's more range between the instruments. By ear I don't really notice anything though the little guitar solo after Logan's verse seems a little less drowned out (not sure if Placebo lol)...

Thanks again for bringing this up You're right about the iTunes single, most of the early ones that got re-included on BTR don't seem to be available anymore, so it's possible that version was the same as the CD. I know the 'Any Kind of Guy' opening is different between single and the UK album. Worth looking into for sure!!

Damn, the way I also bought the CD just to see if this was true and share it here 😭

You beat me to it by a day or two hahaha (it's still being delivered), but where did you buy yours from out of curiosity because $70 seems a bit o.0

Also, I agree with you and Ninjser, the effects seem to be more prominent and stick out more in this version, as well as the guitar track that you alluded to during Logan's part. In short, seems like a less noisier mix in which you can hear certain elements a bit more clearly and whatnot 😛

Edited January 9 by ronaldonater

[Cypher]

17 hours ago, Kipper said:

2 weeks and $70 later...

What do we think?
https://krakenfiles.com/view/TlPSBUet9O/file.html

Side-by-side there is definitely a difference... (top is single, bottom is album track)

I don't know much about audio but I think there's more range between the instruments. By ear I don't really notice anything though the little guitar solo after Logan's verse seems a little less drowned out (not sure if Placebo lol)...

Thanks again for bringing this up You're right about the iTunes single, most of the early ones that got re-included on BTR don't seem to be available anymore, so it's possible that version was the same as the CD. I know the 'Any Kind of Guy' opening is different between single and the UK album. Worth looking into for sure!!

I can't believe these all have minor different mixes. I remember getting ahold of some BTR CDs back in the day, but I don't think I ever got this one. I'll have to take a look, they're in a storage somewhere...

[Micro-Com10]

Little Guitar in between the single and the album can be minor differences. But is the same reason as Elevate (as a both single and album version) or not?

[Kipper]

On 1/9/2024 at 12:49 AM, ronaldonater said:

Damn, the way I also bought the CD just to see if this was true and share it here 😭

You beat me to it by a day or two hahaha (it's still being delivered), but where did you buy yours from out of curiosity because $70 seems a bit o.0

Some eBay reseller, hats off to you honestly because yeah I paid a lot more than it's worth. Nice score!

On 1/9/2024 at 4:03 PM, Micro-Com10 said:

Little Guitar in between the single and the album can be minor differences. But is the same reason as Elevate (as a both single and album version) or not?

Do you mean the title track single? I kind of hope not because that's gonna be even harder to track down Promo-only in just the UK I believe, and not even for sale. Haven't heard of a difference before - is there one?

[yasmeenbaiji]

Thank you so much for doing that, I'm super sorry that you spent that much just from me asking! The answer really does just seem to be that these first songs were just originally released with the mastering from the show as the promotional singles. Which does make sense in considering the front nickelodeon logo that did not make it to official albums that shows more of a marketing purposes effort. Thank you again! Aside from the audio itself, I am really interested in understanding the who and why the different versions came from. 

[Kipper]

Been a while since I found something new: Not terribly exciting but fascinatingly obscure, the song "Intermission" (prod. by Aaron Pearce) was apparently given to a guy named Kyl Means, who won Kuk Harrell's talent program on the 2013 Marie Osmond Show. It's just been chilling on iTunes since back then lol. https://krakenfiles.com/view/ET0UTA16UI/file.html

Fun fact, I found out about this from Aaron Pearce's website way back in the beginning days of this thread, but every time I searched I could never find anything at all for "Kyle Means." Guess it never dawned on me to try a different spelling 😅

[Cypher]

On 3/7/2024 at 1:58 PM, Kipper said:

Been a while since I found something new: Not terribly exciting but fascinatingly obscure, the song "Intermission" (prod. by Aaron Pearce) was apparently given to a guy named Kyl Means, who won Kuk Harrell's talent program on the 2013 Marie Osmond Show. It's just been chilling on iTunes since back then lol. https://krakenfiles.com/view/ET0UTA16UI/file.html

Fun fact, I found out about this from Aaron Pearce's website way back in the beginning days of this thread, but every time I searched I could never find anything at all for "Kyle Means." Guess it never dawned on me to try a different spelling 😅

This is one of BTR's best songs! I'm surprised it was released and went under the radar for so long!

Update: After hearing Kyl's version, not hating, but BTR did it better. I feel like this song works really well with the layered vocals, so to have those layers replaced with production, it just sounds off to me.

[Kesha Slays]

You know what I was thinking about the other day, in case you didn't know (but I'm willing to bet you probably already do), Kesha recorded a song titled 'Woo Hoo' for her 2012 album 'Warrior'. But, upon being scrapped sometime in late 2012, the instrumental and part of the chorus from 'Woo Hoo' ended up finding it's way to being used for BTR's single 'Windows Down'. 

I was wondering what you know about that or how it came to be or anything really.

[Kipper]

On 3/10/2024 at 2:08 PM, Cypher said:

This is one of BTR's best songs! I'm surprised it was released and went under the radar for so long!

Update: After hearing Kyl's version, not hating, but BTR did it better. I feel like this song works really well with the layered vocals, so to have those layers replaced with production, it just sounds off to me.

Yeah, not to rag on the guy, but no one hits the harmonies like BTR. It's cool to hear what the mastered production could have been like, at least!

On 3/10/2024 at 3:48 PM, Kesha Slays said:

You know what I was thinking about the other day, in case you didn't know (but I'm willing to bet you probably already do), Kesha recorded a song titled 'Woo Hoo' for her 2012 album 'Warrior'. But, upon being scrapped sometime in late 2012, the instrumental and part of the chorus from 'Woo Hoo' ended up finding it's way to being used for BTR's single 'Windows Down'. 

I was wondering what you know about that or how it came to be or anything really.

I honestly don't know a whole lot about the song itself, or why it specifically was chosen. Surprisingly I know next to nothing about Kesha's version, come to think of it. I do know that the song was shopped around a bit - don't have it on-hand sadly but there's an interview somewhere where Carlos mentioned it was pitched to Justin Bieber who passed on it (this was around the time they made the CRJ video). That song isn't bad but I think all of us here mourn the other option. I'd be very interested to know how far along hers got before they pulled the plug.

On 1/21/2024 at 11:30 PM, yasmeenbaiji said:

Thank you so much for doing that, I'm super sorry that you spent that much just from me asking!

Also, please don't be sorry at all, I apologize if I came off like I was annoyed - have a bit of a problem with that sometimes. I wasn't at all. I was very glad you brought it up, because it finally pushed me to hunt the CD down! It was actually the final single I was missing (well, not counting variants of each, but I am not hunting down all 50 prints of Boyfriend... ) I'm glad we solved that mystery, was definitely worth it. The master is so much better than the regular one!!