I often wonder if in some cases the instances you mention above are a chance by the musicians to "right the wrongs" of original mistakes or whether it's a chance to improve things. For instance - the reinstatement of the missing lines in APP on the "Extended Performance"; was it a case of putting those lines back in as they'd been originally overlooked or was it a case that those lines had been edited out for a reason ?
OK, we might never know but it's good that with the instances above, and many others that happen from time to time, we at least have the chance to compare versions as you have done.
Indeed, Maddog! Really good points.
You know, there's many possibilities as to why the missing verse was not in the original recording.
For all we know, it made the song too long to fit safely on a side of vinyl (if the master disc is over cut for extended length beyond the norm, stylus tracking stability suffers greatly on the pressings
and a good mastering engineer running the cutting lathe won't allow it).
It's even remotely possible that IA was originally off key or off rhythm on the line. No pitch correction or time shifting in analog, but such is doubtful because he would have punched in a new vocal.
It's an odd line in comparative and maybe he decided it just didn't fit in as he thought ( his lyrics are dare I say wordy). Like you said, we'll never know.
It really does seem that an emphasis was made to boost vocals, brighter EQ and new reverb. As I initially had said, I think they are too loud now. But I honestly think a big impetus was to front and center Ian Anderson more.
A big deal in Passion Play was the exceptional presence of the band. The drum sound is bigger than earlier albums. Zeppelin's mixes were similar, though not as varied instrumentally as Tull, but Robert Plant's vocals were mixed in a way that the band equalled and often surpassed vocals in gain level.
I don't know what if any mistakes existed that needed correction persay. There are places in Passion Play where band passages could be considered in some ways a bit sloppy, but such out on a limb playing was always so prevalent in Tull.
(That's sure contrasted on Tabb 2 isn't it? The playing there is often, sorry to say, boringly safe, too much so in comparison. It's also way too clean in recording, almost sterile sounding).
But yes, there are different things to be heard in the new and dissectors such as we can all have our representative field days, which is fun.
For all the past brouhaha, largely of self disdaining by IA over the sax, the sax is even more upfront in the new mix, go figure.
It's pretty hard in my opinion to top Robin Black as a recording and mix engineer for Tull so I'm standing by the original mix.
The new package is very enjoyable to me, and of enough IA egocentric quirkiness to amuse and bemuse.
Needing a magnifying glass to read the book is annoying though, the backgrounds so obscure the tiny fonts.