I Know I'm Not Wrong CD mix?

[mediumbluemetal]

Is it possible that the cassette and HD Tracks versions could have been made off of a worn master?

If my turntable cut down the stereo effects in just 5 or so plays, then obviously that layer of sound is very susceptible to wear.

And that's what I'm so stuck on. I mean that reissue sounds 200% exactly like my original release Tusk album now, and before, it sounded 200% like the CD version. Too many things don't add up for there to be different versions of the song:

1) The CD version of the song sounds JUST like the original LP release IF you only listen to one channel of the CD's sound (like if you listen through just one headphone).

2) The reissue of the LP in 2013 sounded JUST like the CD version on the first few plays, including all of the stereo sound effects.

3) After several plays, the 2013 reissue now sounds JUST like the original 1979 issue, without the CD version sound effects anymore.

To me, it seems like a fault somewhere in the mastering process. Regardless of which mix is "correct" or if there even are mixes, those sound effects shouldn't have vaporized in so few plays. But they did. And since they did on my 2013 copy, couldn't the same have happened on all of those 1979 copies? If the stylus slowly cut away those sound effects over the course of 10 plays, who would really ever notice? And then for the next 30+ years, everyone became accustomed to the stylus-neutered version of the song.

I also wonder if my new stylus didn't cut the stereo effects out of my reissue. My original MM cartridge was set at 2 grams, but my new MC cartridge required 2.5 grams. I wonder if the extra .5 grams was all it took to obliterate that stereo track. Maybe if I'd left the weight at 2 grams, the stereo effects would have lasted for a few more plays before they vaporized. I also wonder if skating force has anything to do with it. The inner-most grooves (like the location of IKINW) suffer from the most skating force, which is applied to only one channel of sound (potentially the channel containing those stereo effects). With my old cartridge, I had the anti-skating adjustment turned as high as it would go because the needle seemed to have too much inward force when it dropped on the record. So for those first 5 plays of IKINW, my turntable was putting like almost no skating force on one of those stereo tracks. When I installed the new cartridge, I reduced the anti-skating adjustment in half according to the cartridge's instructions, which put twice the pressure on one of the stereo tracks of that song. That, plus the added counterweight .5 grams might be what killed it. But it would have died on any turntable. I am tempted to buy another 2013 copy, reduce the counterweight, and crank to anti-skating adjustment back up and then count how many plays I get out of the song before it loses the stereo effects.

Idk. It is definitely a mystery though why the cassette and HD Tracks versions sound like the original LP version when the original LP version would appear to have possibly lost its stereo effects gradually.

Here's a thought: I purchased an early release but never played Tusk album on Amazon a year or two before Tusk was reissued. I'm not sure that it was sold in 1979, but it's certainly not a reissue. I had planned to keep it just to keep it. Should I crack it open to see how it plays? Is it worth it?