I stumbled across a factoid about Christina Aguilera’s first album (“Christina Aguilera”) and am trying to dig up some corroboration here as to whether different versions exist:

The first single from the album “Genie In A Bottle” was released on 6/22/99, roughly two months ahead of the 8/24/99 release of the full album.

According to Wikipedia (I know, I know, that’s why I’m seeking corroboration) the second single, “What A Girl Wants”, released on 11/28/99, was either re-recorded or remixed in September, 1999, and the source for this is “Bronson 2003”, which I believe is “The Billboard Book Of Number One Hits” by Fred Bronson.

I’m finding indications, however, that at some point prior to my purchase of the album (perhaps 2000 or 2001) the original version of “What A Girl Wants” was more of less retconned out of existence, as every version of the song I own—including remixes and radio edits—all seem based upon the 3:36 version of “What A Girl Wants” appearing as Track 2 on my copy of “Christina Aguilera”.

A careful look at track information over at Discogs.com appears to corroborate this—the tracklisting for 1999 US pressing, RCA 07863 67690-2, states that track two (WAGW) runs 3:52, while a 2000 reissue, RCA 07863 67690-2RE, has track two listed at 3:35.

My copy of the CD, on which track two runs 3:36, has 07863 67690-2 on the spine, and 07863 67690-2RE on the disc itself.

Figuring this purchase would settle the matter one way or the other, I ordered a vintage WAGW US promo single (RDJ 65902-2) off of Ebay; both the disc and the card state that track one is the 3:23 “Radio Edit” and that track two is the 3:52 “Album Version”. Unfortunately, track two is actually…a 3:37 version of the version I have elsewhere.

So—I’m surmising that only original 1999 copies of “Christina Aguilera” contain this alternate version of “What A Girl Wants” as track two, but that determine whether an original 1999 copy of the album is indeed a 1999 copy is pretty much impossible without opening the package and either playing the disc or looking at the catalog number on the disc.

I think.

Can anybody confirm whether discs containing the 07863 67690-2 catalog number contain a 3:52 alternate/original version of “What A Girl Wants”? Unfortunately, I’m not only having trouble finding much, if any info out there about different versions of this CD, there are absolutely no sales listings for this album which even acknowledge that two versions exist

Okay, I'll play. I have the CD. On the label side it is copyright 1999 and has the number 07863 67690-2. Same number is on the spine of the case. On the reverse side, the reflective side at the center is SONOPRESS USA and the number 078636776902. The second cut, What a Girl Wants, runs 3:52, which is also the time printed in the booklet. Does that help?

By the way, I have the Bronson book, The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits (c)2003 (sadly the last update) and there are no times listed anywhere in the book. I did check the Whitburn book, Pop Annual 1955-2016 (c)2017 and it shows the time as 3:18. Of course this would be the length of whatever single version RCA released.

Last one, I promise. FWIW the version of WAGW on her greatest hits album. Keeps Gettin' Better: A Decade of Hits (c)2008, runs 3:35.

I concur with everything that David said, though I don't have the "SONOPRESS USA" on mine. When I cued the CD up, the time on my computer actually had "What A Girl Wants" at 3:53, but I'm sure that different players can have very small variations.

Having this CD came from having a young daughter at the time who was starting to get really into Pop.

I would suggest posting this on the Hoffman board. If anyone would know it, it would be them. They're into that minutiae of specific pressings, mixes, etc.

Thank you--for what it's worth, that the single version appears on her GH comp with no indication that it is the "single version" or "video version" speaks to the extent to which the Aguilera camp apparently wants to forget the original version ever happened.

Thank you again, everyone--that was exactly the sort of corroboration (and then some) I was seeking.

The plot thickens...I found a used copy of this album which (a) it did not contain the -RE suffix on the front of the disc and (b) did have SONOPRESS USA and 07863676902 on the back.

After sticking it in a CD player, however...it contained the 3:36 version of WAGW.

I'm not an expert on the meaning of various numbers on the backs of compact discs, but this disc also has "02675-01" on the center-back of the disc.

This is getting weirder and weirder...

Okay, upon further review, my CD with the 3:52 version of WAGW, also has a third number on the back: 98289-01. You're turn Stumpy. That third number could be anything. It could be that every time SONOPRESS runs an order they give it a unique number. Or maybe it signifies an individual disk number. Who knows. I suppose it is possible that during the life of this album on CD, What a Girl Wants could have been remixed or re-edited and then replaced in future pressings. Not something over which to lose sleep. Just sayin'.

Yeah, it's not something over which I'm losing sleep--it's just that the fact that the original album was altered not long after release, along the relative absence of information about these variations, that I find genuinely interesting. Maybe it is not as drastic as, say, changing the cover to "Street Survivor" but still--it is something that happened. (I'm also seeing indications that "Come On Over Baby" was re-recorded and substituted for the original album version as well, but I haven't had time to investigate further.)

I suppose it's also illustrative of Aguilera's consistent inability to escape the shadow of Britney Spears. Original pressings of Britney's debut album contained a brief spoken blurb at the end of the final track in which Spears promoted her labelmate, Innosense--the first of many worldwide track variations of that album, which have apparently sparked a collector's market apparently willing to shell out some fairly staggering sums of cash.

I don't know if RCA is planning the same sort of reissue rollout for the twentieth anniversary of "Christina Aguilera" that they have for Britney (as with Britney's debut, Christina's first album was released on vinyl though Urban Outfitters but has apparently not sold out and is not garnering $100 secondary market pricing.) The odd thing is that although Christina's debut didn't sell as well as Britney's debut (only nine million in the US) it spawned four top-ten singles (only two singles of five released from "...Baby One More Time" cracked the top ten), three of which went to #1. It also earned the Grammy for Best New Artist. So Aguilera's debut album not at all obscure--or at least it didn't used to be.

It's kind of like the concurrent 1983 emergence of Madonna and Cyndi Lauper--Lauper's debut solo album was one of those monsters that contained something like four or five top-10 singles, and most (if not all) agreed that she possessed musical/vocal talent superior to Madonna's. Yet Lauper took three years to release a follow-up album, a period during which Madonna worked her ass off in an effort to become inescapable. So, I guess you never know.

UPDATE: Over the weekend I found a copy of the 98289-01 SONOPRESS and took it home for $2.13.

When I got home and was finally able to hear this version of "What A Girl Wants" which RCA has sought to retcon out of existence, I was surprised to hear just how different the original version was. This isn't a case of an alternate guitar overdub or altered lyrics--the original recording of the song is in a completely different tempo, probably a different key, different everything.

Also--the disc appears to have a longer version of "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)" than the reissued album, although I think I have this version on an import single somewhere. This longer version sounds like more of a remix; if it is a completely different recording, the arrangement isn't as radically different as WAGW is.

Anyway, thanks again. Your matrix number came in quite handy.

Happy to help.