|
|
Post by daniel on Feb 26, 2009 15:55:39 GMT -5
Yesterday while I was getting tires on my car, I wandered into the used CD shop across the street. I came across a Time Life CD, "Another Lost Decade, The 80's Hard To Find Hits", which had among other things the 45 version of the Thompson Twins "Lay Your Hands On Me"which was very different from the LP version that's common on CD. So I spend the $7.99 for it and get it home, pop it in the CD player and man was I disappointed!
Within the first 5 seconds of the song, there are crackles and clicks... the track was mastered FROM a 45. While there's nothing terribly wrong with that, they could at least have found a clean 45 to work from, IMO. If that wasn't enough, the original 45 has a "cold" ending, and for this CD they faded the song :10 early cutting off the original ending, so it isn't even the true "US Single Version" as they promised! C'mon, guys! I made an MP3 of this from my own 45, and it's better than this!
Mastering issues aside, do you guys think they can legitimately call this the "US Single Version" if the ending and runtime are NOT the same as a stock Arista 45 of this title?
|
|
|
|
Post by Dawn on Feb 26, 2009 17:39:27 GMT -5
I agree - that sounds like very poor mastering and editing on their part. Usually Time Life's compilations are quite good, but it sounds like this was the exception. I wonder why they mastered it from a 45? The master tapes aren't that old, comparatively speaking, and it's hard to believe there wouldn't be copies of them somewhere.
|
|
|
|
Post by daniel on Feb 26, 2009 22:29:13 GMT -5
Dawn, those were my thoughts exactly. If for some reason they couldn't find the master tape of the 45 version, it couldn't have been terribly hard to find a clean 45 of this title. I guess I was just annoyed at buying a CD to get a worse copy of something I already had. The upside of this was that I discovered the Deon Estus CD "Spell" that I bought at a thrift shop for $1.75 is terribly rare and sells for about $50 on Amazon. (It had the single "Heaven Help Me" with George Michael on backup)
|
|
|
|
Post by m c dornan on Feb 26, 2009 22:52:43 GMT -5
Was the ending of that song the same as the LP version? Well that sucks. No, they shouldn't call it the American 45 version. And I hope they didn't say , remastered from the original tapes, like they always do in the infomercials. It did have the Time Life logo, right? Couldn't have been a bootleg? (but who'd bootleg a compilation?  ) |
|
|
|
Post by dave910 on Feb 26, 2009 23:24:49 GMT -5
Dawn, those were my thoughts exactly. If for some reason they couldn't find the master tape of the 45 version, it couldn't have been terribly hard to find a clean 45 of this title. I guess I was just annoyed at buying a CD to get a worse copy of something I already had. The upside of this was that I discovered the Deon Estus CD "Spell" that I bought at a thrift shop for $1.75 is terribly rare and sells for about $50 on Amazon. (It had the single "Heaven Help Me" with George Michael on backup) Daniel, Sorry to hear about that lame-ass version of the Thompson Twins song.  I wonder if the labels are lazy or just trying to save money. However, there is no excuse in this digital age not to have a flawless version of an 80's song. Arista is a big label and would be surprised if they didn't have a decent edit at their disposal. I'm glad you found that Deon Estus CD. I've always loved "Heaven Help Me" and I have never found the song since the CD came out. |
|
|
|
Post by daniel on Feb 27, 2009 7:27:13 GMT -5
MC: I don't have my LP with me, but I am pretty sure it had a "cold" ending on the LP as well. (I don't have that album on CD, either...) It did have the Time Life logo, and like Dawn says their stuff is normally pretty good. I don't think it's a bootleg, though, lol! It didn't say anything about being "remastered" on the packaging, but it did say "First Time on CD!". Dave, I'm with you. I would presume the master for this song still exists, as it isn't that terribly old. If it doesn't, then they shouldn't have had a difficult time finding a clean 45 of this track. (Mine came from a thrift shop, for goodness sake!) However, Time Life could have either requested another master from the label (Assuming that's what Arista sent them) or put a different track on the disc altogether. The topic of master tapes is sometimes complex -- there are things from the 70's that don't exist anymore, so who knows... And I have that Deon Estus track as an MP3 if you want me to send it over your way...  |
|
|
|
Post by Railyn on Feb 27, 2009 20:48:09 GMT -5
Are you talking about the "Here's To Future Days" album by the Thompson Twins (I think that's the one that has Lay Your Hands.... on it)?
I have that either here or up at moms......
|
|
|
|
Post by daniel on Feb 27, 2009 22:40:36 GMT -5
Yes, that would be the album. The LP version of "Lay Your Hands On Me" had a weird intro, and if I remember correctly it was mixed together with the previous song on the LP. There were a few other differences in the mix, but since I'm 2 years without my LP's I don't recall what all they were at the moment.
|
|
|
|
Post by Railyn on Feb 27, 2009 22:46:02 GMT -5
Yes, that would be the album. The LP version of "Lay Your Hands On Me" had a weird intro, and if I remember correctly it was mixed together with the previous song on the LP. There were a few other differences in the mix, but since I'm 2 years without my LP's I don't recall what all they were at the moment. Yep - it's connected to the first song on the album, which I think is the same as the album title. I remember well it goes "Don't take that, take this!" and then cuts right in to Lay Your Hands.... I taped the song off the album and tried my darndest to get that off of the song, but never did. |
|
)
I wonder if the labels are lazy or just trying to save money. However, there is no excuse in this digital age not to have a flawless version of an 80's song. Arista is a big label and would be surprised if they didn't have a decent edit at their disposal. 
