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abagon
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| Posted: 16 August 2008 at 8:41am | IP Logged
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DONNA SUMMER - "She Works Hard For The Money"
I possess two commercial 45s of this song. One is (4:00) of the actual running time, and another is (4:10),
both listed times are "4:09" on the record label together. (Mercury 812 370-7)
The short 45's matrix number is "812 370-7 2-57421-SH"
The long 45's matrix number is "812 370-7 2-57421-PRL(or, PRC)...1-1"
I couldn't see the long 45's number clearly. The short 45 is faded out earlier than the long 45.
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MCT1
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| Posted: 16 August 2008 at 8:11pm | IP Logged
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As in other cases where we have two different pressings of a 45, I would be curious as to whether these came from two different pressing plants. From the late '70s onward, PolyGram 45s have a two-digit code on the label which identifies the plant where the record was made. Abagon, can you check the 45 labels for a number like this (examples: "26", "54", "72")? If these numbers are different between the two 45s, they came from two different plants. Another telltale sign of 45s from two different plants is that the typeface will probably not be the same -- each plant generally used its own.
The matrix suffix on the long 45 is probably "PRC". This was name of a pressing plant. It was once owned by Mercury, but was sold off and became a separate company in the early '70s. Mercury continued to use them for years afterward, though. PRC's main plant was in Richmond, Indiana (72) and they also had a second plant in Compton, California (26).
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abagon
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| Posted: 20 August 2008 at 9:20am | IP Logged
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Thank you very much for the great information about the PolyGram plant, MCT1. It is useful for me!
Please see the following 2 scanning pictures.
(Plant#54) The short 45's matrix number is "812 370-7 2-57421-SH"
(Plant#26) The long 45's matrix number is "812 370-7 2-57421-PRC...1-1"
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MCT1
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| Posted: 21 August 2008 at 8:12am | IP Logged
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Thanks for checking that, Abagon! Plant 54 was Shelley Products of Huntington Station, New York (on Long Island, near New York City) -- I had thought that might be what the "SH" in the matrix number stood for -- while Plant 26 was the main PRC plant in Richmond, Indiana. You can also see typeface differences between the two labels -- note the album credits in particular.
Abagon, I'm not sure if you have any way to analyze the two records side by side, but does it seem like the timing difference is due to the short version having a shorter outro/fade, or does there seem to be an edit somewhere else in the song? IINM, the single version of this song is just the chorus repeated over and over from about 3:20 onward, so ten seconds could probably be lopped off the outro without the final product sounding horrible.
In a thread a while back about Abba's "The Name Of The Game", Aaron asked:
aaronk wrote:
| I'd be very curious to know how some of these slightly longer versions surface on CD. Is it possible that the engineer was instructed to fade it a little early as it was being recorded to the master stamper, hence a master tape with the correct length never really exists? |
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To which Todd responded:
Todd Ireland wrote:
| I've wondered these very same questions myself, Aaron, because so often the fades at the end of 45 versions appearing on CD do not exactly match the fades on their respective vinyl 45 counterparts. Do the single masters usually contain the exact fade heard on their commercial single releases? Or do many single version masters come with fading instructions for engineers to manually perform when mastering for CD? Perhaps one of our resident audio engineer experts can help us answer this. |
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I'm not an industry insider, but I suspect Todd is right, and I think the two variations of "She Works Hard For The Money" from two different plants support this view. By all appearances, both of these 45s are contemporary issues. They both have the same master number, and there is no evidence that one of them was some kind of a later re-cut. It looks like multiple stampers were created from the original master tape, for shipment to different plants, and for whatever reason (perhaps intentionally, perhaps just sloppiness), they did not all match exactly.
The database indicates that most CDs with the single version of this song run around 4:09, but a few CDs have a single version of this song running about 4:31 or 4:32 (about 30+ longer than any 45 anyone here has examined). I also see at least one 4:07, and we now have Abagon's short 4:00 45. Perhaps the explanation for all this is that the original master created for the single version runs about 4:32; it was intended to be faded to 4:09 for the actual 45 release, but some 45 (or later CD) pressings may deviate from this by a few seconds either way, due to inexactness in the fade on 45 stampers or in whatever the equivalent is for CD production; and for some reason, the stampers sent to Shelley Products for production of the 45 were faded noticeably sooner, running only 4:00.
I don't think this changes anything in terms of the information Pat puts into the database. The bottom line is still that there seem to be at least two noticeably different pressings of this 45. But I think this gives us a little insight into how we ended up with two different pressings, and possibly even into why CDs with this song aren't all the same length.
Edited by MCT1 on 21 August 2008 at 8:14am
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abagon
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| Posted: 22 August 2008 at 12:01am | IP Logged
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I compared the short 45 with the long 45 again. The short 45 is surely faded out earlier, and doesn't have an edit. Thank you again for your info, MCT1.
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staytuned
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| Posted: 28 March 2021 at 4:21pm | IP Logged
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There are currently several videos on YouTube showing
the 45 of "She Works Hard for the Money", and they all
are of the same version, to my ears. I think it is the
version referenced above as having an edit which occurs
at the 3:20 mark, at the end of the guitar solo. On the
album version, there are a few more measures without
vocals. On the 45, the vocals start right after the
3:20 mark. But if you listen closely to the 45, the
last note of the guitar solo extends through the edit
point. The audio from 3:20-3:24ish on the 45 includes
that last note held from the guitar solo AND Donna
Summer's vocals. This unique audio is not on the album
version. There are several compilations that simply
edit the album version to recreate the single.
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aaronk
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| Posted: 28 March 2021 at 8:49pm | IP Logged
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Great catch! The database currently lists these as "45 version but longer," and most run approximately 4:31-4:32.
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Bellenger1981
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| Posted: 29 March 2021 at 8:03am | IP Logged
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Great catch, staytuned! I never noticed that and
actually had an edit of the album version listed as the
45 version instead of the actual 45 version. Thank you.
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Jason Bellenger
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crapfromthepast
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| Posted: 29 March 2021 at 8:41am | IP Logged
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Just documenting some mastering history, for the CDs I have that include the song. (I certainly don't own everything.)
LP version (5:18)
The oldest CD I own with the LP version is a promotional disc called PGD Presents Great Sounds (1991). It runs 136.5 BPM throughout (a live drummer playing to a click track). This disc rounds up tracks from other discs, and lists this song as being from Mercury's '80s-era release of the full She Works Hard For The Money album. I suspect that the PGD disc is a digital clone of the full Money CD, but can't confirm.
There's a new analog transfer on Casablanca's 2-CD Donna Summer Anthology (1993), which emphasizes the high end a little more than the PGD disc and has a fade than extends a little longer than the PGD disc. It sounds superb here. It runs 136.7 BPM throughout. There's a differently-EQ'd digital clone on:- Time-Life's Body And Soul Ladies Got Soul (2002)
I highly recommend Anthology, which has outstanding sound and an equally outstanding track selection.
45 version (4:10)
As StayTuned pointed out, the 45 has some unique audio around 3:20-3:24. The vocals return after the guitar solo, and the last notes of the solo are present under the first notes of the vocals. This overlap isn't present on the LP version, so that the 45 version can't be recreated from the LP version.
The oldest CD I own with the 45 version is a European compilation on PolyGram called Hits On CD Vol. 2 (1984). It runs 4:10, runs at 136.2 BPM throughout. The EQ is a little muted, but the disc seems to use a low-generation tape source.
There's a different analog transfer on Silver Eagle/Warner Special Products' 2-CD After Hours (1990). It runs too fast, at 137.6 BPM throughout. The tail of the fade extends to the same point in the song as Hits On CD Vol. 2, but it only runs 4:08 here due to the speed difference. There's quite a bit of midrange (not high-frequency) tape hiss at the end of the fade, which leads me to think that this disc uses a relatively high-generation tape source. The same analog transfer is used on:- Razor & Tie's 2-CD Totally '80s (1993)
- Time-Life's Sounds Of The Eighties Vol. 11 1983-1984 (1995) - differently-EQ'd digital clone of Totally '80s
- Madacy's Rock On 1983 Sweet Dreams (1998) - digitally exactly 1 dB louder than Totally '80s
There's a new analog transfer on Rhino's Billboard Hot R&B Hits 1983 (1996). It runs 4:10, and runs at 136.5 BPM throughout. I like this mastering a lot: it has a crisp high end, pronounced low end, seems to use a very low-generation tape source, has a tail to the fade that extends out as far as the earlier discs without the midrange tape hiss. It sounds stellar here.
The mastering on Rhino's Billboard Top Dance Hits 1983 (1998) is much too loud, and clips a lot. It also runs too slow, at 135.5 BPM throughout. Avoid.
The version on the Donna Summer 2-CD best-of Journey The Very Best Of (2003) adds a little compression/limiting, which isn't present on the earlier discs. It runs 136.5 BPM throughout.
Incorrect edits
If you attempt to recreate the 45 version by deleting 3:20 to 4:02 of the LP version, you'll find that the vocals after the guitar solo (around 3:24) don't have any of the guitar notes in the background. That's the case with all of the discs I list below.
There's an in-house edit on TM Century's track no. 00001072, which was likely produced in the mid-'80s. In addition to the 3:24 portion not matching the 45, the fade runs too long, so that the track run 4:18. It runs 136.4 BPM throughout, and actually has decent sound quality, with no artifacts of noise reduction on the fade. The same analog transfer is used on:- swaitek's promo 50-CD The A List Disc 18 (1994)
The version on Greatest Hits (1998) makes the same edit as the above two, but fades later so that it runs 4:31. (It does hasten the fade by 3 or 4 seconds, compared to letting the edit run out to the full length of the LP fade.) For what it's worth, the sound quality is nice here. It runs 136.4 BPM throughout.
My recommendations
For the LP version, go with Casablanca's 2-CD Donna Summer Anthology (1993).
For the 45 version, go with Rhino's Billboard Hot R&B Hits 1983 (1996).
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AutumnAarilyn
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| Posted: 29 March 2021 at 3:40pm | IP Logged
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Ron: Does the Greatest hits 1998 have the proper edit
with that guitar riff over the vocals?
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aaronk
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| Posted: 29 March 2021 at 4:04pm | IP Logged
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Greatest Hits contains the incorrect 4:31 version.
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Aaron Kannowski
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Topic: DONNA SUMMER - "She Works Hard For The Mo
