NightAire MusicFan
Joined: 20 February 2010 Location: United States
Online Status: Offline Posts: 998
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Posted: 12 October 2023 at 4:22pm | IP Logged
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All except one entry in the database says "some of the drop-ins are not the same" or "some excerpts are re-recorded."
I'm wondering if anybody has documented the changes in the various versions, and / or tried to take the cleanest (original) announcer portions and replaced the drop-ins with the original drops from clean CD sources?
I have five versions, and I think every one of them is differing in quality in addition to potential drop differences.
1956 American Heartbeat: crisper, cleaner, has a odd stray cymbal crash 5 seconds after the final words that none of my other copies has. Pts. 1 & 2 overlap slightly. Some snippets clearly replaced based on playback speed w/ original but mostly identical takes and sections of songs.
25 All-Time Novelty Hits: noisy & muffled (this may be the only one taken from the original source vinyl with all original drops). Gap between 1 & 2.
Billboard Top Rock 'n' Roll Hits 1956: crisper, cleaner. Pts. 1 & 2. Similar master to "Heartbeat" but one or two drops fall out of sync with it, suggesting different restoration.
Glory Days Of Rock 'N' Roll Vol. 6 Novelties: Cleaner & crisper. Identical master to "Heartbeat" without the random cymbal crash, HOWEVER, there's maybe 100 ms more between pts 1 & 2 compared to the overlapped version on "Heartbeat." Otherwise it is identical.
Dr. Demento Presents The Greatest Novelty Records Of All Time (Volume II 1950's): Aggressive noise gating that is unusually audible, especially on pt 2. Significant level differences between pts 1 & 2. A couple of snippets aren't even from the right version, or right part of the songs. As Ron would say, "avoid!" (Shocking, with this being a Rhino source.)
A couple of the version have extra reverb on the Little Richard snippet at about 1:44, "the first words of the first spacemen on earth", for no obvious reason. Playback speed varies between versions, too.
I guess this was a "throwaway" record in 1956 so there was little care taken to preserve the source tapes. Why it is such a mess in the digital realm, though, is beyond me. It was a huge hit, sold a lot of records, and deserves to be properly preserved the modern era.
</soapbox>
__________________ Gene Savage
http://www.BlackLightRadio.com
http://www.facebook.com/TulsaSavage
Owasso, Oklahoma USA
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PopArchivist MusicFan
Joined: 30 June 2018 Location: United States
Online Status: Offline Posts: 1524
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Posted: 12 October 2023 at 8:02pm | IP Logged
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The American Heartbeat series are loudly mastered beware. The Billboard Top Rock N Roll Hits 1956 would be my choice.
__________________ "I'm a pop archivist, not a chart philosopher, I seek to listen, observe and document the chart position of music."
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