Top 40 Music on Compact Disc: Polly Brown-"Up In A Puff Of Smoke"

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Topic: Polly Brown-"Up In A Puff Of Smoke"

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jimct
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Posted: 22 September 2007 at 5:40am \| IP Logged

My commercial 45 has a listed time of (3:20), but an actual time of (3:25).

EdisonLite
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Posted: 22 September 2007 at 9:00am \| IP Logged

An interesting side point about this top 40 hit: The mix on this 45 is distinctly a U.S. remix, and as far as I know was never released in any other country (certainly not in the UK where it first came out.) Unfortunately, as far the U.S. version's availability on compact disc is concerned, it has only been issued from cleaned vinyl, so I assume Rhino was not able to find a master tape source.

EdisonLite
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Posted: 11 April 2008 at 8:23pm \| IP Logged

Back in 1975, when Polly Brown's "Up in a Puff of Smoke" was a hit, was there ever a U.S. Polly Brown LP with this song??

jimct
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Posted: 11 April 2008 at 11:24pm \| IP Logged

Gordon, I had previously researched this exact question. UK label GTO had apparently set up a VERY short-lived U.S. distribution deal with ABC Records, in 1975. Only 4 singles, by Kristine Sparkle (1001), Fox (1003) and Magic Touch (1004), along with Polly Brown's ABC/GTO 1002 hit, were released over the brief duration of this deal. There wasn't even a follow-up Polly Brown U.S. 45 ABC/GTO 45 released! But, just a few months later, even before the end of 1975, the U.S. label "Ariola America" was launched, seemingly with the same UK GTO label execs now opting to open up their own U.S. indie label, clearly abandoning the concept of linking up with an established U.S. label. In fact, both sides of that very same "Fox" ABC/GTO 1003 45, was re-released as Ariola America's first single, #7601. Shortly after that, Polly Brown released the 3rd Ariola America single, "Special Delivery/SOS". "SOS" was then again issued, this time b/w "You're My Number One", for her 2nd and final Ariola 45, #7617. There was NO Polly Brown U.S. LP, either on GTO/ABC or Ariola America, during this time. But GTO UK DID release an album on her in her homeland, called "Special Delivery", as GTO UK 003. Much later, there was also a UK "hits" CD released, called "Bewitched: The Polly Brown Story", with "Up In A Puff Of Smoke", included, her Ariola singles sides, and some of her earlier work with Pickettywitch as well. But this CD appears to be long out of print, and besides, I believe it to be VERY unlikely that the U.S. 45 mix of her hit would appear on that CD. Sorry, Gordon - I know you were looking for a different answer, as was I.

EdisonLite
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Posted: 12 April 2008 at 1:48am \| IP Logged

Jim, thanks for the info. Yes, I have that Polly Brown UK CD and I bought it right when it came out, hoping it would have the mix I knew (from master tape), as I knew the Rhino CD used vinyl. At the time, I didn't know it was exclusively a US mix. But to address your suspicions, the CD has the UK mix and not the US mix. If Rhino couldn't get it for their Super Hits series, my guess is that the master tape is lost, which is a shame because I think it's much better than the UK mix. My hope was that there was some rare US LP with this mix, so I could clean the song from that, and not use the very overplayed-sounding source that Rhino used.

And btw, I believe I have the Magic Touch single you mention -- if it's called "Let's Dance (The Night Away)". I like that song a lot.

AndrewChouffi
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Posted: 12 April 2008 at 11:13am \| IP Logged

Hi 'EdisonLite',

There is a "rare US LP with this mix" issued on Ariola America in 1976.

I own the record, its catalog # is ST 50011.

Titled 'Big Dance Records In The Big Apple', its a various artists comp that also contains "You're My #1" by Polly Brown & "Bad Luck" by the Atlanta Disco Band (a #94 chart single).

Andy

EdisonLite
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Posted: 12 April 2008 at 11:47am \| IP Logged

That's great news Andy. I'll try to track this LP down, I hope it won't be too hard. But first, a question -- does it have the full 3:28 version? Some of those V.A. compilation LPs from the '70s can be edited down, and I wouldn't want to buy this if it has an edit or an early fade.

AndrewChouffi
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Posted: 12 April 2008 at 1:44pm \| IP Logged

Hi 'EdisonLite',

Timing printed is 3:24 -- I haven't timed it with a stopwatch, but I know it's within a couple seconds of the Rhino dub.

Andy

EdisonLite
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Posted: 08 December 2008 at 5:43pm \| IP Logged

I finally tracked down a sealed copy of the 'Big Dance Records In The Big Apple' LP, and I'm not sure this contains the US mix. It's definitely not the UK mix (i.e., the mix on "Bewitched - the Polly Brown Story" CD), so I'm wondering if this is a 3rd mix and would like some opinions of fellow board members who have both this LP and the US version (whether the 45 or the Rhino CD.)

The version on this LP DOES have the electric buzzy overdubs in the intro, which are on the US mix only (i.e. the version on the Rhino CD), so it's definitely NOT the UK mix for that reason alone.

However, the drum solo parts on the Rhino (US) version (i.e. when Polly isn't singing) seem to be more agressive on the Rhino version than on the "Big Dance Records in the Big Apple" LP, like there's 2 drums playing every part instead of 1. But this could be an EQ issue because the Rhino version I reference (which I got from MMathews) is a much enhanced, EQ'd and declicked/degrunged version of the Rhino CD.

So can anyone with this LP compare it with the Rhino CD, listening for "more agressive drums" on the Rhino version, and tell me if there is truly another layer of drums in the US mix (vs. the aformentioned LP) or not. Because if it is just an EQ issue, then I'd say this source is much better than the source they used at Rhino, which sounds like a well-played 45.

Edited by EdisonLite on 08 December 2008 at 5:44pm

AndrewChouffi
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Posted: 08 December 2008 at 9:21pm \| IP Logged

Hi 'EdisonLite',

While I don't detect "more agressive drums" on my Rhino CD than on the '...Big Apple' LP I DID detect one difference in the drums!

The '...Big Apple' LP has stereo-panned toms on the fills where the Rhino has straight-up the middle fills.

There is a (subtle) difference!

I wish I had a real Polly Brown 45 to compare...

Andy

EdisonLite
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Posted: 09 December 2008 at 10:39am \| IP Logged

Interesting! I'll have to listen for that. That means this is a THIRD mix of the song!

Does anyone else have this LP? I'm curious to know if anyone else thinks this has less aggressive drums than the Rhino version. To me, the Rhino version either has a 2nd set up drums overdubbed (just in the instrumental parts where Polly doesn't sing), or the drums mixed in louder, or something giving them a more intense effect.

eriejwg
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Posted: 10 July 2017 at 4:22pm \| IP Logged

This song came up as a subject over at the BSN forum
with a YouTube link to the 45.

Is the HAND version the U.S. mix or UK mix?

MMathews
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Posted: 10 July 2017 at 4:55pm \| IP Logged

The HAND version is a disc dub of the U.S. 45 mix.

The UK mix is missing some synth overdubs that were added
for US release.
MM

C J Brown
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Posted: 11 July 2017 at 6:33pm \| IP Logged

Someone at BSN reports his version of HAND seems to have a different possible US mix of the song. Did Rhino possibly re-master the CD with the US single?

AndrewChouffi
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Posted: 12 July 2017 at 9:40am \| IP Logged

I just pulled out my 'Big Dance Records In The Big Apple' LP again. The mix on this LP seems closer to the US GTO/ABC 45 YouTube video than my first-pressing 'Have A Nice Day' CD dub.

So, yes, there are (at least) 3 different mixes of this record and the 'Have A Nice Day' version that I own may not be the true US 45 mix.

Andy

Edited by AndrewChouffi on 12 July 2017 at 9:41am

EdisonLite
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Posted: 12 July 2017 at 11:21am \| IP Logged

If I recall, the Have a Nice Day version is the true US 45 version (from vinyl). The UK single (missing certain musical instrumentation features on the US single) is available on many CDs and is from master tape. Then, like Andrew, I also have the "Big Dance Rcords in the Big Apple" promoLP, which indeed contains a unique mix never available elsewhere or on CD.

Unfortunately, the cleaning up on the vinyl for "Have a Nice Day" sounds very poor quality. If you like the overdubs in the song, the best version to have is the "Big Dance Records" LP, which can be cleaned up nicely, and is much closer to the US mix than the UK mix.

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