Top 40 Music on Compact Disc: Manilow Greatest Hits: different versions

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EdisonLite
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Posted: 29 October 2014 at 9:25am \| IP Logged

Here's an interesting thing I read on a Barry Manilow page regarding the 4 different incarnations of "Greatest Hits":

CD (ARCD 8039) available in three configurations:
(1) ARCD 8039 DIDY 479 (total time = 70:50) has Disco version of "Copa..." [5:45], Live version of "Daybreak" [3:49] and a slightly shorter album version of "It's A Miracle" [3:45];
(2) ARCD 8039 DIDY 479 (total time = 68:49) has Original version of "Copa..." [4:01], Studio version of "Daybreak" [3:09], and a slightly remixed version of "It's A Miracle" [3:56];
(3) ARCD 8039 DIDX 162 (Made in Japan) (total time = 69:06) has Original version of "Copa..." [4:00], Live version of "Daybreak" [3:49] and a slightly shorter album version of "It's A Miracle" [3:44].
(Beware! The CDs look identical even though the versions of songs listed may not be exactly what appears on the CD)
Japanese LP version (updated 1981?) has slightly different order of songs, and contains 20 tracks instead of 19. Includes "Bermuda Triangle," "(Why Don't We Try) A Slow Dance," "Ships," and "I Made It Through The Rain" instead of "Bandstand Boogie," "Somewhere In The Night," and "This One's For You."

crapfromthepast
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Posted: 29 October 2014 at 10:22am \| IP Logged

E.L. - The Manilow GH discs are a mess, but an interesting mess. I'd planned to map this one out in detail, but I forgot about it.

I have two different masterings of GH, and although I don't have them in front of me, I think that one had a RE-1 in the matrix number, and one didn't.

I think (?) that the RE-1 masterings of the songs are what was used on the GH Vol. 1, GH Vol. 2, and GH Vol. 3 discs that came out later.

Now I'm going to have to sort this one out properly... stay tuned...

Edited by crapfromthepast on 30 October 2014 at 7:15am

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crapfromthepast
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Posted: 06 November 2014 at 9:23am \| IP Logged

I've been meaning to write this one up for years, so I'm just going to muscle through it.

In hacking through this, I learned that just about all of Barry Manilow's hits have a key change or a percussion breakdown.

Summary of the Greatest Hits discs I own

1984 masterings (release dates taken from Mike Callahan's superb Oldies On CD book):

Greatest Hits (Arista ARCD 8039, copyright 1978; original pressing with no RE-1 in the matrix number, total playing time 70:51)

Likely uses the LP master tapes assembled in 1978, which probably are at least one generation higher than the lowest generation 2-track mixdowns
Excellent dynamic range with no added compression/limiting
Excellent volume levels; no clipping
No trace of noise reduction on the fades
A generally un-aggressive EQ on most tracks that can be a little treble-heavy and bass-shy on some tracks
Song running times that are at least as long as all the other discs
"Daybreak" is the hit live version
"It's A Miracle" is the hit mix, with an extra few beats that can easily be removed to recreate the true 45 version
"Copacabana" is the long disco mix

Excellent dynamic range with no added compression/limiting
Levels a little low overall
No trace of noise reduction on the fades

1989 masterings (all "Digitally Remastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound, NYC"; all brand-new analog transfers compared to the 1984 discs; I can't tell definitively if noise reduction is or isn't used, but some of the early tracks run a little shorter than the 1984 CDs):

Greatest Hits Vol. I (Arista ARCD-8598, copyright 1989)

9 of the 10 songs are from the 1978/1984 original GH
"Daybreak" is the studio version
"It's A Miracle" is the previously unreleased "sparse mix"
"Some Kind Of Friend" is the one track not from the 1978/1984 original GH; it was on the 1984 GH II, and has a boosted low and high end/reduced midrange compared to that disc

8 of the 10 songs are from the 1978/1984 original GH
"Jump Shout Boogie" is a B-side from 1977, and wasn't on the 1984 discs
"You're My Only Girl (Jenny)" is a new song released on this album
"Copacabana" is the long disco mix

8 of the 10 songs are from the 1984 GH II
"Ready To Take A Chance Again" isn't on the 1984 GH II, but is on the original 1978/1984 GH. It uses the same analog transfer as the original 1978/1984 GH, but EQ's out the hiss on the fade (or uses digital NR?)
"The Old Songs" is a different edit from the version on the 1984 GH II, and includes an extra 8 beats from 3:15 to 3:21 that aren't on the 1984 GH II
"Dirt Cheap" is a new song released on this album

I don't know for sure that the RE-1 was released in 1989, but I think it's a good guess
17 of the 18 songs are digitally identical clones from the 1989 GH I, II, III discs
"Copacabana" is the one track that isn't a digital clone of the 1989 GH I, II, III discs. Instead of the long disco mix on the 1989 GH II, this disc uses the short 45 version (bass drum present over the first line, "Her name was Lola"), running 3:58 [edit: corrected this, based on posts below and in the Copacabana thread]
Copacabana is still printed with the long running time, even though it's one of the shorter mixes
"Daybreak" is the non-hit studio version, also a digital clone of the 1989 GH I
"It's A Miracle" is the sparse mix, also a digital clone of the 1989 GH I

1992 masterings:

4-CD The Complete Collection And Then Some (copyright 1992)

Not really a greatest hits collection, more of a rarities collection
Not always the hit version; includes some great previously unreleased takes
Some tracks are mastered too loud and clip a bit

2002 masterings:

Ultimate (copyright 2002)

Dreadful sound, overall
Uses many of the 1989 analog transfers, but with a truckload of added compression/limiting, a smiley-face EQ, and an early fade compared to all the others
Avoid; there's no reason to own this CD

2005 masterings:

2-CD Essential (copyright 2005)

Mastered by Mark Wilder, who did many of the CBS/Sony multi-disc box sets, including Earth Wind & Fire's The Eternal Dance and Aerosmith's Pandora's Box.
Tracks taken from a variety of source tapes - some from 1984 or 1989 CDs, some possibly from the single-album CDs, some from an odd combination of sources
"Could It Be Magic" is the 45 edit; the others discs use the LP version
"Can't Smile Without You" uses the same analog transfer as Ultimate until 2:52, and the same analog transfer as the 1978/1984 GH original pressing after 2:52
"Copacabana" uses the same analog transfer as Ultimate until 5:29, and the same analog transfer as the 1978/1984 GH original pressing after 5:29
"I Write The Songs" uses the same analog transfer as Ultimate until 3:39, and the same analog transfer as the 1989 GH II after 3:39.
For the above three tracks, Essential replaced the endings because Ultimate faded too early

Track-by-track analysis, for the 18 tracks on the 1978/1984 GH

Mandy

Key change at 2:41
1978/1984 GH original pressing runs longest
same analog transfer possibly used for Essential, which runs a wee bit shorter and has a miniscule amount of compression added
remastered in 1989 for GH Vol. 1 Arista 8598
1989 mastering digitally-identically cloned for RE-1 of Arista 8039 GH
Arista The First 20 Years (1997) uses same analog transfer as 1989 discs
Ultimate uses same analog transfer as 1989 discs, but fade shortened, smiley-face EQ added, and very mild amount of compression added
Preference: 1978/1984 GH original pressing

New York City Rhythm

No key change, but percussion breakdown at 3:42
all masterings have occasional dropouts in left channel
1978/1984 GH original pressing runs longest
remastered in 1989 for GH Vol. 1 Arista 8598
1989 mastering digitally-identically cloned for RE-1 of Arista 8039 GH
new analog transfer for The Complete Collection, which is mastered a little loud and clips quite a bit
Essential has a live version of the song
Preference: 1978/1984 GH original pressing

Ready To Take A Chance Again

Key change at 2:02
1978/1984 Arista 8039 GH original pressing is in mono
1989 GH Vol. 3 uses same analog transfer as original and runs same length
1989 mastering digitally-identically cloned for RE-1 of Arista 8039 GH
The Complete Collection uses same analog transfer but runs a little shorter
Ultimate uses same analog transfer but runs shorter still and has smiley-face EQ added
Essential uses the same analog transfer, but has more lively EQ without being too smiley-face
Preference: Essential

Looks Like We Made It

Key change at 2:43
Listening with headphones, right before the fade, you can hear that the gated reverb effect on the snare is only in the left channel, which is kinda neat.
1978/1984 Arista 8039 GH original pressing runs longest
remastered in 1989 for GH Vol. 1 Arista 8598
1989 mastering digitally-identically cloned for RE-1 of Arista 8039 GH
Essential runs same length as 1989 GH but has more lively EQ without being too smiley-face
Preference: Essential

Daybreak

Key change at 1:15 in studio version, 1:09 in live version
1978/1984 Arista 8039 GH original pressing has the hit live version
At 3:42, over the very end of the applause, you can hear Barry say "Fabulous!" or something to that effect
Essential has the 3:48 live version and sounds good, but fades before "Fabulous!"
The Complete Collection has the 3:48 live version, but edits the applause at the end to remove the "Fabulous!"
1989 remastering of GH Vol. 1 Arista 8598 uses the non-hit studio version
Ultimate also the non-hit studio version, but has a small amount of added compression, has a smiley-face EQ, and fades a few seconds early
Preference: 1978/1984 GH original pressing

Can't Smile Without You

TWO key changes, at 1:32 and 2:31
1978/1984 Arista 8039 GH original pressing runs longest
remastered in 1989 for GH Vol. 1 Arista 8598, sounds just about as good as 1984 disc, almost as long
1989 mastering digitally-identically cloned for RE-1 of Arista 8039 GH
Ultimate is too loud, has smiley-face EQ, and fades a few seconds early
Essential uses the same analog transfer as Ultimate until 2:52, and the same analog transfer as 1978/1984 Arista 8039 GH original pressing after 2:52. The waveform clearly shows lots of compression/limiting before 2:52, and much more dynamic range after 2:52. It appears that Essential replaced the ending of Ultimate because Ultimate faded too early.
Preference: 1978/1984 GH original pressing

It's A Miracle

No key change, but percussion breakdown at 2:46
Arista 8039 GH original pressing has 45 mix (easily edited down to 45 version)
Essential may use the same analog transfer as the 1978/1984 disc, but has more lively EQ without being too smiley-face (mastered by Mark Wilder, who has generally good EQ choices)
previously-unreleased "sparse mix" first appeared on 1989 GH Vol. 1 Arista 8598
digitally-identically cloned for RE-1 of Arista 8039 GH
1989 analog transfer used for Ultimate, but fade shortened, smiley-face EQ added, and small amount of compression added
different sparse mix on The Complete Collection; listen for the horns on the outro, which are absent from the earlier sparse mix [edit: EdisonLite posts below that this is the Manilow II LP version]
Preference: Essential

Even Now

Key change at 2:31
1978/1984 Arista 8039 GH original pressing sounds good
remastered in 1989 for GH Vol. 1 Arista 8598, sounds just about as good as original 8039 pressing, almost as long
1989 mastering digitally-identically cloned for RE-1 of Arista 8039 GH
Time-Life's 2-CD Body Talk Vol. 2 Just For You (1996) is differently-EQ'd digital clone of 1989 mastering
Ultimate seems to use the same analog transfer as the 1989 mastering, but is too loud, has smiley-face EQ, and fades a few seconds early
Essential has a slightly smiley-face EQ that makes the verses sound a little muddy.
Preference: 1978/1984 Arista 8039 GH original pressing

Bandstand Boogie

Key change at 2:05
1978/1984 Arista 8039 GH original pressing sounds good
remastered in 1989 for GH Vol. 1 Arista 8598, sounds a tiny bit better than original 8039 pressing, same length as original pressing
1989 mastering digitally-identically cloned for RE-1 of Arista 8039 GH
Ultimate seems to use the same analog transfer as the 1989 mastering, but is too loud, has smiley-face EQ, and truncates the fade
Essential uses the same analog transfer as Ultimate and sounds very close to Ultimate, warts and all.
Preference: 1989 discs

Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again

No key change, no percussion breakdown!
Arista 8039 GH original pressing sounds very good, although the levels are a little low
remastered in 1989 for GH Vol. 1 Arista 8598, balance is a little off, so the vocals are a little skewed to the left channel
1989 mastering digitally-identically cloned for RE-1 of Arista 8039 GH
Ultimate seems to use the same analog transfer as the 1989 mastering, but is too loud, has smiley-face EQ, and truncates the fade
Essential has great dynamic range, but has a slightly muddy EQ
Preference: 1978/1984 GH original pressing

Could It Be Magic

No key change, no percussion breakdown!
1978/1984 Arista 8039 GH original pressing sounds good
remastered in 1989 for GH Vol. 2 Arista 8599, sounds a tiny bit better than original 8039 pressing, same length as original pressing
1989 mastering digitally-identically cloned for RE-1 of Arista 8039 GH
Time-Life's 2-CD Body Talk Vol. 17 Heart To Heart (1997) seems to sound kinda close to the 1989 mastering
The Complete Collection is a little loud
Ultimate is really compressed/limited
Essential has the 45 version, with excellent sound; all others have the LP version [edit: The Hits Man reports below that this is an accurate recreation of the 45, where mastering engineer Mark Wilder balanced the volume levels before and afte ran edit at 1:56; the original 45 had a change in levels at that edit point]
Preference: 1989 discs for LP version, Essential for the 45 version

Somewhere In The Night

Key change at 2:18
1978/1984 Arista 8039 GH original pressing truncates fade
remastered in 1989 for GH Vol. 2 Arista 8599, fades a little quicker than original pressing
1989 mastering digitally-identically cloned for RE-1 of Arista 8039 GH
The Complete Collection is a little loud
Ultimate is really compressed/limited
Essential runs a tiny bit longer than the others
Preference: Essential

Weekend In New England

Key change at 2:54
1978/1984 Arista 8039 GH original pressing extends long enough to hear Barry say something after the music ends (boost by 40 dB and you'll hear the mumbling)
remastered in 1989 for GH Vol. 2 Arista 8599
1989 mastering digitally-identical cloned on RE-1 of Arista 8039 GH, The Complete Collection and Essential, all of which have great dynamic range, no hint of noise reduction, and varying EQ from disc-to-disc.
The Complete Collection sounds a bit muffled, the original pressing sounds a bit bright, the RE-1 GH and Essential get the EQ just about right
Ultimate is compressed/limited
Preference: Essential

All The Time

No key change, no percussion breakdown!
There's very little difference among the 1978/1984 Arista 8039 GH original pressing, the 1989 remastering for GH Vol. 2 Arista 8599, and The Complete Collection
Preference: 1989 discs

This One's For You

No key change, no percussion breakdown! [edit: added this based on my own post below]
The Arista 8039 GH original pressing runs a teeny bit longer than the 1989 mastering
Ultimate seems to use the same analog transfer as the 1989 mastering, but is too loud, has smiley-face EQ, and fades a few seconds early
Essential is too loud and clips severely around -2 dB
Preference: 1978/1984 GH original pressing

Copacabana

No key change, but percussion breakdown at 3:14
1978/1984 Arista 8039 GH original pressing uses 5:44 disco mix, has a minor buzz throughout that you can hear on the tail of the fade
1989 GH Vol. 2 Arista 8599 has a new analog transfer of the 5:44 disco mix, and successfully removes the buzz with no trace of noise reduction
There's a third analog tranfer on Ultimate, but it's too loud, has smiley-face EQ, and fades a few seconds early
Essential uses the same analog transfer as Ultimate until 5:29, and the same analog transfer as the 1978/1984 Arista 8039 GH original pressing after 5:29. The waveform clearly shows lots of compression/limiting before 5:29, and much more dynamic range after 5:29. It appears that Essential replaced the ending of Ultimate because Ultimate faded too early.
The only track on RE-1 of Arista 8039 GH that isn't a digitally-identical clone from one of the three 1989 GH discs; the RE-1 disc uses the short 45 version (bass drum present over the first line, "Her name was Lola"), running 3:58 [edit: corrected this, based on post below and in the Copacabana thread]
The Complete Collection (1992) uses the Even Now LP version (no bass drum over the first line, "Her name was Lola"), running 4:04, except that the first 16 beats have overlap from the previous track. [edit: corrected this, based on post below and in the Copacabana thread]
Preference: For the 5:44 disco mix, I prefer GH Vol. 1 Arista 8598. For the short 45 version, go with the RE-1 remaster of Arista 8039 GH [edit: corrected this, based on posts below and posts from the Copacabana thread]

Beautiful Music

No key change, but percussion breakdown at 3:11
1978/1984 Arista 8039 GH original pressing sounds good
remastered in 1989 for GH Vol. 1 Arista 8598, has fuller EQ than original pressing, and is about the same length
1989 mastering digitally-identically cloned for RE-1 of Arista 8039 GH
The Complete Collection is too loud and clips a lot
Essential is almost as loud as The Complete Collection and also clips a lot
Preference: 1989 discs

I Write The Songs

Key change at 2:54
1978/1984 Arista 8039 GH original pressing sounds good
remastered in 1989 for GH Vol. 2 Arista 8599, has much fuller EQ than original pressing, and is the same length
1989 mastering digitally-identically cloned for RE-1 of Arista 8039 GH
The Complete Collection uses same analog transfer as 1989 discs, but is too loud and clips a lot
Ultimate also uses the same analog transfer as the 1989 mastering, but has an extreme amount of compression/limiting, has a smiley-face EQ, and fades a few seconds early
The Complete Collection is too loud and clips a bit
Essential uses the same analog transfer as Ultimate until 3:39, and the same analog transfer as the 1989 discs after 3:39. It appears that Essential replaced the ending of Ultimate because Ultimate faded too early.
Preference: 1989 discs

I'm sure I left some stuff out; I'm kinda done with the Manilow hits for now...

Edited by crapfromthepast on 13 November 2014 at 10:17am

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EdisonLite
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Posted: 06 November 2014 at 2:29pm \| IP Logged

Very interesting info. I remember the "Ultimate" recordings all being faded early but it's strange about what's been done for the follow-up, "Essential". They weren't faded there, but you're saying they took the "Ultimate" sources and tacked on the endings, and I presume the engineer made them match up at the transition point (EQ-wise, etc.) So what's weird - if "Part B" of all those recordings matched up with the "Ultimate" recordings, why not just use the new transfers and not even edit the new endings into the old (shortened) transfers? Odd.

You may be the only place on the net that's given the modulation (i.e. key change) analysis of all Barry Manilow hits. I guess you could call it the Manilow Modulation Memo. And if you ever update it, it will be the Modified Manilow Modulation Memo from Mandy to Memory ... and More.

EdisonLite
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Posted: 06 November 2014 at 2:36pm \| IP Logged

Oh also, what you call:

It's a Miracle:
different sparse mix on The Complete Collection; listen for the horns on the outro, which are absent from the earlier sparse mix

-That's the album version which comes from "Manilow II". I believe it's the only compilation that has the album version. All other CDs with the album version are simply the 3 (or 4) incarnations of the "Manilow II" CD that Arista/Legacy has put out.

Brian W.
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Posted: 06 November 2014 at 3:19pm \| IP Logged

Fantastic breakdown, Ron! But isn't the short 45 mix of
"Copacabana" on some of the original "Greatest Hits"
pressings?

crapfromthepast
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Posted: 06 November 2014 at 4:16pm \| IP Logged

Brian W. wrote:

Fantastic breakdown, Ron! But isn't the short 45 mix of "Copacabana" on some of the original "Greatest Hits" pressings?

I don't know about the Made-in-Japan disc; I haven't seen one of those myself.

For the common 18-track listing of the 1978 GH album, only the RE-1 remasters include the shorter, non-disco mix.

The 1989 RE-1 remasters used the same printing on the disc as the original 1984 release, so it's incorrect in listing the "Copacabana (Disco Mix)" with the long running time. The 1989 RE-1 remaster also incorrectly lists the time for "Daybreak".

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crapfromthepast
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Posted: 06 November 2014 at 4:21pm \| IP Logged

EdisonLite wrote:

Quite.

The mastering engineer, Mark Wilder, made a conscious decision to use the compressed, smiley-face mastering from Ultimate, or as least as much of the song as he could, then splice in the ending from a different mastering to ensure that the song ran the proper length. That means that Mark Wilder preferred the mastering on Ultimate over whatever source he used for the fade-out, or he just would have used that other full-length source for the whole song!

I don't write 'em, I just report 'em.

Edited by crapfromthepast on 13 November 2014 at 10:19am

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Posted: 06 November 2014 at 6:43pm \| IP Logged

"This One's For You" has neither a key change nor a percussion breakdown. My Manilow Modulation Monitor missed this, mistakenly.

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Posted: 06 November 2014 at 10:26pm \| IP Logged

As I recall, the "Even Now" vinyl LP mix has has six extra seconds of Lady Flash singing "Copacabana. . .Copacabana" at about (3:34) prior to the keyboard, strings
and cowbell ending, and I think the mix is hotter throughout. Those six seconds are excised from the 45, but I didn't remember anything about the bass drum being or
not being in the 45 on the "Her name was Lola. . ." lyric.

I hope it's not the case that the correct short 45 isn't on any CD.

Edited by sriv94 on 06 November 2014 at 10:29pm

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EdisonLite
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Posted: 07 November 2014 at 2:41am \| IP Logged

crapfromthepast wrote:

"This One's For You" has neither a key change nor a percussion breakdown. My Manilow Modulation Monitor missed this, mistakenly.

And for all the ballads that don't have a key change (i.e. This One's For You, Could It Be Magic, Tryin' To Get the Feeling...), by chorus 3 the song is so much bigger than it was in chorus 1 that it's kind of the equivalent of a key change :) Both accomplish the same thing. (And for the record I love key changes. Interesting story from Michael Masser, the writer of Theme From Mahogany, which changes key many times - he said he kept changing keys until it went back to the original key. The last chord is the same as the first, after all those key changes. I'd never thought about that, but I think that's rather cool.)

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Posted: 09 November 2014 at 7:53pm \| IP Logged

Two things:

The 45 version of "Could It Be Magic" on the Essential
collection seems to have been re-edited at 1:56. On the
45, it is a more obvious edit with a noticeable drop in
volume on the piano. Mark Wilder apparently smoothed it
out so it sounds seamless.

Second: It looks like I am fortunate to have the ARCD
8039 DIDX 162 (Made in Japan) Greatest Hits CD with the
original (short) 45 version of "Copacabana". But, it
has the hit mix of "It's A Miracle" that can be edited
down to the 45 length.

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Posted: 12 November 2014 at 7:18am \| IP Logged

sriv94 wrote:

From the "Copacabana" thread, the short 45 does have the bass drum, the "Even Now" vinyl LP version does not.

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Posted: 22 November 2014 at 12:09am \| IP Logged

I compared a vinyl version of the 1978 Greatest Hits album to the original pressings of the CD, and can confirm that they match exactly, down to the spoken word ("fabulous"?) at the end of the live version of "Daybreak".

Looks like the original CD release just used the LP master.

Edited by crapfromthepast on 19 December 2014 at 8:34am

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Posted: 18 December 2014 at 8:55pm \| IP Logged

One more track (I'll post them as they come up, but I'm not doing these in any particular order).

Ships

Key change at 3:07
1984 Arista 8102 GH II sounds good, decent dynamic range, OK EQ, no NR
1989 Arista 8600 GH Vol. 3 probably uses same source tape as 1984 disc but a different analog transfer, decent dynamic range, slightly fuller EQ than 1984 disc (in a good way), no NR
Ultimate is compressed with a smiley-face EQ
Essential uses the same analog transfer as Ultimate and sounds very close to Ultimate.
Complete Collection is a live version. Bleh.

Preference: 1989 Arista 8600 GH Vol. 3

Edited by crapfromthepast on 22 December 2014 at 3:05pm

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Posted: 16 October 2021 at 7:38pm \| IP Logged

There are a couple of videos on YouTube suggesting that the
45 single for "Some Kind of Friend" has more reverb and
compression than the versions available on the original LP
and Greatest Hits compilations. Has anyone on this forum
compared the 45 version for mix differences? I can kinda
hear it, but I can't put my finger on anything that
specifically differentiates it as a different mix.

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Posted: 23 October 2021 at 10:00pm \| IP Logged

William (staytuned), I hadn't noticed any mix difference on "Some Kind of Friend". Maybe Mark M or Aaron can determine if there are any. As of my posting this, I see you have posted 3x on the site, so I'm assuming you're a new member - Welcome!

Above William's post, all other posts are from 2014, and even though I started this thread, I forgot about all the details that went into the replies from Ron G and others. I re-read the whole thread tonight. Interesting stuff.

Besides the key-changed "Ships", other post-"Greatest Hits" (1979) singles (top 40, well top 50) of Barry's to contain key changes are:

When I Wanted You
I Don't Want to Walk Without You
I Made It Through the Rain
Lonely Together
The Old Songs
Let's Hang On
Memory (this had about 4, it feels!)

And ones that didn't include:

Somewhere Down the Road
Some Kind of Friend
Read 'Em and Weep

Including "Ships", that's 8 with key changes and 3 without ... keeping his high ratio of modulations continuing on well past the release of his 1st greatest hits album :)

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Posted: 27 April 2022 at 8:13pm \| IP Logged

for anyone interested...manilow re-released his 1989 song "when the good
times come again" as a digital single in 2020. however, this new version has
additional instrumentation that is not present on the album version. while it
wasn't originally issued as a single back then, i just discovered that there
was
a promo cd pressed. because i cannot find any information regarding a
remix
for this new (better) version, i am curious if this might be the digital debut
of that
promo cd? perhaps it was in fact remixed in '89 for radio play...? can anyone
confirm? here's the new mix on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn8HVAVCcF0

Edited by Michaeldila on 27 April 2022 at 8:16pm

LunarLaugh
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Posted: 28 April 2022 at 5:26pm \| IP Logged

Just an aside, but I've never spotted a copy of the
"Greatest Hits" CD in the wild that didn't have a CRC
(Columbia House) mark on the back cover. At one point in
time, all the copies I could find on Ebay were also marked
CRC, judging from pics.

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crapfromthepast
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Posted: 01 June 2022 at 10:18am \| IP Logged

Read 'Em And Weep

No key change
1984 Arista 8102 GH II uses the 45 version, sounds good, decent dynamic range, OK EQ, no NR
1989 Arista 8600 GH Vol. 3 also uses the 45 version and probably uses same source tape as 1984 disc but a different analog transfer, decent dynamic range, slightly fuller EQ than 1984 disc (in a good way), no NR
Essential sounds great but is a slightly different mix than the 45. Listen for additional background vocals from 2:40-2:47, which fill up the otherwise empty space in the 45 mix.
Complete Collection is the promo 45 version, which is the same mix as the 45 (no background vocals from 2:40-2:47), and has one edit near the end of the song.

Preference for the 45 version, 1989 Arista 8600 GH Vol. 3

Edited by crapfromthepast on 01 June 2022 at 10:19am

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