Top 40 Music on Compact Disc: "You’ve Lost That..."- Righteous Brothers

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Todd Ireland
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Posted: 13 May 2014 at 11:28pm \| IP Logged

I was listening to The Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" on their Retrospective 1963-1974 CD (Abkco 9235), which is in mono. From the 2:25-2:45 mark, I do not hear the strings that are prominently featured on the commonly available stereo mix, which I presume is from the stereo vinyl LP. To my ears, the mono mix also contains noticeably less reverb than the stereo mix.

I don't have a commercial 45 copy of "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" but if it matches what's on the Retrospective 1963-1974 disc, then I would submit that a 45/LP version distinction should be noted between the mono and stereo CD entries.

Edited by Todd Ireland on 13 May 2014 at 11:35pm

eriejwg
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Posted: 14 May 2014 at 9:30am \| IP Logged

I have the song in mono on the Phil Spector/Back To Mono
(1958-1969) collection. I also do not hear strings on
my copy either. Seeing that they are both released on the
Abkco label I suspect this also may be a 45/LP designation
needed.

Todd Ireland
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Posted: 14 May 2014 at 5:36pm \| IP Logged

I suppose it's possible the strings could be on the mono version but are rendered inaudible as a result of being buried in Phil Spector's "wall of sound". Even so, the background vocals are so much louder on the mono version that it drastically changes the overall sound. And given the difference in reverb between the mono and stereo versions, I'd say this at the very least warrants a 45/LP mix distinction, if not 45/LP version.

I'd be interested in hearing others' opinions on this.

Edited by Todd Ireland on 14 May 2014 at 5:40pm

davidclark
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Posted: 14 May 2014 at 8:56pm \| IP Logged

i would support a "mix" designation on this one. I think the strings are there,
they simply sound different due to the mono/stereo mix difference.

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TallPaulInKy
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Posted: 19 May 2014 at 6:58am \| IP Logged

If you read the various books on Phil Spector you will find
it was the engineer Larry Levine that did the stereo and
the LP of Lovin' Feeling without Phil's input. When the
song was a hit, Larry mentioned doing an album, and Phil
returned with his famous quote to the effect that an album
is two hits and ten pieces of junk. Phil didn't have a
second hit and wasn't interested so Larry and Bill Medley
put the album together. After that Larry and Bill did all
the filler tracks on resulting albums. From what I have
read Phil only did the mono singles.

AdvprosD
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Posted: 13 September 2020 at 10:46pm \| IP Logged

I don't think I've ever heard an original recording of this song that actually sounded good.

Perhaps it's because I don't have any 45 version in my collection. All the copies I have heard on CD so far seem to come from a really noisy needledrop. I took a few minutes to try and listen to where
the noise starts. In the first minute or so, maybe around 00:50 there begins a series of soft pops that sort of sound like someone playing with a windscreen on a mic. This continues to occur frequently
throughout the song. The more I listen to the noise the more I think it might be noise in the transfer.

What I also find interesting, is at the very end when the song is fading out there is another series of muffled crackles that sound like noise reduction over a needle popping in a dirty groove.

I haven't taken the time yet to listen to all of the many copies I have but, at least I think I can say that the ones I did listen to had the strings. I don't know if I own the CD that Todd mentioned in
the original post. If I happen to find it, I'll also listen for the objectionable noises. It's really a great song! I also remember there were a number of versions that were re-recorded, but those
don't have the sound and feel of the "Original version."

Was Al Hibber the original for this? Or, was there a number of previous covers before the Righteous Brothers?

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Paul Haney
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Posted: 14 September 2020 at 4:10am \| IP Logged

AdvprosD wrote:

Was Al Hibber the original for this? Or, was there a number of previous covers before the Righteous
Brothers?

I'm confused. Are you asking about "Unchained Melody"? This thread is about YLTLF.

crapfromthepast
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Posted: 14 September 2020 at 7:40pm \| IP Logged

Minutia!

Stereo LP mix

The oldest CD I have with the song is Time-Life's Classic Rock Vol. 1 1965 (1987), where it sounds terrible. Likely high-generation source tapes, muddy EQ, and left/right channels are swapped. Avoid.

There's a better analog transfer on Warner Special Products/Sessions' 2-CD Senior Prom (1987). A definite improvement over Classic Rock.

And then, there's an even better analog transfer on Rhino's Righteous Brothers Anthology 1962-1974 (1989) and Rhino's Billboard Top R&R Hits 1965 (1989), which are digitally identical to each other. Although the database says "sounds like it was mastered from vinyl" for Anthology 1962-1974, I think it's just a noisy source tape. (I welcome second opinions.) But if Anthology 1962-1974 is really from vinyl, then virtually all the later CDs that include the song are also from vinyl, because the same analog transfer is used on:

Rhino's promo PRO2 90025 Billboard Top Rock 'N' Roll Hits 1955-1974 Sampler (1989) - digitally identical
Time-Life's Superhits Vol. 3 1965 (1990) - shortens tail of fade by about three seconds
Time-Life's AM Gold Vol. 10 1965 (1990) - the entire disc is a repackaging of Superhits Vol. 3 1965, so this, too, shortens tail of fade by about three seconds
Cema's 2-CD Mystic Music Presents Groovin' (1992) - shortens tail of fade
Rhino's Billboard Top R&R Hits 1965 RE-1 rerelease (1993) - digitally identical
Time-Life's 2-CD Body Talk Vol. 7 Hearts In Motion (1996) - differently EQ'd digital clone
PolyGram's promo Pop Memories (1996)
Razor & Tie's 2-CD Break Up To Make Up (1999)

I would assume that pretty much any US CD released after 1989 is based on the Rhino mastering.

One outlier that's not based on earlier masterings: EMI Virgin PolyGram's UK 2-CD Now 19 (1991), which narrows the soundstage and fades five or six seconds early; avoid.

Mono 45 mix

It sounds as good as it will get on Abkco's multi-disc Phil Spector Back To Mono 1958-1969 (1991). I don't have any of the handful of later discs that include the mono version.

My recommendations

This one is pretty straightforward.

For the stereo LP version, go with Rhino's Righteous Brothers Anthology 1962-1974 (1989) if you want a single-artist disc, or Rhino's Billboard Top R&R Hits 1965 (1989) if you want a multi-artist compilation. They have identical 0's and 1's.

For the mono 45 mix, I like Abkco's multi-disc Phil Spector Back To Mono 1958-1969 (1991), but I don't have any others to compare.

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AdvprosD
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Posted: 15 September 2020 at 9:19am \| IP Logged

Paul Haney wrote:

AdvprosD wrote:

Was Al Hibber the original for this? Or, was there a number of previous covers before the Righteous
Brothers?

I'm confused. Are you asking about "Unchained Melody"? This thread is about YLTLF.

Sorry about that, Paul!

I was reading until I was dead tired, and in my sleepy state I mis-noted YLTLF as Unchained Melody. You are rightfully confused, but to clear it up, I was meaning YLTLF. So, disregard the Al Hibber part.

And as always, Thanks to Ron for the detail. I'm getting a lot done in the basement so I'll be looking for those discs if I have them.

Edited by AdvprosD on 15 September 2020 at 9:22am

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Paul Haney
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Posted: 15 September 2020 at 10:53am \| IP Logged

Thanks for clarifying, Dave. Now I can stop looking for Al Hibbler's version of "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling." :)

LunarLaugh
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Posted: 15 September 2020 at 2:21pm \| IP Logged

My recommendation for the stereo mix of "You've Lost
That Lovin' Feeling" on CD is the 1999 expanded edition
of the Top Gun soundtrack. Remastered by Vic Anesini
using Sony's superior mastering equipment which
resulted in a slightly cleaner transfer than the Rhino
discs. Also available on SACD if you happen to still
have one of those players handy.

Also mastered by Vic Anesini is Sony's "The Essential
Phil Spector" which contains the mono mix in EXCELLENT
sound quality. This or the slightly louder Bob Ludwig-
mastered "Wall of Sound Retrospective" contain better
transfers than the Back to Mono box, IMHO. I prefer the
Anesini disc over the Ludwig personally.

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PopArchivist
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Posted: 15 January 2022 at 9:45pm \| IP Logged

AdvprosD wrote:

I don't think I've ever heard an original recording of this song that actually sounded good.

Nor have I. Whoever did the transfers for these did not give it the love and attention this legendary song deserves. I now have to check out LunarLaugh's suggestion on the better source material.

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LunarLaugh
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Posted: 16 January 2022 at 12:30pm \| IP Logged

You can only do so much with the source material, which
just comes down to the way the tracks were recorded. It's
Spector so a good stereo mix was never the intended result
of the producer.

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aaronk
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Posted: 16 January 2022 at 12:38pm \| IP Logged

I actually think the transfer done by Rhino sounds quite nice, despite having a bit of tape hiss. It's not muddy, not distorted, and has nice EQ.

There are a couple "thumps" in the right channel as the song fades to silence, but it's likely that way on the tape.

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Bounder's Bay
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Posted: 20 January 2022 at 3:07am \| IP Logged

I would heartily echo (pun not intended) the recommendation for the Anesini-mastered Essential Phil Spector as a preferred source for the hit mono mix of this one (and others) over Back To Mono. If ordering the CD, make sure to get the original 2011 US version, with the title across the top, which includes "River Deep, Mountain High" where the 2012 international versions with the title at lower left omit it!

See here:
The Essential Phil Spector - Discogs

Also available in 16bit lossless at Qobuz, although this particular track is among those you must download entire album to get:
The Essential Phil Spector - Qobuz

Edited by Bounder's Bay on 20 January 2022 at 12:42pm

AdvprosD
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Posted: 24 January 2022 at 9:23pm \| IP Logged

I just happened to drop by my local used record store and picked up a copy of the Righteous Brothers greatest hits on CD. This is on the Verve label and was issued from
Germany in 1984 according to Discogs information. It's kind-of unique since the first 12 tracks are the same as the original 1967 vinyl release of the same name in the USA.
YLTLF is right up at the top on this collection and is in stereo. I'm not sure if any of the other tracks are in mono.

It has a fairly clean rendition of YLTLF which sort-of sounds like the way Aaron described his Rhino disc above. I didn't hear any of the odd NR effects at the end either.
For tracks 13 -22 on this disc they are apparently from a second greatest his collection released in 1968. I didn't see any hits I recognized for this band in tracks 13-22.

I'm going to have to look over the 45s there at the store and see if I can find an original mono 45.

This CD appears to be fairly common as one can pick it up for under ten bucks. I wasn't expecting to see the label "Verve" though. I usually think of jazz and such when
I see that label. (Verve 823 119-2.) I'll be listening through to hear the engineering by Val Valentin.

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Hykker
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Posted: 25 January 2022 at 8:44am \| IP Logged

AdvprosD wrote:

I wasn't expecting to see the label "Verve" though. I usually think of jazz and such when
I see that label.

Verve was primarily, but not exclusively a jazz label. In addition to the Righteous Brothers' post-Philles hits, among others the Mothers of Invention
(!) and the Hombres (Let It All Hang Out) were also on that label. They also had a folk subsidiary, Verve-Folkways.

AdvprosD
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Posted: 27 January 2022 at 10:35pm \| IP Logged

Bounder's Bay wrote:

OMG! I just happened to pick this up on CD as well. (Essential Phil Spector.)

I was going into this believing that I wasn't going to be impressed by a mono recording. Again, as I have been so often persuaded by folks on this forum, I have now actually heard
a version of YLTLF that sounds great! I simply had to experience this for myself, and I'm so glad I did.

Included are a number of Ronettes and Crystals songs I don't remember. They sound pretty good too! Thanks for the post Bounders Bay!

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