Top 40 Music on CD Forum : Blondie-"One Way Or Another"

Blondie-"One Way Or Another" : The Parallel Lines album was not...

Wed, 25 Mar 2015 18:44:29 +0000

Author: crapfromthepast
Subject: 2762
Posted: 25 March 2015 at 6:44pm

The Parallel Lines album was not the out-of-the-gate smash that I thought it was. "Heart Of Glass" was the hit single, but it was the THIRD single from the album in the US, following "I'm Gonna Love You Too" and "Hanging On The Telephone". It was also the third single in the UK, following "Picture This" and "Hanging On The Telephone". (Info taken from the Platinum Collection liner notes.)

"Heart Of Glass" was huge worldwide, of course. In the UK, Chrysalis went with "Sunday Girl" as the follow-up single. In the US, we got "One Way Or Another". No complaints from me; "One Way Or Another" totally rocks.

LP mix

The LP mix was around before the song was released as a single. As noted above, the LP mix has the call-and response vocals at the end of the song panned left/right.

I don't have the Parallel Lines album on CD, so I don't know which mix is on any version of Parallel Lines.

The oldest version of the LP mix that I have is on the US Best Of Blondie. It sounds pretty good here - good dynamic range, reasonable EQ, no unnecessary noise reduction, and nice hiss on the fade. The same analog transfer is used for:

Priority's Seventies Greatest Rock Hits Vol. 8 Super Songs (1991, no extra NR, louder than Best Of but very little clipping)
Time-Life's 2-CD Modern Rock Vol. 17 Lost Hits Of The '70s (2002; digitally exactly 1.721 dB louder)

The song wasn't released as a single in the UK, so it doesn't appear on the UK Best Of Blondie.

45 mix

Chrysalis wasn't taking any chances with the follow-up to "Heart Of Glass", so they remixed "One Way Or Another" for the 45. Bigger drums and, as noted above, the LP mix has the call-and-response vocals at the end of the song panned left/center. The fade is also a little shorter than the LP mix.

Of the CDs I have, I found three different analog transfers of the 45 mix.

The first was on Time-Life's Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 19 1979 Take Two (1991). It sounds a little bass-heavy here, but still very good. Great dynamic range, no extra compression/limiting, no noise reduction, and nice hiss on the fade. The same analog transfer is used for:

Time-Life's Guitar Rock Vol. 2 1978-1979 (1993; shortens fade slightly - avoid because you can do better with the other CDs here)

The second was on Rhino's Just Can't Get Enough Vol. 1 (1994). Much more midrange than the Time-Life disc. And also with great dynamic range, no extra compression/limiting, no noise reduction, and nice hiss on the fade. I'm an unabashed fan of the Bill Inglot masterings, so no surprise that I like this one.

The third was on Chrysalis's 2-CD The Platinum Collection (1994). The sound here is surprisingly close to the Rhino disc. There's a little extra compression/limiting, and maybe a small amount of noise reduction because there's little or no hiss on the fade. The same analog transfer is used for:

Simitar's Number Ones Rock It Up (1998)
Madacy's Rock On 1979 Heart Of The Night (1998; digitally exactly 3.384 dB quieter)
EMI's cheapie 10 Best Series (1999; digitally identical)

Recommendations

For the LP mix, go with the common '80s-era US Best Of Blondie.

For the 45 mix, go with Rhino's Just Can't Get Enough Vol. 1 (1994).

Edited by crapfromthepast

Blondie-"One Way Or Another" : Thanks for the heads up, Mark....

Sun, 26 Aug 2012 13:05:31 +0000

Author: eriejwg
Subject: 2762
Posted: 26 August 2012 at 1:05pm

Thanks for the heads up, Mark.

Blondie-"One Way Or Another" : Just wanted to add a helpful tip...

Sat, 25 Aug 2012 16:34:31 +0000

Author: MMathews
Subject: 2762
Posted: 25 August 2012 at 4:34pm

Just wanted to add a helpful tip for identifying the 45
version. The louder drum mix is significant, once you
hear it, but you can also go right to the ending.

when she sings:
"I'll walk down the mall
Stand over by the wall
Where I can see it all
Find out who ya call..." <----LP version has this vocal
in the right channel only. and fades the repeats
that way.

The 45 mix has that vocal dead center, right to the end.

Also, so there's no confusion - there are only 2
versions, the LP version and 45 version.
The original best-of uses the LP version.
Hope this helps.
MM

Blondie-"One Way Or Another" : Just wanted to bump this back...

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 21:09:16 +0000

Author: aaronk
Subject: 2762
Posted: 24 August 2012 at 9:09pm

Just wanted to bump this back up so that it doesn't get forgotten about by Pat.

Blondie-"One Way Or Another" : Mark: Thanks much for chiming...

Sat, 11 Aug 2012 21:57:28 +0000

Author: Todd Ireland
Subject: 2762
Posted: 11 August 2012 at 9:57pm

Mark:

Thanks much for chiming in and I agree with you that the percussion and bass are mixed louder and "punchier" on the 45 than on the Best of CD and that the latter has a little added reverb on the overall recording. If "One Way or Another" on the Best of LP matches the mix on the parent LP Parallel Lines, then the database will need to differentiate which CDs contain the 45 mix and which contain the LP mix. There appears to be a :05-:06 length difference between the two, so I would think that should help identify which is which.

Blondie-"One Way Or Another" : I've had questions about...

Sat, 11 Aug 2012 15:29:14 +0000

Author: Dale in Edmontn
Subject: 2762
Posted: 11 August 2012 at 3:29pm

I've had questions about One Way Or Another, too, and thought I the answer when I got the limited edition "Blondie Singles Box" from 2004, which includes every *&%$! Blondie single except for One Way Or Another! LOL! But I also have the Time Life set, so thanks for the clarification!

Blondie-"One Way Or Another" : Ok, thanks to Ed for providing...

Sat, 11 Aug 2012 14:08:24 +0000

Author: MMathews
Subject: 2762
Posted: 11 August 2012 at 2:08pm

Ok, thanks to Ed for providing me a dub of his original
45. The remix i describe above is the 45 version.
I bought a 45 when it was out, but i also owned the LP and
generally only played that version.

The 45 runs exactly 3:25. (not sure what is listed.)

Todd, it seems your Ten Best and Time Life discs also have
the 45 mix as well. Thanks for discovering this!
Now that i really HEAR it, i love the drum mix they did
for it.
MM

Blondie-"One Way Or Another" : Hi Todd, i too was kind of curious...

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 18:07:22 +0000

Author: MMathews
Subject: 2762
Posted: 08 August 2012 at 6:07pm

Hi Todd,

i too was kind of curious about what turned up with this
so i was lurking. My vinyl copy of the LP is long gone,
however my CD is the first 1985 pressing using the Lp's
1st pressing master, so it should match the vinyl LP, at
least the first pressing of it.
I carefully compared the "Best Of" version with the LP
version, and i don't hear any mix differences.
The LP times to exactly 3:30, while the "Best Of" copy
times to exactly 3:33. They fade to exactly the same
point, so it must be a minor pitch difference. (edit;
note these times do not include any silence in the cd
time index.)

Now, i DON'T have any of the compilation CD's it's on.

The only other CD i could compare is
"Greatest Hits: Sound And Vision" on Capitol.
That version is clearly, to my ears, remixed.
    Now this CD is tricky, because one might think many
of the tracks are new mixes, but the mastering is very
bass-heavy. I think the engineer was maybe trying to make
up for many previous Blondie cd's being a little bass-
lite and not-so-punchy. Well, this one is super-punchy
by comparison.
But, nonetheless i put "One Way Or Another" side by side
with it's previous releases, and the first thing you can
hear is when the drums kick in, the snare is slamming
loud compared to how it was. It also has a different
reverb on it.
I even tried to create this sound by compressing and EQ-
ing the "best-of" copy, it was impossible. This is a
newer, very drum-heavy remix. This mix times to 3:25.

Also remixed in similar fashion on here is "Sunday Girl"
- very slamming beat it didn't have before.

Most of the other hits, as far as i can tell, appear
their usual mixes, in one edit or another, but mastered
very bass-heavy.

But i too am now curious to hear the original 45. I
owned one, didn't recall any noticable diffence in the
mix, but then i never a/b'd it either!

That's all i can add to this for now.
MM

Edited by MMathews

Blondie-"One Way Or Another" : I'm kinda surprised no one...

Sun, 05 Aug 2012 23:13:27 +0000

Author: Todd Ireland
Subject: 2762
Posted: 05 August 2012 at 11:13pm

I'm kinda surprised no one ever replied to my previous post. Has anyone else looked into this?

Blondie-"One Way Or Another" : I recently re-acquired Blondie's...

Mon, 28 May 2012 09:43:10 +0000

Author: Todd Ireland
Subject: 2762
Posted: 28 May 2012 at 9:43am

I recently re-acquired Blondie's The Best of CD on Chrysalis 21337 and noticed that "One Way or Another" seems to sound slightly remixed to my ears compared to other discs. For example, on Best of, I detect a little added reverb in Debbie Harry's lead vocals and a different tone and channel placement in the percussion (notably the cymbals) compared to the song's mix on the Ten Best Series: Best of CD (EMI Music Special Markets 98056) and the Sounds of the Seventies - 1979: Take Two various artists CD (Time-Life SOD-19).

Note that "One Way or Another" runs 3:26 on the latter two CDs, which is right in line with the 45 length, while the song is 3:33 on the Best of disc which is closer to the 3:30-3:31 length on every CD release of the parent LP Parallel Lines.

So this brings up the following questions...

1) Is the slightly different mix on Best of unique to that particular album or CD release, or is it reflective of the actual LP mix as heard on Parallel Lines? I'm keeping in mind that other unique versions of Blondie hits ("Heart of Glass", "Rapture"), which are now commonly found on CD today, first originated from the Best of vinyl LP.

2) What is the actual vinyl LP length of "One Way or Another"?