https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/ Copyright (c) 2006-2013 Web Wiz Forums - All Rights Reserved. Fri, 10 Apr 2026 18:40:52 +0000 Mon, 18 May 2015 19:47:12 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Web Wiz Forums 12.07 360 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/RSS_post_feed.asp?TID=4071 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum//images/Top-40-Music-on-CD-Forum-Logo.png https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/ https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4071&PID=43643&title=suddenly-last-summer-motels#43643 Author: crapfromthepast
Subject: 4071
Posted: 18 May 2015 at 7:47pm

It's most definitely intentional. The vocals sound great throughout, as does the shaky-sounding percussion in the pre-chorus and occasional crash cymbal fills. I don't know why the drum machine was mixed to sound so weird, but it gives the song a really distinctive sound, and calls that much more attention to the fills.

The oldest version I've heard on CD is Capitol's Motels best-of CD No Vacancy (1990), which sounds quite nice. Excellent dynamic range, nice EQ, and no evidence of noise reduction. The volume level is a bit low, but that's not much of an issue. This is an excellent-sounding CD.

The same analog transfer is used for Sandstone's Rock The First Vol. 5 (1992; absolute polarity inverted, which doesn't affect the sound), which also has a nice dynamic range, nice EQ, no noise reduction. Lots of CD use the same analog transfer as Rock The First Vol. 5:

• Cema's Greatest Hits Of The 80's Vol. 1 Turbo Mania (1994; digitally exactly 0.864 dB louder)
• Cema's 2-CD Cool Rock (1995; differently-EQ'd digital clone)
• Time-Life's 2-CD Sounds Of The Eighties Vol. 11 1983-1984 (1995; differently-EQ'd digital clone)
• Priority's I Love Rock And Roll Vol. 4 Hits Of The 80's (1996; tail of fade is a few seconds shorter)
• Madacy's Rock On 1983 (1996; differently-EQ'd digital clone)
• Time-Life's 2-CD Modern Rock Vol. 8 Early '80s (2000; differently-EQ'd digital clone)

The Sandstone, Cema and Time-Life discs all sound just fine, and all sound pretty close to No Vacancy.

There are other outliers:

• Priority's Rock Of The '80s Vol. 14 (1994; just a tiny bit compressed compared to the above; it sounds pretty good here)
• EMI Australia's 5-CD Eighties Complete Vol. 2 (1999; fades about 9 seconds early - avoid)
• Rhino's 7-CD Like Omigod (2002) sounds quite nice, but has a slightly boosted high end, which really cranks up the hiss on the fade

My recommendation:

Go with Capitol's No Vacancy (1990). If you don't have that disc, then go with Sandstone's Rock The First Vol. 5 (1992), or any of the differently-EQ'd digital clones. All sound very similar.

(Thanks to Jim for sending me the version from No Vacancy. I edited this post to include the No Vacancy info.)

Edited by crapfromthepast]]> Mon, 18 May 2015 19:47:12 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4071&PID=43643&title=suddenly-last-summer-motels#43643 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4071&PID=43640&title=suddenly-last-summer-motels#43640 Author: Bwci Bo
Subject: 4071
Posted: 18 May 2015 at 4:31pm

Ringmaster_D wrote: Does anyone have a recommendation for a good-sounding version of this song? I have a suspicion that it's the way it was recorded--almost like they overdubbed a rough demo or something--but I've wondered if there's a truly good-sounding version out there. Calling Ron...

As a fan of The Motels, and this song in particular, I
have always wondered the same thing. Every copy I have
sounds very lacklustre. I too will be interested to hear
if anyone has ever uncovered a half decent sounding copy
of Suddenly Last Summer.]]> Mon, 18 May 2015 16:31:04 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4071&PID=43640&title=suddenly-last-summer-motels#43640 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4071&PID=43639&title=suddenly-last-summer-motels#43639 Author: Ringmaster_D
Subject: 4071
Posted: 18 May 2015 at 4:17pm

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good-sounding
version of this song? I have a suspicion that it's the
way it was recorded--almost like they overdubbed a rough
demo or something--but I've wondered if there's a truly
good-sounding version out there. Calling Ron...]]> Mon, 18 May 2015 16:17:48 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4071&PID=43639&title=suddenly-last-summer-motels#43639 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4071&PID=27895&title=suddenly-last-summer-motels#27895 Author: torcan
Subject: 4071
Posted: 23 September 2010 at 1:37pm

aaronk wrote:     One other thing you may consider is going by the charts in Fred Bronson's "Hottest Hot 100 Hits" book. Rather than using the Billboard year-end charts that were published at the end of the year, he also uses a point system. Again, a song can only be on one year end chart, and all of the song's chart run is counted. "Suddenly Last Summer" shows up as #68 for 1983.

I have Fred Bronson's book (third edition), and while I certainly respect his work, I disagree with the way he compiled the year-end charts. He stated that each song is ranked in the year reaches its peak - so if a song hit No. 1 the last week of December one year, but continued at No. 1 for several weeks of the next year, he ranked it in the former year. To me that's not right. It achieved its greatest popularity in the following year and I think should be ranked with those songs.

But I guess we all have different opinions on how to count those songs split between years.]]> Thu, 23 Sep 2010 13:37:26 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4071&PID=27895&title=suddenly-last-summer-motels#27895 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4071&PID=27853&title=suddenly-last-summer-motels#27853 Author: Indy500
Subject: 4071
Posted: 21 September 2010 at 6:28pm

Thanks for the info. ]]> Tue, 21 Sep 2010 18:28:11 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4071&PID=27853&title=suddenly-last-summer-motels#27853 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4071&PID=27847&title=suddenly-last-summer-motels#27847 Author: NightAire
Subject: 4071
Posted: 20 September 2010 at 8:37pm

Indy500: My resource (which actually originated with AaronK) doesn't even list that song charting in radio airplay:

John Waite

He does note:

...The chart on 10/15/76 was a top 30 chart, and remained that way until 1983, therefore "weeks on chart" for song hitting in this time period means weeks on the top 30.

From June 1983 until May 1995, the chart was again 40 songs...

So R&R claims the song never hit the top... 30? 40?

KROQ, 91X & Q101 don't list it, either:

Radio Hit List -- Search

Tunecaster has him on their pop charts for three weeks, starting March 16th @ #23, climbing to #20 the next week, then #17 before falling off the charts the next week:

Pop Top 20 Countdown for March 30, 1985

I find nothing on their website to determine how they come up with their charts.

Unfortunately, I don't currently have a copy of the weekly charts from the 80s from Billboard; that's on a wish list to Santa. ;-)

Wikipedia shows the song charting on Billboard's mainstream rock chart in 1982 (going to #16) and on its re-release in '85, making it up the Billboard Hot 100 to #54 when it was put on the Vision Quest soundtrack:

John Wait Singles - Wikipedia]]> Mon, 20 Sep 2010 20:37:34 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4071&PID=27847&title=suddenly-last-summer-motels#27847 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4071&PID=27846&title=suddenly-last-summer-motels#27846 Author: RichM921
Subject: 4071
Posted: 20 September 2010 at 7:15pm

NightAire wrote: Additionally, MTV wasn't available everywhere, especially at first. I was trying to find stats on market penetration by year but failed... I only know that Tulsa, Oklahoma was one of the VERY first markets to get MTV... which is why a station which labeled itself as "The Music You See On MTV" did so well here 1983 - 1985. :)

My area didn't get MTV until 1983 and doing some "lazy man" research awhile back, I found that many other areas of the country didn't get it until then as well. So I believe that may be the starting point of MTV's national influence.

As for the John Waite song, I don't remember ever seeing the video or even hearing it on the radio in '83. I do remember it from the "Vision Quest" soundtrack because I bought the album. Then in the late '80s when I started listening to AOR stations, I finally heard it on the radio.]]> Mon, 20 Sep 2010 19:15:35 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4071&PID=27846&title=suddenly-last-summer-motels#27846 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4071&PID=27845&title=suddenly-last-summer-motels#27845 Author: Indy500
Subject: 4071
Posted: 20 September 2010 at 6:09pm

NightAire wrote: Indy500: You win... :-) Now that I hear it, I do remember it... had to blow the dust off that memory. That IS a good tune!

Just out of curiosity. I have all the Billboard charts but I don't have any radio play charts. Do you show "Change" getting much radio airplay before its re-release in 1984? If so, what months? ]]> Mon, 20 Sep 2010 18:09:09 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4071&PID=27845&title=suddenly-last-summer-motels#27845 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4071&PID=27838&title=suddenly-last-summer-motels#27838 Author: aaronk
Subject: 4071
Posted: 19 September 2010 at 9:42pm

NightAire wrote: I don't know if there are other songs like that... but it wouldn't surprise me.

Another one that someone recently brought up is "All My Love" by Led Zeppelin. There are probably few airplay-only hits that never had commercial 45s, especially when you're talking about records that would have made the year-end top 100.]]> Sun, 19 Sep 2010 21:42:05 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4071&PID=27838&title=suddenly-last-summer-motels#27838 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4071&PID=27837&title=suddenly-last-summer-motels#27837 Author: aaronk
Subject: 4071
Posted: 19 September 2010 at 9:38pm

Gene, that's the book. I have two different editions, but they are both older than the one in your link.

Wouldn't that just be Billboard's charts?

No, they aren't the charts that appeared in the year-end issues of Billboard. The magazine's year-end charts are restrained to certain dates (November to October, or whatever they are). The charts in the book don't have cut off dates. So, if a song peaked in a certain year, but continued to chart for several weeks into the following year, all of those extra weeks are counted toward the song's year end rankings.]]> Sun, 19 Sep 2010 21:38:31 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4071&PID=27837&title=suddenly-last-summer-motels#27837