ARETHA FRANKLIN - Freeway Of Love

Thanks, guys, for the scans - they look terrific!

Much to report on for this song.

First, my 45. Arista AS1-9354, matrix number AS-1-9354-SA-DJ-RCA-1, printed 4:09, actual 4:09, 126.1 BPM throughout with no drifts.

The 45 is a dedicated mix, and can't be edited down from the LP version. The most obvious example is at the line starting "so drop the top baby..." (at 3:00 on the 45, at 3:30 on the LP). The LP version has some extra background keyboard stuff that's not on the 45.

The first place the short 45 version appeared on CD was a 3-CD set from Silver Eagle/Warner Special Products called After Hours (1990). Unfortunately, the last half of the song suffers from tape drag, and the tempo drops from 126.5 BPM at the start of the song to 125.5 BPM at the end. That's no good. Oddly enough, After Hours has a handful of other tracks (most from Arista) that all suffer from the same kind of tape drag, including "Don't Shed A Tear", "Tell It To My Heart", "Whip It", "Seasons Change", "Hold Me Now" and "Everybody Have Fun Tonight".

Two other CDs use the same analog transfer as After Hours, and both sound the same as After Hours, tape drag and all:

• JCI's Only Rock 'N Roll 1985-1989 (1994)
• Razor & Tie's 2-CD Everything '80s (1995)

The next time the 45 version turned up was on Swaitek's for-radio 50-CD set The A-List Disc 31 (1994). No tape drag, and it runs at 126.1 BPM throughout, but it's an edit of the LP version - you can tell from the extra keyboards over the "so drop the top baby" line at 3:00. It's the same edit of the LP version that's on TM Century's GoldDisc 3002, and I suspect that the A List collection uses the TM discs as its source. Both versions are not the true 45.

(The 45 edit appears on Rhino's Black Entertainment Television 15th Anniversary disc, which I don't have.)

Fortunately, there's a commercially available collection from Arista called The First 20 Years (1997). This indeed has the true 45 version, printed 4:10, actual 4:09, 126.0 BPM throughout with no tape drag. The shape of the fade matches the true 45 and everything. Sound is pretty good, too.

So for the true 45 version, I recommend Arista The First 20 Years (1997).

The LP version also appeared on some of the commercial 45s, and (I think) as the B-side of the promo 45. I don't suspect that there's anything unusual about the LP version on those 45s, since Ed reported that they run 5:49.

The LP version first appeared on Who's Zoomin' Who, and it sounds just fine. It runs 5:50, starting at 126.1 BPM and ending at 126.2 BPM, so effectively no tape drag or drifts.

A boatload of other CDs all use the same analog transfer as Zoomin':

• Sandstone's Rock The First Vol. 6 (1992)
• Arista's Greatest Hits 1980-1994 (1994, differently EQ'd digital clone)
• Priority's Eighties Greatest Rock Hits Vol. 10 Dance All Night (1994; digitally exactly 2 dB louder than Greatest Hits)
• Time-Life's Sounds Of The Eighties Vol. 2 1985 (1994)
• Time-Life's Legends Of Soul Vol. 4 (2001; digitally exactly 1 dB louder than Greatest Hits)
• Time-Life's Solid Gold Soul '80s Rhythm And Grooves (2001; differently EQ'd digital clone of Sounds Of The Eighties 1985)

Finally, there was one more new analog transfer done for Rhino's Billboard Hot R&B Hits 1985 (1995), where it runs 5:50 and also starts at 126.1 BPM and ends at 126.2 BPM. I'm partial to the Bill Inglot mastering. Both sound quite good, though, and you won't be disappointed with either. One disc that's a differently EQ'd digital clone of Billboard Hot R&B Hits 1985:

• Time-Life's Solid Gold Soul Vol. 26 Mid-'80s (2000)

So for the LP version, I recommend Billboard Hot R&B Hits 1985 (1995).

Finally, there's the remix known as the "Rock Mix" from the 12" single. This is really a spectacular remix, with some great guitar overdubs. It even got played at least once on American Top 40; I stumbled across it when I was doing some Clarence Clemons research. On Rhino's Billboard Top Dance Hits 1985 (1998), it runs 4:50, beginning at 126.1 and ending at 126.2 BPM. The mastering is quite loud/compressed/limited on this disc, but there aren't many choices for this version.

(Edit: I got a WAV file of the Zoomin' version after my original post, so I updated this post with the corrected info. Tidied up the formatting, too

Edited by crapfromthepast

What about.... the best of Aretha Franklin 1980-1998? Does it have the correct
45 version and does it drag?

garye wrote: The deluxe CD set of Who's Zoomin'Who contains the 4 mixes of Freeway;The LP Mix, Single Mix, Rock Mix and extended mix. Listening to all 4, they seem to match what is being discussed here. So the deluxe CD has the actual 45 mix at 4:07 as the 45 label shows.

Yet, no Single Mix of Who's Zoomin Who....blah.....

Edited by Ron S