Bob Welch - Sentimental Lady

I'll start with my recommendation: I prefer the sound on Rhino's Best Of over the other versions of "Sentimental Lady" on CD. Here, it runs 3:08, which is 11 seconds longer than any previously released version. You can manually fade it to 2:54 (45 length) or 2:56 (LP length) if you must, or you can just do what I did and label it as "11 seconds longer than any previously released version".

All the other 3:08 versions on CD are based on the mastering from Best Of. I don't have all of them, but my copy of Simitar's Love Rocks After Midnight (1998) sounds great, with excellent dynamic range, great EQ, and no trace of noise reduction. I'd expect the same from the other Rhino and Varese CDs that include the 3:08 version.

And now, the others:

The song first appeared on a compilation on Silver Eagle/MCA's 3-CD Shades Of Love (1989), where it runs 2:56 and sounds pretty good overall. The fade is very hissy, so it likely comes from a higher-generation tape source, but the tonality stays the same on the fade, so there's no evidence of noise reduction. There are others that use the same analog transfer as Shades Of Love:

• Cema's 2-CD Mellow Gold (1991; differently EQ'd digital clone with possible extra compression/limiting)
• Madacy's Rock On 1977 (1996)

There's just one more analog transfer that covers virtually all the other versions I have, and it sounds better than Shades. I'm willing to bet that it's Capitol's Bob Welch CD French Kiss, due to the timing, and due to my experience with the Cema cheapie compilation Rock -N- Roll Greatest Hits Vol. 5 (1995), which includes a whole lot of digital clones of other Capitol/EMI single-artist CDs. I don't actually own French Kiss, but I will proceed as if R -N- R were a digital clone of it. Sandstone's Reelin' In The Years Vol. 4 (1991) also uses the same analog transfer as Rock -N- Roll Greatest Hits Vol. 5, and if I guessed correctly, uses the same analog transfer as French Kiss, but is hissier on the fade.

A Time-Life disc called Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 35 AM Nuggets (1993) uses the same analog transfer as (what I assume to be) French Kiss, but reverses the left and right channels and fades a few seconds early. That's not good. Unfortunately, there are a whole lot of other compilations that base their masterings on AM Nuggets, all of which fade a few seconds early and have their left and right channels reversed:

• JCI's Eighteen Rock Classics (1994)
• Time-Life's 2-CD Body Talk Vol. 8 On My Mind (1996)
• Time-Life's AM Gold Vol. 25 1978 (1997; digitally exactly 1.015 dB louder than Body Talk)
• Time-Life's 2-CD Singers And Songwriters Vol. 5 1978-1979 (2000; differently-EQ'd digital clone of Body Talk)
• Time-Life's 2-CD Seventies Music Explosion Vol. 4 Magic (2005; differently-EQ'd digital clone of Body Talk)
• Time-Life's 2-CD Classic Soft Rock Vol. 2 Ride Like The Wind (2006; differently-EQ'd digital clone of Body Talk)

So to recap... if you don't have access to a 3:08 version (my first choice), go with Capitol's Bob Welch CD French Kiss or Cema cheapie compilation Rock -N- Roll Greatest Hits Vol. 5 (1995), which (I assume) is a clone of French Kiss.

Edited by crapfromthepast