Freddie & Dreamers - I’m Telling You Now

Freddie and the Dreamers had just five entries on the US Hot 100, all in 1965. Four made the top 40. Two made the top 20. Just one made the top 10 - "I'm Telling You Now", which hit #1 in the US. The song hit #2 in the UK, two years earlier in 1963. In the US, the song was released on Tower Records 125. In the UK, it was on Columbia 7086. I assume, but can't confirm, that they were the same version.

Mono version

The hit version was in mono, and ran about 2:05.

Remarkably, there are no US CDs with the mono version!

I have the mono version on a handful of UK or European releases:

• Disc 1 of a 10-CD set from Disky (European EMI box) called The Beat Goes On (1997) - very good sound, volume levels a little low, excellent dynamic range, nice EQ. I can't tell if I hear a teeny bit of turntable rumble and a vinyl pop at the end of the fade? The same mastering is used in a YouTube video from The45Prof.
• an EMI UK Freddie & The Dreamers set called A's B's & EP's (2004) - very good sound, excellent dynamic range and EQ, possibly a little noise reduction added because the fade has a slightly muffled EQ. The fade is a fraction of a second shorter, which masks the part where I think I might have heard turntable rumble on the Disky set. There are about ten single-artist collections in this series, all with the same title of A's B's & EP's, all released in the 2003-2004 time frame.
• an EMI UK Freddie & The Dreamers set called Ultimate Collection (2005) - same mastering as A's B's & EP's

As for the speed, I have a dub of the 45 (credited as "Mr. M 45 rip, cleaned by Pegasus"). I've had good luck with other dubs from Mr. M and Pegasus (whoever they are), and I have no reason to question the speed of their turntable or anything like that. The Beat Goes On runs 1.6% slower than the 45 dub. A's B's & EP's runs 1.2% slower than the 45 dub.

As a practical matter, A's B's & EP's sounds a lot like The Beat Goes On if you match the volume levels and ignore the speed difference. I don't know what the actual speed should be, so I can't recommend one over the other based on playing speed. Both extend out to the proper end of the song within a tiny fraction of a second. (I checked against the 45 dub.)

Stereo version

If you can find the song on a US CD (and the database currently lists 48 of them), 46 are in stereo. (Two are fake stereo, and sound atrocious.)

The stereo is really wide. Some instruments on the left. Some on the right. And the vocals are dead center except for a tiny amount of stereo reverb. It's tough listening in headphones.

The oldest CD I have with the song is Rhino's British Invasion Vol. 1 (1988). It sounds great here. Superb source tapes, great dynamic range, nice volume levels, slightly bright EQ (in the Rhino tradition), no azimuth tape errors (meaning that left and right channels are synchronized well), and no evidence of any added noise reduction on the fade. The same analog transfer is used on:

• Time-Life's Classic Rock Vol. 14 1965 Shakin' All Over (1989)
• Time-Life's History Of Rock 'N' Roll Vol. 7 The British Invasion 1964-1966 (1993)
• Time-Life's 2-CD Flower Power Let's Work Together (2008)

I think there's a new analog transfer of the same source tapes as British Invasion Vol. 1 on Rhino's Billboard Top Pop Hits 1965 (1995), where it runs about 0.1% slower (insignificant).

Non-hit 1992 remix

Ron Furmanek remixed the song from the multi-track tapes for EMI's The Best Of Freddie & The Dreamers - The Definitive Collection (1992). The soundstage is much more reasonable here, with the drums being centered instead of just one channel. The same analog transfer is used on EMI/Music For Pleasure UK's Freddie & The Dreamers collection Greatest Hits (1998) - this track is labeled as "Non Stop Edit" on Qobuz; don't know why.

Fake stereo

If you must have it in fake stereo, it's available on Sire's History Of British Rock and Good Music Record Company's Rare Gold (1990). I only have Rare Gold, and it's brutal.

Rerecordings

I found two collections on Qobuz with rerecordings, from 2007 and 2011. I won't dignify them with listing them here.

Ron's recommendations

For the mono version, go with EMI UK's Freddie & The Dreamers A's B's & EP's (2004). It makes me want to check out the other 9 discs in this series.

For the stereo version, go with Rhino's British Invasion Vol. 1 (1988).

Edited by crapfromthepast