Men At Work Who Can It Be Now

After exploring YouTube for a while, I believe it was not damaged on the vinyl. The extended version also doesn't seem to have damage either. Many, many digital copies do seem to have the damage.

I've found one copy on YouTube that doesn't have the damage. It's labeled as coming from the Men At Work collection, "The Works," which was a compilation released exclusively in Australia.

I don't own this CD so I don't know if it's brickwalled or not but the YouTube video says the collection was released in 1996.

Edited by NightAire

John, you are 100% correct!!! Thank you so much; I would now say (unless we find other sources using this master) this is the definitive digital copy of this song.

The noise that Gene mentions sounds a little like paper being crumpled in the right channel, under the first instance of the word "be" at around 19 seconds into the song. It seems to be part of the backing track or maybe a mixing artifact, because it doesn't affect the vocals at all.

I have the song on 20 different CDs, so naturally I A/B-ed them all. (!)

The first CD to include the song was probably the full-length Men At Work CD Business As Usual, which (according to Discogs) was released in Japan, Australia, and Europe in 1983, and in the US in 1984. It doesn't really sound that great here. It's likely from a higher-generation tape source than what would come later. Listen for the muffled-sounding ride cymbal in the choruses, and compare to the in-your-face ride cymbals on later masterings. The same analog transfer is used on:

• Columbia's 3-inch CD single for "Who Can It Be Now"/"Down Under" (Columbia 13K 68654, released 1989)
• Priority's Rock Of The '80s Vol. 4 (1993)

The next mastering I found was a new analog transfer for the promotional disc CBS Records Compact Disc Demonstration II (1984). It sounds great here - significantly better than Business As Usual. To my ears, it sounds like a lower-generation source tape. It's safe to say that you likely don't own this disc, but the sound quality of the Rhino disc below is comparable - probably a new analog transfer of the same low-generation source tape.

I found a new analog transfer on the Australia-only CD '81-'85 (1986), where it sounds like mud. I hear a higher-generation tape source than any of the earlier discs, plus the volume is too low (there's at least 6 dB of headroom on "Who Can It Be Now"). Avoid.
Edit - see below.

There's a brand new analog transfer on Rhino's Billboard Top Hits 1982 (1992), where it sounds spectacular. I think it uses the same source tape as the Demonstration disc above; this disc will be two orders of magnitude less expensive than Demonstration, so no need to hunt down that earlier disc. The same analog transfer is used on:

• Time-Life's Sounds Of The Eighties Vol. 5 1982 (1994) - differently EQ'd digital clone
• Sony's Men At Work CD Contraband The Best Of (1996) - mastered way too loud; avoid
• Time-Life's Sounds Of The Eighties Big '80s (1998)
• Sony's budget compilation Hits Of 1982 (1999) - differently EQ'd digital clone, but missing attack of opening drumbeat; avoid
• Sony's 2-CD Pop Music The Modern Era 1976-1999 (1999) - clips a lot; avoid
• Time-Life's 2-CD Modern Rock Vol. 12 1980-1984 (2000) - differently EQ'd digital clone
• Sony's 3-CD Eighties Pop Hits (2001) - missing attack of opening drumbeat; avoid
• possibly Madacy's Rock On 1982 Vol. 2 (2005) - mastered too loud; avoid

There's a new analog transfer on Razor & Tie's 2-CD Totally '80s (1993). The EQ tames the high end a bit. The same analog transfer is used on:

• Warner Special Products' 2-CD Punk (1996) - this song, and everything else on this compilation, is pure pop and has nothing to do with actual punk

There's another analog transfer on swaitek's promo 50-CD set The A List Disc 13 (1994). It's likely taken from a TM Century mastering, but I haven't confirmed.

There still another analog transfer on Rhino's Just Can't Get Enough Vol. 6 (1994). The sound quality is about the same as the Billboard disc. The same analog transfer is used on:

• Rhino's Valley Girl soundtrack (1994)
• Rhino's cheapie New Wave Hits Vol. 2 (1996)

As for the noise that Gene pointed out, I hear it in all of the discs I listed above. I think I may hear it in '81-'85, but that version is so muffled that I can't really tell.Edit - see below.

My recommendation

Go for Rhino's Billboard Top Hits 1982 (1992). The other Rhino discs sound nice, too, as do the digital clones of Billboard.

Edited by crapfromthepast

I've had to re-EQ all the early Men at Work hits to get them to my taste.

FWIW, '81-'85 was renamed to The Works when reissued in 1992. Presumably the same mastering.

Aside from brightening it up, you'll probably want to expand the stereo on it slightly as well, if you want it to match the American mastering.

crapfromthepast wrote: Aaron re-EQ'd the version on '81-'85, and made it sound better than all the versions on actual CDs. Amazing work! And in his re-EQ'd version, we can plainly hear that there are no crumple/tape damage artifacts at 0:19.

Would love to hear a wav/flac of this re-EQ'd version. Every other version of this song has that annoying damage and dropout.