Peaches And Herb - Reunited

BIG hit. And a rare case of an act following up a disco hit with an even bigger ballad. (I can think of "Always And Forever" for Heatwave, but not much else.)

LP version

It seems that single-artist compilation compilers prefer the LP version, while various-artist compilation compilers prefer the 45 edit. Don't know why.

I have just one various-artist compilation with the LP version. The LP version on Warner Special Products' 3-CD Secret Love (1987) runs 5:43 and 75.3 BPM throughout (live drummer playing to a click track). It's a little hissy, which is a good thing because it shows that there's no extra noise reduction used.

The only other place I have the LP version is on Polydor's Best Of, where it runs 5:41 and 75.7 BPM throughout. Excellent dynamic range, no weird EQ, no obvious NR artifacts. I slightly prefer the sound here over Secret Love, because the soundstage is a little better-defined. Maybe a lower-generation source tape? Both sound good. There's a digitally identical clone of Best Of on PolyGram's promo disc Funk Essentials Soul Reggae Roots (1996).

I see that there are plenty of other Peaches And Herb collections out there, but I don't have any of them.

45 length

The 45 is just an early fade of the LP version. The 45 fade is about 20 beats long extending from 3:42 to about 3:58.

The first instance of the 45 length that I have is Time-Life's Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 9 1979 (1990), where it runs 3:58 and 75.7 BPM throughout. It sounds just fine here. There are others that use the same analog transfer:

• Time-Life's 4-CD Great Love Songs Of The 70's And 80's Vol. 4 Endless Love (1991; digitally exactly 0.5 dB quieter)
• Time-Life's 2-CD Body Talk (1994; digitally exactly 0.9 dB louder)
• Warner Special Products' 2-CD Night Songs (1994)
• JCI's Only Love 1975-1979 (1995)
• Time-Life's 2-CD Body Talk Vol. 4 Together Forever (1996; digitally exactly 0.206 dB quieter)
• Time-Life's Solid Gold Soul Vol. 15 1979 (1997; differently EQ'd digital clone)
• Warner Special Products' 2-CD Touched By Love (1997)
• Time-Life's AM Gold Vol. 30 #1 Hits Of The '70s '75-'79 (2000; digitally identical)

Bill Inglot did a new analog transfer for Rhino's Didn't It Blow Your Mind Vol. 20 (1995), where it runs 3:59 and 75.4 BPM throughout. I think it sounds a tiny bit clearer, but that may just be the Rhino treble boost talking. There's a digital clone on:

• Time-Life's 2-CD Body And Soul Vol. 3 Sweet Seduction (1998; 2 dB quieter)

All of the above sound very nice.

There are outliers:

• Spectrum UK's FriendsReunited Class Of 1979 (2004) fades a few seconds short.
• TM Century's GoldDisc 215 uses noise reduction.

Avoid both of these.

Edited by crapfromthepast