INXS - Need You Tonight

For such a simple song, it's amazing how many different ways it's been screwed up on CD. I'm not sure if all this has been documented in the database, so I'll list my findings here.

All 45 versions end with: "I've got to let you know", <pause> and a cappella: "You're one of my kind."

On the Kick album and CD, the first 8 beats of the next song, "Mediate", follow after "You're one of my kind". The two tracks are the same tempo and flow nicely together, but I never understood why the track indices fall where they do. This clearly warrants the "tracks into the next selection" notation in Pat's book.

One would think that if you were putting "Need You Tonight" on a compilation, you'd be able to edit the track properly to preserve the a cappella ending and nothing else. And yet...

These CDs have remnants of "Mediate":

• Kick (Atlantic 7 81796-2, 1987; 3:05, first 8 beats present)
• Modern Rock 1988 Hang The DJ (Rhino R2, 72502, 1996; 3:09, gently fades intro of "Mediate" and actually contains more of the song than the Kick CD; also runs 0.7% too slow)
• Compilation (Atlantic PRCD 3416-2, 1990; 5:37, contains entire track "Mediate" and is listed as "Need You Tonight/Mediate", reflecting the fact that many radio stations played both tracks together on the air, like "We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions")

On the Greatest Hits CD, "Need You Tonight" is followed by "Devil Inside". I don't have the Greatest Hits CD, but I can guess that the two tracks don't have much space between them and I'd venture that "Need You Tonight" deserves a "tracks into the next selection" designation, because the opening beat of "Devil Inside" is clearly heard at the end of "Need You Tonight" on the following CDs (and shame on Time-Life for basing these on the Greatest Hits mastering!):

• Sounds Of The Eighties - 1986-1989 (Time-Life R988-21, 1997; 3:01)
• Modern Rock - Late '80s (Time-Life R828-10, 2000; 3:01, digitally exactly 1 dB quieter than above 1986-1989 CD, and mastered by the great Dennis Drake, no less)
• Gold And Platinum Volume 5 1985-1988 (Time-Life R13610 RIAA-05, 1997; 3:01 slightly different EQ than above 2 T-L CDs, and also mastered by Dennis Drake)

The following CD omits the a cappella "You're one of my kind" entirely:

• Now That's What I Call Music 14 (UK series, Virgin EMI Polygram CD NOW 14, 1989; 2:58)

The remaining CDs on my list all have the proper a cappella ending of the song. And yet...

The following CD is bone-crushingly compressed/maximized:

• Now That's What I call Music 1988 The Millennium Series (UK series, Virgin EMI Universal 5 20277 2, 1999; 3:01; mastering too compressed and should be avoided; note that the UK Now single-year compilations that came out in 1993 don't have this problem, but also don't include "Need You Tonight")

The following CDs have just a bit less compression/maximization:

• Pottpett Rokk (Skifan [Iceland] PCD 9706, 1997; 3:01)
• Sounds Of The Eighties - Everything '80s (Time-Life R988-24, 2002; 3:01)

These CDs sound quite nice:

• Atlantic's Year In Review: 1987 (Atlantic PR 2187-2, 1987; 3:01)
• Hits On CD Vol. 9 (Mercury [W. Germany] 816 670-2, 1988; 3:01; mastered by Gert van Hoeyen)

And, finally, the finest-sounding version of them all:

• Awesome '80s (Razor & Tie/Warner Special Products OPCD-4551, 1994; 3:01, mastered by Steve Hoffman - his masterings are the finest-sounding in existence and are worth seeking out)

Edited by crapfromthepast

"The Best of INXS" and "Shine Like It Does - The Anthology" have the acapella ending with no drum beats afterwards.

crapfromthepast wrote: On the Greatest Hits CD, "Need You Tonight" is followed by "Devil Inside". I don't have the Greatest Hits CD, but I can guess that the two tracks don't have much space between them and I'd venture that "Need You Tonight" deserves a "tracks into the next selection" designation, because the opening beat of "Devil Inside" is clearly heard at the end of "Need You Tonight" on the following CDs (and shame on Time-Life for basing these on the Greatest Hits mastering!):

Cool info and right you are! I just checked the US pressing and "Devil Inside" kicks right after.

I also have a 2 CD version of that same "Greatest Hits", I presume from the UK or Germany. On it, "Original Sin" comes after "Need You Tonight" and there is more space between tracks than on the US pressing.

just a note, my original 1987 Kick CD (pressed in Canada) with the same catalog number as the U.S. one does NOT contain the first beat of "Mediate" in "Need You Tonight". Just a simple indexing error on the U.S. CD!

Edited by davidclark

I'm not sure if there was a promo 45, however there was definatly a promo 12". I don't own it, but Atlantic 2131 has a jacket that reads "Need You Tonight/Mediate" and includes the "7 inch Version" with a listed time of 3:01 on one side while the other includes the "LP Version" (presumably Need You Tonight/Mediate) listed at 5:36.