J. Geils Band - Centerfold

There's only one version of the song. This thread is just a place to document some mastering notes.

The song has a live drummer playing to a click track. There's no drift throughout the song, so a convenient way to reference the various masterings is by tempo in BPM. (I use a free program called MixMeister BPM Analyzer, but virtually all DJ software will give you a BPM value.)

The first place the song appeared on CD was likely the 1984 Japanese reissue of the Freeze-Frame album. I don't have that CD, and I'll assume that you don't either. We'll ignore it.

The first (practical) place the song appeared on CD was EMI America's J. Geils Band Flashback - The Best Of (1985). The levels are a bit low (over 4 dB of headroom), and there's a slight desynchronization between left and right channels. It runs 114.5 BPM here. The same analog transfer is used on:

• Madacy's Rock On 1981 (1996) - digitally exactly 4.5 dB louder
• EMI's Rock 'N Roll Relix 1980-1981 (1998) - digitally exactly 4.4 dB louder
• EMI's 2-CD Pop Goes The '80s (2002)

EMI America released the Freeze-Frame album in the US on CD in 1990. The US CD has excellent volume levels (not too much headroom and no clipping) and has a nice EQ. There's no evidence of noise reduction on the fade. Here, it runs 114.3 BPM. The same analog transfer is used on:

• Razor & Tie's 2-CD Totally '80s (1993)
• JCI's Only Rock 'N Roll 1980-1984 (1994)
• Warner Special Products' 2-CD Rock This Way (1995)
• Simitar's Stud Rock Wild Ride (1998)
• a UK 8-CD set on Disky called Greatest Hits Of The '80s (1998)
• confusingly, another UK 8-CD set on Disky also called Greatest Hits Of The '80s (2002)
• EMI UK's 2-CD Best Of 1982-1983 (2003)
• Varese Sarabande's Totally Oldies Vol. 7 '80s Again (2004) - has a teeny, barely perceptible amount of extra compression/limiting

There is a new analog transfer on Priority's Eighties Greatest Rock Hits Vol. 4 Party On (1992), which is too loud and clips quite a bit. It runs 114.4 BPM here. The same analog transfer is used on:

• Cema's Greatest Hits Of The 80's Vol. 6 The Decade Of Excess (1994)
• Universal's Pure '80s (1999)

There is a new analog transfer on Rhino's Billboard Top Hits 1982 (1992), which sounds significant better than everything listed above. Excellent dynamic range (without excessive headroom), nice EQ (a little on the trebly side, but that's how I prefer it), and no evidence of noise reduction on the tail of the fade. This analog transfer doesn't show the left/right desynchronization problems that are on Flashback. It runs 114.2 BPM here. The same analog transfer is used on:

• Time-Life's Guitar Rock Vol. 13 The Early '80s (1994) - digitally exactly 0.1 dB quieter
• Time-Life's Sounds Of The Eighties Vol. 25 Rolling Stone 1980-1981 (1995)
• Time-Life's Sounds Of The Eighties Essential '80s (1998) - digitally exactly 0.6 dB quieter
• Time-Life's 2-CD Rhythm + Grooves Let's Groove
• Time-Life Europe's 2-CD The 80's Collection Vol. 8 1982 (1994)
• EMI UK's Time To Remember 1982 (1997) - includes additional compression/limiting
• EMI UK's 2-CD Now The Millennium Series 1982 (1999)

Rhino did a new analog transfer for the 2-CD J. Geils Band Anthology (1993). It sounds pretty close to Billboard (also running 114.2 BPM here), but there's a glitch on the very first note of the song. The same analog transfer (glitch and all) is used on a bunch of later Rhino releases:

• Rhino's 2-CD Entertainment Weekly Presents 80's Explosion (1994)
• Rhino's VH1 The Big 80's (1996)
• Rhino's Instant Party Disc Extra Strength (1999)
• Rhino's 7-CD Like Omigod (2002)

Some outliers:

• swaitek's promo 50-CD The A List Disc 13 (1994) - includes additional noise reduction
• EMI Australia's 5-CD Eighties Complete Vol. 1 (1997) - uses horrendous source tapes; I lack the vocabulary to express how terrible this sounds
• EMI UK's Now Yearbook 1982 (2022) - includes additional compression/limiting

My recommendation

I always seem to end up voting for a Rhino disc, and Rhino's Billboard Top Hits 1982 (1992) is no exception. It sounds great here.

Edited by crapfromthepast

Ron: excellent description of this single hit.

Re: Freeze Frame in the US, looking thru Discogs, it seems the first US issue had a Japan-made disc, and it's of unknown vintage. (This is not the 1984 Japan-market release you mentioned).

Then the next pressing accounted for in Discogs is the CAPITOL JAX disc with DADC mastering (it has a DIDX code), and is said to be from 1990 (as is an internationally distributed pressing with a UK-made disc). But the DIDX code in the 200s on those two indicates the digital master they were using was added to DADC's library in 1985.

It is possible there really was no fully US-made pressing until 1990, but this being such a popular title, I'm inclined to believe there's a 1985 pressing by DADC that's just not in the database yet.

As for the dates entered, "1990" CD release dates added on Discogs have always been kind of a scourge, often copied from Amazon or Wikipedia without any verification, and against Discogs rules. For the two "1990" US CDs of Freeze Frame, those dates were added pretty recently, without sources mentioned, probably by someone who didn't know what they were doing. So I would take them with a grain of salt. They are possibly correct (it was indeed an era where CAPITOL JAX discs used DADC masters), but the CAPITOL JAX one could be as old as 1987 (or even late '86 when that plant opened), and the UK one likewise could be '86 at the earliest.



Edited by mjb50

I'd always assumed, listening to the radio, that there were two releases of this song: one with a fade, the other ending cold with the whistling.

Only later did I realize the radio stations and DJs were just fading it out on their own when the band levels started to drop in the song...

There is a "box set" of the Rhino Billboard discs covering
1980-1984 that pops up on used sites from time to time.
Usually goes for a reasonable asking price (I got mine used
from ebay for around $15 including shipping). Good way to
scoop up the best sounding versions of a lot of early 80s
hits.