"Can’t Fight This Feeling" - REO Speedwag

The subject heading wouldn't let me fit in the entire title, just in case you're wondering!

Here's an oddity... I notice in the 10th edition that Pat notes the following for REO Speedwagon's "Can't Fight This Feeling":

"(actual 45 time is (4:47) not (4:54) as stated on the record label)"

My copy shows a printed run time of 4:39 on the label. When I timed it, it actually does run 4:39, which is faster than the usual 4:47-4:54 run times commonly found for this song on CD. Do I have a different pressing with a different speed? The catalog number on my 45 is Epic 34-04713 and the matrix number etched in the runout groove is ZSS-169867-1B.

Todd, there very well could be two different 45 pressings of this 45. Mine is a dj copy with a matrix number of 169876-1A on one side and 169876-1B on the other and both state a running time of 4:54. Is your copy a dj or commercial copy? Whitburn lists a stated running time of 4:54 also.

Todd, thanks for sending me your 45 of "Can't Fight This Feeling" which the record label states has a running time of (4:39). Here is what I have been able to determine -- your record really runs (4:46) as does my copy of this 45 which has a stated running time of (4:54) so there are simply two different labels for this 45, one stating (4:39) and one stating (4:54) while both actually run (4:46). This 45 is just a slightly early fade of the full LP length that appears on the album "Wheels Are Turnin'".

hi there,

I have their "The Hits" CD, where "Can't Fight This Feeling" runs 4:46. Is this the single? If the LP version runs longer, how, as the single ends cold!

Okay, this has been a particularly unenjoyable session for me with this song. (Didn't like it then, don't like it now.)

I have the commercial 45 for this, which I bought when the record was in the top 10. Matrix number ZSS-169876-1A. Printed time 4:39. Actual time 4:47. Tempo 78.1 BPM (it's recorded with a click track, and no appreciable tape drift). Important times: the last note is hit at 4:40, and it reaches silence at 4:47. So, it's got a 7-second fade on the last note.

I found a CD that matches the 45 tempo and fade points exactly - Heartland Music's 2-CD Love Songs (Warner Special Products OPCD-4514, released 1988).

There's another CD that seems to use the same analog transfer as Love Songs, but it has a little asymmetric clipping in the waveform - the 2-CD Starland Music Presents Lost In Love (Warner Special Products OPCD-4548, released 1994). There's a CD that's a teeny bit slower (78.0 BPM) and also matches the fade points - CBS's Music For The Miracle (1986). And one that runs slower still (77.8 BPM) and also matches the fade points - Realm's Gold And Platinum Vol. 2 (1986). And one that runs a teeny bit faster (78.3 BPM) and also matches the fade points - Warner Special Products' 2-CD Night Beat (1988).

Then the single-artist CD The Hits came out in 1988, with a slightly faster tempo (79.2 BPM) than the 45 (78.1 BPM), and slightly different times: the last note is hit at 4:37, and silence is reached at 4:50. So this is a 13-second fade, compared to a 7-second fade on the 45. (I assume that the album version has the 13-second fade?)

There are a few discs that use the same analog transfer as The Hits and all run 79.2 BPM:

Cema's Entertainment Weekly Presents Rock Archives Vol. 2 (1990; fade shortened to 9 sec), Priority's Eighties Greatest Rock Hits Vol. 5 From The Heart (1992, full 13-sec fade but mastered too loud and clips a lot), the 50-CD promo set The A List Disc 30 (1994, fade shortened to about 12 sec; no noise reduction, which is good), Razor & Tie's 2-CD Forever '80s (1994, fade truncated at 12 sec), Time-Life's 2-CD Body Talk Vol. 9 Magic Moments (1996; differently-EQ'd digital clone of The Hits, full 13-second fade), Time-Life's Body Talk The Language Of Love (1998; identical to Vol. 9 above), and Time-Life's 2-CD Classic Soft Rock More Than A Feeling (2006; another digital clone of Vol. 9 but off by half a sample; full 13-sec fade).

Finally, Bill Inglot did a fresh analog transfer for Billboard Top Hits 1985 in 1994. It runs about the same speed (78.3 BPM) as the 45 (78.1 BPM), with the last note starting at 4:40 and silence starting at 4:54. It's about a 14-second fade for this analog transfer, or 7 seconds longer than the 45.

There are some the use the same analog transfer as the Billboard disc, all running 78.3 BPM:

Time-Life's Sounds Of The Eighties Vol. 1 The Rockin' Eighties (1994, full 14-sec fade), Cema's 2-CD Cool Rock (1995, full 14-sec fade), JCI's Only Rock 'N Roll #1 Radio Hits 1985-1989 (1996, fade truncated at 11 sec).

In my opinion, I prefer the Bill Inglot analog transfer on the Billboard Top Hits 1985 disc, which has plenty of high end and some satisfying tape hiss at the end. (Really, none of the discs listed above sound terrible for this song.) The fade is 7 seconds longer than the 45, but I'm OK with that.

Can someone confirm the length of the fade on the LP?

Edited by crapfromthepast