SIMPLY RED - "Holding Back The Years"

SIMPLY RED - "Holding Back The Years"

I have two commercial 45 copies of this song.

1/The actual commercial 45 running time is (4:05), the listed time is "4:04" on the record label.
(Elektra 7-69564-A-SP) Matrix # ST-E-69564 A-5

2/The actual commercial 45 running time is (4:07), the listed time is "4:04" on the record label.
(Elektra 7-69564-A-AR) Matrix # ST-E-69564 A-4 R-15295 A-4


Edited by abagon

Not sure if this is reported elsewhere, but the 45 version is not merely an "edit of LP", as printed on the 45 label, but is a remix.

The easiest mix difference to spot is in the first two verses, from 0:13 to 0:55. In the LP mix, the percussion just has a rim shot every other beat. In the 45 mix, every other rim shot has a tambourine hit with it.

My commercial 45 runs 4:07, and runs at 87.1 BPM throughout. That's a little faster than the LP mix, which runs at 86.0 BPM throughout.

The easiest, and best-sounding, place to find the 45 mix is on the Rhino Like Omigod set (2002). I also have it on the UK 2-CD set Now Smash Hits Of The '80s (1987), and the UK 2-CD Now 1986 (1993), where it's faded a few seconds early to cram 20 songs on one disc.

The version on the 50-CD radio promo set The "A" List (1994) is an edit of the LP version that's an unsuccessful attempt to recreate the 45. At least it doesn't have noise reduction. The edit was likely done by TM Century for GoldDisc 914, which matches the version on The "A" List. It looks like this version includes includes some out-of-sequence edits to create a new intro that replaces the LP version, but I didn't spend much time deciphering it.

The LP version is otherwise pretty easy to spot, since the intros are very different. The LP version is readily available on Greatest Hits (which, unfortunately, includes all the LP mixes/versions), Time-Life's 2-CD Modern Rock Vol. 4 1986-1987 (1999), and Rhino's Millennium New Love Songs (2001).

And just FYI, "Holding Back The Years" was originally recorded by Mick Hucknall's earlier band, the Frantic Elevators. The band was very punk-y, and this particular song was a giant evolutionary step from some of their other tracks, like "Every Day I Die". Their version of "Holding" wasn't nearly as lush as Simply Red's, as you might imagine.

Edited by crapfromthepast

Which compilations are you looking at for the 45 version?

crapfromthepast wrote: Not sure if this is reported elsewhere, but the 45 version is not merely an "edit of LP", as printed on the 45 label, but is a remix.

Isn't there at least one out-of-sequence edit on it as well, making even trying to replicate it (albeit with the
LP mix) all the more difficult?

sriv94 wrote: crapfromthepast wrote: Not sure if this is reported elsewhere, but the 45 version is not merely an "edit of LP", as printed on the 45 label, but is a remix. Isn't there at least one out-of-sequence edit on it as well, making even trying to replicate it (albeit with the LP mix) all the more difficult?

I believe the 45 mix puts a refrain ("I'll keep holdin'
on...) between the verse that ends with "...Get to me the
sooner or later" and the verse that follows it. That
section is instrumental on the LP mix.