Barry Manilow - Foul Play soundtrack

There's a thread currently active on the BSN forum regarding a recent CD reissue of the "Foul Play" by an obscure label called Intrada. This CD apparently contains the stereo version of "Ready To Take A Chance Again" as well as what is suspected to be the short 45 version of "Copacabana".

One of the members posted a sample of both songs, which raises the following questions with regard to "Ready To Take A Chance Again":
- There is a clear mix difference between the stereo version on this clip and the commonly available mono version, mainly a prominent harp at :25 on the mono version that is absent on the stereo clip. Does anyone know which mix appeared on the 45? We may have a 45 vs. LP distinction here.
- Was this song's appearance on the original LP soundtrack in stereo (and was it the mix referenced in the BSN clip)?
- Was the 45 mono or stereo?

From the brief clip, it sounds like the soundtrack was given a nice, neutral transfer, which is always appreciated.

And a good sounding CD source of the short 45 version of "Copacabana" is a bonus, since that can be hard to find (I finally found the correct version of the original GH CD that contains the short 45 version).

Foul Play thread

I disagree. My recollection is that the 45 was always stereo. The dj 45 was mono/stereo. The "Greatest Hits" LP was always mono. And the "Foul Play" ST LP was always stereo. And whenever anyone wanted to use the song for a CD they always took the "Greatest Hits" LP master (i.e. mono) as their source, since that's the only "Barry Manilow" album it's from. Why they couldn't go to the 45 master tape source is beyond me.

Was the harp that Roscoe mentioned at :27 on the 45?

Although labeled "stereo," the "Ready To Take A Chance Again" commercial 45 is neither (M) nor (S). It is (E), with only some extra reverb to differentiate it from the mono side of the DJ 45. My DJ 45's stereo side is identical to my stock copy; in fact, they're from the same stamper.

The harp is loud and clear at the 25-second mark on the stock 45 and both sides of the promo.

A couple of other peculiarities about the 45:

(1) There are a couple of audible clicks from :42-:43 on all three configurations.

(2) There's a pronounced splice at 2:28 (just before the word "ready") that is much more obvious on the stereo sides, due to the tape having been cut at an angle on the splicing block. The mono DJ 45 side smooths it out somewhat.

Edited by Yah Shure

John - (E) in 1978!?! Although mono in 1978 sounds just as ridiculous to me. The only mono pop hits I can think of that charted after that were "Rock This Town", the 45 of "I Melt With You", and Black Box's "I Don't Know Anybody Else"... Can anyone else think of more?

I hauled out The Essential Barry Manilow and it's indeed mono! I did an out-of-phase-sum (OOPS, to the folks on the Steve Hoffman forum), and it cancels down to about -18 dB. You can tell they used a stereo machine to do the analog transfer, because the edit at 2:28 pops out loud and clear.

Edited by crapfromthepast