Cliff Richard-Devil Woman / We Don’t Talk

Are "Devil Woman" and "We Don't Talk Anymore" merely edits of the LP versions or different mixes?

**EDIT** - To answer my own question, "Devil Woman" has an edit on the intro and an earlier fade.

"We Don't Talk Anymore" - edit towards the end and earlier fade.

Edited by eriejwg

I know that the US 45 of "We Don't Talk Anymore" is just an
edit of the album version - it was one of the first 45
edits I recreated over 10 years ago. I can retrace my
steps if you want to know the edit points.

I also have a foreign pressing of the 45, which is not the
same as the US 45 - I think it's the album version, but I'd
have to check.

First, the album version:

The album version turns up on the Canadian 45: "We Don't Talk Anymore" (printed and actual 4:12) b/w "Rock And Roll Juvenile" (printed 2:46), Harvest 72814, released 1979. Yellow label, green concentric design just like US Harvest 45s. The Canadian 45 also misspells Alan Tarney's name as "Allen".

The most common place on CD to find the album version is probably Madacy's Rock On 1979 (1996), where it also runs 4:12. (The version on Rock On 1979 is digitally exactly 0.7 dB quieter than the CD Razor and Tie 1995 Sampler No. 4, which is most likely a digital clone of the prohibitively expensive Cliff Richard Collection (1976-1994). Sound is great on all of these.)

The Canadian 45 and CD versions track exactly - same face points, exactly the same tempo (111.7 BPM throughout - recorded with a click track).

The US 45 is "We Don't Tak Anymore" (printed 3:40 actual 3:39) b/w "Count Me Out" (printed 4:13), green-label EMI America 8025, released 1979. No misspellings.

This runs about 0.2% faster, at 111.9 BPM throughout. An insignificant difference.

To recreate the 45 version (using the timings from Rock On 1979):

Keep 0:00-3:27.4.
Edit on the downbeat, which follows 16 beats after the little break.
Remove the 48 beats from 3:27.4-3:53.2. This includes removing the second little break.
Keep 3:53.2 (the first beat following the second little break) to 4:16.3, inserting a 24-beat fade from 3:53 to about 4:06. The fade is around ten seconds shorter on the 45.

Your mixdown will run 3:50 (if you don't accelerate the fade) or 3:40 (if you do accelerate the fade), with a single edit at 3:27.4.

Note that the 50-CD promo set The A-List correctly reproduces this edit.

Edited by crapfromthepast

Doug, I have two "We Don't Talk Anymore" DJ 45s that are identical:

--Stereo/stereo, both sides listed as (3:40), actual time is (3:41.5)
--Matrix numbers are identical on both sides: SPRO-9243(500176A)G2 (or that might be "50017GA" instead of a "6".)

Although I don't have a stock copy to compare it with, the DJ 45 also has the edit mentioned above, but it plays a tad slower than the vinyl LP version. I can't imagine that the commercial 45s had an SPRO- matrix number in the dead wax. Can someone post theirs?

Interesting discovery, davidclark. It says the US single mix was also used on the 2001 master of 'I'm Nearly Famous', which I own. I'd always thought 'Devil Woman' sounded slightly different on this disc but I assumed it was just a result of remastering and perhaps some EQ tweaks. Nice to know that I have this mix, even if I didn't realise it til now.

Funny thing is, I didn't even buy the CD for 'Devil Woman'. I bought it because it contained several non LP singles as bonus tracks, specifically 'It's Only Me You Left Behind' which is probably one of my favourite Cliff singles.