"Gypsy" - Fleetwood Mac

Doug:

Funny you should mention Fleetwood Mac's "Gypsy" because I've been listening to my CD-R copy of the 45 version just this evening. And you are correct... there is a mix difference toward the end of the song and, therefore, the 45 version cannot be extracted simply by editing the LP version.

Aaron:

Yes, my 45 version copy of "Gypsy" is the one you were very kind to burn onto CD-R for me. (I purposely didn't mention your name because I wasn't sure how you'd feel about potentially having other people on the message board asking you to burn them a copy too!) The 45 version is not an edit of the LP. The version you burned onto CD-R for me from your TM Century disc is indeed the correct 45 version.

Edited by Todd Ireland

Aaron:

As far as I can tell, TM Century also used the correct 45 version of Miami Sound Machine's "Bad Boy" (you burned this onto CD-R for me as well), which I believe is a different mix than the LP version. Do you know if the 45 version was ever released on a promo CD? It doesn't look like it's ever been on a commercially released CD in the U.S.

TM Century certainly on occasion dubs from clean vinyl.

TM Century (and certain powerful radio stations) had access to select reel-to-reel "dub of masters" in the 80s. That was a period in time (pre-CD) when some radio stations were concerned about sound quality and getting annoyed with scratchy vinyl sound on-the-air.

Andy

I found a file of Aaron's TM Century 45 version, and it's definitely from a tape source with no NR. I don't know how that's possible, but there it is. The 45 version on swaitek's The A List Disc 9 (1994) seems to be based on the TM Century version, also from tape, and also with no NR.

However, the TM Century version doesn't match the 45 at an edit point. It's only off a few beats, but we're sticklers here.

So, I attempted to dissect the TM Century version. I discovered that it's a differently-EQ'd digital clone of the green Greatest Hits (1988) version, until 3:11.5, which is a downbeat where the word "you" should go in the line "and it all comes down to you". I believe that the true 45 has its edit on the snare hit at the word "comes" in the same line at about 3:10. After that word "you" at 3:11.5, the TM Century version matches the 45 exactly. I don't know what source TM Century used after the 3:11.5 point in the song, but it's pretty seamless to my ears. I don't hear an edit, or a change in sound quality, or an increase in hiss, or anything. It's pretty pristine, except for the misplaced edit.

So... I attempted to recreate the true 45 edit from the un-edited version on 25 Years The Chain (1992). It doesn't work. They track together until a downbeat at 3:00.1 on 25 Years, then there's an ad-lib in the 45 from 3:00 to 3:08 that I can't locate in the unedited 25 Years version.

It may be possible to port that ad-lib in portion from the LP version on Greatest Hits, then use 25 Years for the rest of the song, but there's a significant difference in tempo and EQ for the two discs. I gave up.

That TM Century version may be as close as we can get until one of us does a great needledrop of the vinyl 45. I don't think it was released on 12" vinyl anywhere, unless Germany's PRCD 647 is a promo 12".

To recap, the TM Century version differs from the true 45 version for exactly 3 beats, from a snare hit at "comes" (3:10.2 in the TM Century version), to a downbeat at "you" (3:11.6 in the TM Century version). The TM Century version also tracks with the 1988 Greatest Hits version until the 3:11.6 point.

Edited by crapfromthepast