Gap Band - Early In The Morning

The 45 version can't be created from the LP version or the 12" single. I couldn't find the 45's opening drum fill anywhere in the LP or 12" versions.

It appears that the 45 version is unavailable on CD from a tape source.

The best you can do is an extremely clean vinyl transfer on Rhino's Billboard Hot R&B Hits 1982 (1996). There are no ticks or pops, and no evidence of noise reduction, but I think I hear some very constant surface noise over the fade. (Crank it up 40 dB and decide for yourself.) Thanks to edtop40, I can confirm that this version matches the vinyl 45 exactly. There's a differently EQ'd digital clone of Billboard on Time-Life's Solid Gold Soul Vol. 29 Make It Funky (2001).

There's a nice-sounding, but incorrect, recreation of the 45 on PolyGram's Pure Funk (1998). The opening drum hits don't match the 45, there's a little bit of bass evident on the first sung word (no bass on the true 45), and there's a portion from 2:12-2:21 that's different (you can hear the edits at the beginning and end of this portion).

Edited by crapfromthepast

i listened to the cdr version i have which i sent to ron and i do NOT detect any vinyl anamoloies......i would vote that it's from a tape source as well..

I can't say with 100% certainty, of course, but I hear what I think is surface noise, WAY down in levels during the fade. I don't hear that surface noise effect on the LP version or 12" versions on other CDs, which are clearly from tape sources, or on the recreation on Pure Funk.

The Billboard disc also sounds quite muffled, compared to Pure Funk or the other discs that include the LP or 12" versions. Muffled enough to prompt the Pure Funk mastering engineer to re-edit the song, rather than use the existing Billboard mastering. (I count at least 5 other songs on Pure Funk that are based on existing masterings, so why not use an existing mastering for "Early In The Morning"?) Is it possible that the original two-track mixdown tape for the 45 sounds that muffled?

Edited by crapfromthepast

Thanks, Aaron! Nice to know my ears aren't imagining
things!

After I couldn't find the opening drum fill and the opening
words (the first word in the true 45 doesn't have a bass
note behind it), I didn't look too hard for the portion
from 2:12-2:21 of the 45. I assume that it's not there,
because the Pure Funk version used a different
segment, but I didn't check.

Does anybody happen to remember if stations playing the single back then cut off the opening rooster crow and studio mic "OK," starting the song with the drumbeat, or did they leave the crows and patter intact?

I could see playing it either way and it would likely depend on how you Music Director carted it up for you.

If you were playing it off of vinyl, I'm wondering if it would have been a little tight to cue past...