KC And The Sunshine Band- Please Don’t Go

The mastering history is pretty easy for "Please Don't Go".

It first appeared on CD on Priority's Mega Hits Dance Classics Vol. 7 (1989), where it was taken from vinyl.

Next, Rhino put out their single-disc Best Of (1990; Rhino 70940). The sound on this disc is nothing short of astonishing. Lowest imaginable source tapes, perfect volume levels, crisp high end that shows off the hi-hat nicely, no extra compression/limiting, no hint of noise reduction anywhere. Even the track selection is perfect (how deep do you really want to dig in the KC And The Sunshine Band catalog?) One tiny gripe - Bill Inglot recreated all the 45 edits from low-generation source tapes (maybe even remixed using the multi-tracks? It's that clean...), and the one track this doesn't really work for is "Get Down Tonight", which uses a slightly different mix on the 45. If you can overlook this one track, Best Of is just about perfect.

Except that there's a dropout in the right channel of "Please Don't Go", about 34 seconds in. Oh well. I hadn't noticed until I started comparing the versions for this posting.

Virtually all subsequent appearances of "Please Don't Go" use the same analog transfer as Best Of, including:

• Rhino's Billboard Top Hits 1980 (1992; digitally identical)
• Rhino's cheapie Disco Hits Vol. 3 (1992; digitally exactly 0.239 dB quieter)
• Cema's Greatest Hits Of The 80's Vol. 5 Power Ballads (1994)
• JCI's Only Dance 1980-1984 (1995)
• Time-Life's Sounds Of The Eighties Vol. 14 1980-1982 (1995; differently EQ'd digital clone)
• Time-Life's 2-CD Body Talk Vol. 6 Only You (1996; differently EQ'd digital clone)
• EMI UK's Time To Remember 1979 (1996, differently EQ'd digital clone that slightly hastens the fade)
• Rhino's Behind Closed Doors '70s Swingers (1997; digitally identical)
• EMI Australia's 5-CD Eighties Complete Vol. 2 (1999)
• EMI UK's Now The Millennium Series 1980 (1999; differently EQ'd digital clone, tiny bit louder and clips a bit, sounds OK though)
• Warner Special Products' Soft Love (1999; differently EQ'd digital clone)
• Rhino's 2-CD 25th Anniversary Collection (1999; differently EQ'd digital clone)
• Time-Life's Ultimate Love Songs Collection Love Is You (2004; differently EQ'd digital clone)

There are two others that also use the same analog transfer, but add a whole lot of compression/limiting:

• Disky's 8-CD Wow That Was The 70's (1999)
• Disky's 8-CD Greatest Hits Of The '70s (2000)

Avoid the above two.

All of the discs above have the same dropout in the right channel about 34 seconds in. All in the first group sound pretty much the same.

My recommendation: Go with Best Of (1990; Rhino 70940). It's all the KC And The Sunshine Band you'll ever need.

Edited by crapfromthepast

Listening to UK45 I have to agree; in my ears the 45 low bass seems to be more prominent in places. Saying that - it might be that the US45 and UK45 are different mixed; even though I doubt so.

Yes, it is safe to say that.

The dropout is easy to repair, as it's really just a
slight dip in volume and high frequencies. It doesn't
sound like there's tape damage.