Peter Brown-"Dance With Me"

what a great catch, eriejwg! I guess Betty being a mere featured vocalist on
this track caused it to be missed from the database. Great that it's on CD
and at the correct speed!

Thirteen years after I last looked at this song...

LP and 12 inch single version (printed 5:18)

The song uses an early drum machine, rather than a live drummer, so the tempo is rock-solid throughout the song. The LP version runs at 110.2 BPM throughout, with no drifts. (I got the tempo from a YouTube clip of the LP version being played on a Technics 1200 turntable.)

The earliest CD with the LP version is Priority's Mega-Hits Dance Classics Vol. 6 (1989), which is mastered a little too loud and clips a bit. It runs 111.8 BPM here. To bring it down to the proper LP speed, slow it down by 1.44 percent. The database should show the Priority disc as "LP version but faster".

The database shows two other CDs as having the LP version - Hot Productions' T.K. label compilation Best Of The Sound Of Sunshine (1991) and Collectables' Peter Brown full-length album A Fantasy Love Affair (released 1998). Rhino is responsible for the Collectables release, and I expect the sound would be quite nice. I don't own either one, though. Based on the run times, I expect that these run at the correct speed.

I do have the LP version on Ben Liebrand's Grand 12 Inches Vol. 10 (2013), where it sounds better than the Priority disc, and runs 109.8 BPM throughout. In practical terms, that's close enough to the proper LP speed so that you won't notice a difference. I routinely encounter speed differences like this from mastering to mastering. If you're a stickler, then speed this version up by 0.38 percent to exactly match the LP.

I'd bet a dollar that Grand 12 Inches Vol. 10 is a digital clone of the Collectables disc, but I can't confirm.

45 version (printed 3:45)

The 45 runs at 111.9 BPM throughout. (I got the tempo from another YouTube clip of the 45 version being played on a Technics 1200 turntable.) It's an edit of the LP, so it can likely be recreated from the LP version, but there's not much point in doing so because the 45 version is readily available on CD.

The oldest CDs I have with the 45 version both use the same analog transfer, and sound virtually identical: Rhino's Get Down Tonight The Best Of T.K. Records (1990) and Rhino's The Disco Years Vol. 1 (1990). The sound quality is great, but the song runs too slow at 109.0 BPM throughout. To bring this version up to the proper LP speed, speed it up by 2.66 percent. The same analog transfer is used on:

• Rhino's cheapie Disco Hits Vol. 2 (1992) - digitally exactly 0.238 dB quieter than Get Down Tonight
• Sessions/Warner Special Products' 2-CD Ultimate Party Album (1992)
• Rhino's Didn't It Blow Your Mind Vol. 20 (1995) - absolute polarity inverted (insignificant), and EQ'd to have a little less high end
• Time-Life's Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 46 '70s Dance Party 1978-1979 (1997) - differently-EQ'd digital clone of The Disco Years

I'm willing to bet that every compilation that includes the 45 version is based on the Rhino mastering. The database shows the only CD having the 45 version at the correct 45 speed is Atlantic's Betty Wright The Essentials (2002).

Edited by crapfromthepast

Peter Brown's tune is instantly catchy. Especially to my feet.

With that said, I was amazed that I did not stumble upon this tune until long after the 80's had come and gone. I absolutely totally enjoy this song.

Sometimes, I was known to get into projects and have a "Radio Off" period. One of these was during the popularity of Prince, "Raspberry Beret." Prince was
not among my favorites in the early days and I can see where I'd miss that song. But, the Dan Rather clip helped me also understand how I missed out on the
Peter Brown tune as well. I may have missed the short time it was a radio hit. Also, in 1978 I was still a few years too young to legally be in the clubs.

I just picked up a copy of the Betty Wright "Essentials", and ouch! That 45 version has some abrupt editing. I'm kinda glad now that I only mostly ever
heard the LP version. I know folks here praise purity, but it's sometimes a sacrifice. :)

Edited by AdvprosD