New Kids On The Block - Hangin’ Tough

Here's my theory on the "skip," which is truly more of a mixing error. I believe both the "Tougher Mix" and 7" version come from the same "long" remix but are just edited differently. Apparently, when the single was edited from this mix, someone spotted the mixing error at the start of the second chorus. To fix the error, the "hangin'" part from the first chorus was spliced in to replace it, and that's what was used for the actual single. (Notice that on the part with the error there is no "scratch" sound effect over the word "hangin" but there is on the first chorus.) There must, however, be a tape in the vault where the error was not fixed, and that's what was used on the Greatest Hits disc.

This is odd.

The version on Sony's NKOTB Greatest Hits (1999) is an ever-so-slightly different mix from the version on Rhino's Billboard Top Hits 1989 (1994).

There are differences throughout the song, so it's not just one section that was cut-and-pasted from elsewhere in the song.

The biggest difference I heard is a whooshy sound at 2:19, which comes in a half beat after the snare and the long guitar note. On Billboard, the whooshy sound is panned hard left. On Greatest Hits, it's panned hard right.

At 1:36, over the word "hangin'", there's a scratchy sound on Billboard, which is absent on Greatest Hits.

Most of the other differences seem to be in the panning of the accent elements - a bongo here, a knocky percussion sound there, and so forth. Too many to document, but there are panning differences throughout the song between the two versions. These are easiest to spot by looking at the waveform, where they're relatively easy to spot.

I noticed edit points in BB at 1:33, 2:39, and 2:49.

I noticed edit points in GH at 2:39 and 3:10.

If you're going to do your own comparison between BB and GH, speed up the BB version by 0.29%.

So, I would think that one of these should correspond to the actual 45 and the promo CD single. Can someone check the whooshy sound at 2:19 in the actual 45 and/or the promo CD single?

FWIW, I don't have the 45 or Promo CD Single, but I do have the Cassette Single and have just listened to it three times. It does NOT have the skip I mentioned in my first post, but it does have the record scratch sound effect and seems to line up with what Ron mentioned about the Billboard disc - the whoosh sound pans hard on the left, and the vocals do seem to come in a hair too quick after the guitar solo. It's probably safe to say that the BB disc is the true 45 version, or at least as close as you can get to it.

Edited by thecdguy