"When You’re in Love with a..."- Dr. Hook

The first version to appear on CD was on Capitol's Greatest Hits And More (1987), where it sounds very nice, with an excellent dynamic range, good EQ, and no hint of noise reduction on the fade. The same analog transfer is used for:

• Cema's 10 Best Series (1991)
• Warner Special Products' 2-CD Ultimate Party Album (1992; would you want to hear this song at the Ultimate Party?)
• Time-Life's Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 39 Pop Nuggets Late '70s (1995, differently EQ'd digital clone, but with severe compression/limiting applied - avoid)
• EMI UK's Time To Remember 1979 (1996; absolute polarity inverted, which doesn't affect the sound at all)
• Time-Life's 2-CD Body Talk Vol. 19 Always And Forever (1998; differently EQ'd digital clone)
• Simitar's Love Rocks 4 Songs Of Love (1998; differently EQ'd digital clone)
• TM Century's GoldDisc 210 (differently EQ'd digital clone, but with added noise reduction - avoid)

To further complicate things, Time-Life's Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 35 AM Nuggets (1993) also uses the same analog transfer as Greatest Hits And More, but swaps the left and right channels. These discs are based on SS Vol. 35 and also have their left and right channels swapped:

• Madacy's Rock On 1979 (1996; digitally exactly 1.5 dB louder)
• Time-Life's Classic Soft Rock Vol. 6 The Air That I Breathe (2006; differently EQ'd digital clone)

Finally, one UK compilation that isn't based on GHAM: Disky's The Beat Goes On Vol. 8 (1997), which fades a few seconds early. And one UK 8-CD set based on BGO Vol. 8, but with a boatload of added compression/limiting: Disky's Greatest Hits Of The '70s (2000).

Best bet

This one is clear. Go for Capitol's Greatest Hits And More (1987).

In general, I HIGHLY recommend Capitol's GHAM series from 1987, which also includes Juice Newton and Helen Reddy. There may be others, too.

Edited by crapfromthepast