"Beach Baby" - First Class

The long 45 runs 4:54. The short 45 runs 3:07. Both fade in with an organ, then four bass drum hits. Most CD versions omit the organ fade-in, and start on the first bass drum hit.

Short 45 version (3:07)

You have exactly one choice for the short 45 version, and it gets it right: Varese Sarabande's Dick Bartley Presents Collector's Essentials The 70's (1996).

Long 45 version (4:54)

The version on Rhino's Have A Nice Day Vol. 13 (1990) sounds very nice, but it omits the organ fade-in and runs longer than the long 45 version. The same analog transfer is used on:

• Time-Life's AM Gold Vol. 21 1974 (1996) - digitally exactly 1 dB louder
• Realm's 3-CD Summertime Party Pack (2002)
• Time-Life's Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 31 AM Top Twenty (1993) - left and right channels swapped
• Time-Life's 2-CD Seventies Music Explosion One-Hit Wonders (2005) - differently-EQ'd digital clone of AM Top Twenty and so also has left and right channels swapped

I also have the song on two foreign CDs, both of which omit the organ fade-in and fade a little early compared to the Rhino disc:

• EMI Australia's 5-CD Pop Complete (1999)
• Disky UK's 8-CD Wow That Was The 70's (1999)

I reverse-engineered Aaron's recreation of the long 45 version, and I'll post instructions here. This is the first time I'm posting instructions that use pieces from two different CDs.

Segment 1
Ends on what would be the first downbeat after the intro
Extends from 0:00.0 to 0:05.3 of the long 45 version
Extends from 0:01.3 to 0:06.7 of Varese Sarabande's Dick Bartley Presents Collector's Essentials The 70's
Note that the fade-in on the Varese CD is longer than the long 45 fade-in, so we have to remove the first 1.3 seconds of the Varese CD and manually fade it in.

Lower the volume of Segment 1 by 3 dB.

Segment 2
Starts on the first downbeat after the intro
Extends from 0:05.3 to 4:52.9 of the long 45 version
Extends from 0:03.7 to 4:51.3 of Rhino's Have A Nice Day Vol. 13

Fade-in
Manually add a fade-in to the first 0.6 seconds of Segment 1.

Fade-out
Manually add a fade-out to the last 9.6 seconds of Segment 2.

If you don't add the fade-out, the Varese + Rhino pieces will extend 8 seconds longer than the long 45 version.

Good question. Anyone have the LP?

I don't have the long 45, but do have The First Class LP (UK 53109), where the listed time on the label and the promo sheet taped to the back cover, under the shrink wrap, is 5:17. Actual time is 5:15.

The LP version fades in with a simulation of someone tuning a radio, then a short, transistor radio-quality snippet of the hook fades in ("Beach Baby, Beach Baby, there on the sand") and then fades out as a deejay says, "This is the summer sound of First Class and the record of 'Beach Baby,' yeah, man." The tuning sound - audible through the entire proceedings - continues for another 2.5 seconds, then the first drumbeat begins abruptly, at the point where the version on the HAND CD begins at full volume.

The LP version ends with the deejay patter during the fadeout, just as it does on the HAND CD.

Only stock copies with the short edit were the mono side
of the promo. Never seen a Stereo stock copy variant of
the 4 copies I've owned, whether long or short, all mono.