"Knock Three Times" - Dawn

I hear what you're talking about now. The muted trumpet(?) that doubles the lead vocals remains on the mono version but the answering trombone(?) is not audible on the K-tel cd.

The answering trombone is missing from a similar passage from 2:12 to 2:22 as well.

Edited by Indy500

The mono K-Tel CD I have is a different mix than a fold-down of the stereo version I tried.

Stereo LP version

I can trace most of the CD masterings to three distinct analog transfers.

The first is on Rhino's Billboard Top R&R Hits 1971 (1989). The sound is good overall, but there's a disturbing lack of hiss and lack of presence in the early portion of the fade - noise reduction, perhaps? The same analog transfer is used on:

• Priority's Seventies Greatest Rock Hits Vol. 9 #1 Hits (1991) - too loud and clips; avoid
• Time-Life's Superhits Vol. 10 1971 (1991) - has L/R channels reversed and fades a little early; avoid
• Time-Life's AM Gold Vol. 6 1971 RE-1 (1991) - has L/R channels reversed and fades a little early; avoid
• Time-Life's 2-CD Singers And Songwriters Vol. 16 1969-1972 (2001) - has L/R channels reversed and fades a little early; avoid
• Time-Life's 2-CD Seventies Music Explosion Vol. 3 Miracles (2005) - has L/R channels reversed and fades a little early; avoid

The second is on Rhino's Best Of (1994). This is an improvement over Billboard. Here, it keeps the same EQ tone to the end of the fade, so there's no evidence of noise reduction. The same analog transfer is used on:

• Varese Sarabande's Bubblegum Classics Vol. 1 (1995)
• Razor & Tie's 2-CD Suddenly '70s (1997)
• Razor & Tie's 2-CD Viva Las Vegas (1997)
• Razor & Tie's 6-CD 70 Number One Hits Of The 70s Vol. 1 (1998)
• Varese Sarabande's 25 All-Time Greatest Bubblegum Hits (2000)
• Razor & Tie's 1-CD Suddenly '70s (2001)
• Madacy's Vintage Pop (2005) - too loud and clips a lot; avoid
• Reader's Digest's 4-CD Time In A Bottle (2006)

Finally, two outliers use a third analog transfer, different from the above two. They don't sound nearly as good as Best Of:

• BR Music Holland's 3-CD Definite 70's Vol. 3 (1997)
• EMI Australia's 5-CD Seventies Complete Vol. 2 (1999)

My recommendation for the stereo LP version: Rhino's Best Of (1994)

Mono 45 version

Your odds of finding the mono 45 version on CD are slim. I have it on exactly one CD: Heartland/Warner Special Products' 2-CD Feel Good Rock (1989). Sound quality is so-so. It's mono, but the balance is a little off. The left and right channels may be a tiny bit out of synch - hard to tell. EQ is a little thin.

I noticed that in Aaron's library, he used only the left channel of Feel Good Rock, copied it to the right channel, boosted the levels by about 4 dB and adjusted the EQ. It's an improvement.

Edited by crapfromthepast

I have the UK Bell/EMI 45. It too is mono.