Player - Baby Come Back

The LP version runs about 4:09.

It sounds spectacularly awful on Rhino's Mellow Rock Hits Of The '70s Ventura Highway (1997), where it has no high end at all. There are differently-EQ'd digital clones on:

• Time-Life's 2-CD Singers And Songwriters Vol. 5 1978-1979 (2000)
• Time Life's 2-CD Seventies Music Explosion Vol. 2 Escape (2005; digitally exactly 2.5 dB louder than Singers)

The 45 cuts 16 beats near the beginning (following the first 16 beats of the song), and loops the chorus at the end of the song to replace the guitar solo outro of the LP version. The 45 edit runs about 3:33, and is by far the most common version of the song on compilation CDs.

The first CD to feature the 45 edit was Heartland/Warner Special Products 2-CD Love Songs (1988). It sounds pretty good here, but fades 8 seconds early. The same analog transfer is used for

• Mystic Music/Warner Special Products' 2-CD Good Times (1991; digitally exactly 0.8 dB quieter)
• Priority's Seventies Greatest Rock Hits Vol. 12 #1 Groups (1992; mastered way too loud and clips severely)

The first CD to feature the proper length of the 45 edit was Silver Eagle/MCA's 3-CD Shades Of Love (1989).   It sounds OK here, with decent dynamic range, good EQ, and no noise reduction. It may not be the lowest-generation source tapes, though. The same analog transfer is used for TM Century's promo GoldDisc 3 Demo (1990), with added noise reduction - avoid.

There was a new analog transfer for Time-Life's Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 20 1978 Take Two (1991). It sounds pretty good here - a little better than Shades. The same analog transfer is used for:

• Razor & Tie's 2-CD Easy '70s (1993)

Bill Inglot did a much better analog transfer for Rhino's Billboard Top Hits 1978 (1991). This has much more high end, and a much less muffled sound than anything that came before.

For some reason, Bill Inglot did a new analog transfer for Rhino's Have A Nice Day Vol. 21 (1993). The sound quality is comparable to Billboard; I don't hear any obvious reason why Rhino just didn't recycle the Billboard mastering. The same analog transfer is used for:

• Time-Life's 2-CD Body Talk Vol. 4 Together Forever (1996; digitally exactly 2.896 dB quieter)
• Time-Life's AM Gold Vol. 25 1978 (1997; digitally exactly 1.5 dB quieter)
• Time-Life's Classic Soft Rock Vol. 5 California Dreamin' (2006; differently-EQ'd digital clone)

My recommendations:

For the LP version, go with Rhino's Mellow Rock Hits Of The '70s Ventura Highway (1997).

For the 45 edit, go with Rhino's Have A Nice Day Vol. 21 (1993).

Edited by crapfromthepast

eriejwg wrote: Ron is sure correct when he says there are some awful transfers of this song out there. No high end, too much compression, no low end, the list goes on. I decided to recreate my own copy of the 45 version from the Best Of. I always had thought that the LP version sounded slow, so once I got to the 3:33 length, I sped it up 2% to match Jim's 45 timing of 3:30. Personal opinion here, but is everything that's 3:33- 3:34 the 45 version but LP speed? What's the length of the vinyl LP version?

Either you have a bad copy of the album version, or you
edited it wrong. The 45 isn't sped up. The Rhino CDs
are correct for being about 3:33.