Gladys Knight - Midnight Train To Georgia

Th4e muffled sound is what I remember radio played back in the day.

There are quite a few 45s out there that have this type of sound. It's just that in the CD age, producers and engineers got into the bad habit of brightening everything up. Me? I'll take a sound closer to what is on the tape, for better or for worse. If I want a fixed-up sound, I can do it myself. I recently redid my 1974 comp and wanted to add "Midnight At The Oasis" by Maria Muldaur. I could have easily used the Rhino version, but it was too bright/compressed. Sounds good, but it's not what I heard on the radio back then. So, I dug out my Warner's "Singers And Songwriters" CD that came out in 1985 and used the mastering on that one. It was transfered flat and sounded totally uncompressed. But, it also sounded a bit dull. So, just to get it into the ballpark of the other songs, I used a compressor just a wee tad. So, I got the best of both, the clean sound I heard on radio in 1974, but not bright.

Hey, I know you all don't care about my mastering mumbo-jumbo, but it's early!:)

On the 2013 remaster CD of "Imagination" the following bonus tracks are listed:

Midnight Train To Georgia - Single Version

Window Raisin Granny - Single Version

Midnight Train To Georgia - Short Version - Previously Unreleased

Midnight Train To Georgia - Instrumental - Previously Unreleased


Was there a short promo of Midnight Train to Georgia in 1973?

Edited by Indy500

I was just able to hear a copy of the "Single Version" and "Short Version" from the remastered CD. I can, unfortunately, report that the "Single Version" does not match the actual US 45 version (assuming that the Can You Dig It box set is correct). The version on this new CD does not have the additional reverb and percussion.

The "Short Version" also does not match the mix of the US single version. Interestingly, the "Short" and "Single" versions on the CD don't appear to have come from the same tape. The "Short" version sounds like it comes from a higher generation tape and has different EQ.

The song was originally recorded in 1972 by the guy who wrote it, Jim Weatherly, as "Midnight Plane To Houston". Wasn't a hit.

It was covered in 1972 by Cissy Houston (Whitney's mom), and retitled "Midnight Train To Georgia". Wasn't a hit.

And then it got to Gladys Knight And The Pips. BIG hit, hitting #1 in 1973.

The LP version sounds quite nice, and there are plenty of CDs that feature the LP with nice sound.

Rhino's Billboard Top R&R Hits 1973 (1988) sounds great. The same analog transfer is used on:

• Time-Life's Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 6 1973 (1990) - digitally identical
• Madacy's Rock On 1973 (1996) - digitally exactly 0.9 dB louder
• Time-Life's 2-CD Singers And Songwriters Vol. 17 1973-1975 (2002) - digitally identical

There's a different analog transfer on Rhino's Didn't It Blow Your Mind Vol. 11 (1991), which sounds about as good as the Billboard disc. The same analog transfer is used on:

• Time-Life's Solid Gold Soul Vol. 8 1973 (1996) - digitally exactly 0.4 dB quieter
• Time-Life's 2-CD Body Talk Vol. 10 From The Heart (1997) - differently-EQ'd digital clone

There's one more very clean analog transfer on Time-Life's Legends Of Soul Vol. 6 Gladys Knight And The Pips (2001), which has even more high end than the Rhino discs.

All of the above sound quite nice.

Now, the discs to avoid:

• Very Best Of (1988) - sounds like mud. Worst of the bunch.
• Razor & Tie's 2-CD Sweet '70s Soul (1991) - cuts off opening drumbeat entirely, but otherwise sounds close to the Billboard disc
• Time-Life's Superhits Vol. 13 1973 (1992) and AM Gold Vol. 3 1973 (1992), which are identical in every way - left/right channels reversed, but otherwise sounds close to the Billboard disc. There seem to be many, many tracks on this disc with their left and right channels swapped.
• JCI's Only Rock 'N Roll 1970-1974 (1994) - cuts off opening drumbeat entirely, and sounds muddy
• Warner Special Products' 2-CD Seventies Party Mix (1996) - left/right channels reversed, but otherwise sounds close to the Billboard disc
• Razor & Tie's 7-CD 70 Number One Hits Of The 70s Vol. 1 (1998) - digitally exactly 1 dB louder than Sweet '70s Soul, and therefore cuts off opening drumbeat entirely

And then there's the 45 version, which really does sound as bad as the 45 for "Magic Carpet Ride". Not sure how this ever made it out the door. On Have A Nice Decade, you can at least hear some tape hiss at the end of the track. Even the hiss is missing from Can You Dig It.

My recommendations:

For the LP version, go with Rhino's Billboard Top R&R Hits 1973 (1988).
For the 45 version, if you really insist on hearing it this way, go with Rhino's Have A Nice Decade.

Thanks to Tom O, I can report that the French import CD Knight Records (KNCD 12004) does not have the true 45 mix. Instead, it seems to be the LP mix with a little bit of reverb. Listen at 0:42 to the true 45, and you'll hear a distinct low tom-tom in the right channel. There's no such tom-tom in the LP mix, or in the version on this CD. I didn't check if the edit points are correct.