howard jones "things can only get better"

Todd Ireland wrote: According to abagon, the actual commercial 45 run time of Howard Jones' "Things Can Only Get Better" is 4:02, not 3:59 as stated on the record label. Currently, all database CD appearances of this song run 3:53-3:59, so they all run :03-:09 shorter than the 45. This leads me to wonder if the LP length is shorter than the 45 length. So does anyone have the original 1985 vinyl LP release of Howard Jones' Dream into Action on Elektra who can pass along the run time of "Things Can Only Get Better"? I would think it runs 3:55 like on the CD release of Dream Into Action.

As a follow up to the above post... Abagon has a Japanese pressing of the Dream into Action vinyl LP and reports the run time of "Things Can Only Get Better" to be 3:55, just like on the U.S. CD album release. I'd say we have the official LP time pretty much pegged, but again does anyone have the U.S. LP release who can 100% confirm the song's run time on it?

Todd Ireland wrote: Todd Ireland wrote: According to abagon, the actual commercial 45 run time of Howard Jones' "Things Can Only Get Better" is 4:02, not 3:59 as stated on the record label. Currently, all database CD appearances of this song run 3:53-3:59, so they all run :03-:09 shorter than the 45. This leads me to wonder if the LP length is shorter than the 45 length. So does anyone have the original 1985 vinyl LP release of Howard Jones' Dream into Action on Elektra who can pass along the run time of "Things Can Only Get Better"? I would think it runs 3:55 like on the CD release of Dream Into Action. As a follow up to the above post... Abagon has a Japanese pressing of the Dream into Action vinyl LP and reports the run time of "Things Can Only Get Better" to be 3:55, just like on the U.S. CD album release. I'd say we have the official LP time pretty much pegged, but again does anyone have the U.S. LP release who can 100% confirm the song's run time on it?

I got the US original vinyl LP "Dream Into Action" (Elektra 60390-1)
The listed time on the record label and the actual running time is (4:02).
The actual running times of the LP and the 45 are the same each other.
However the 45 has the longer introduction than the LP. (the 45's vocal starts at 0:25, the LP starts at 0:24)
This is not the speed issue. The 45 has a low volume synthesizer tone at the very first. (this length is about 0.7 second.)

--abagon

I thought this one would be simple. And I suppose it is, if you're not too picky about a one-second intro that's way down at -56 dB, or the length of the tail of a very long fade.

45 version (4:02)

I found a needledrop of the 45 on YouTube. It begins with about a second of a very faint synthesizer note, way down at -56 dB. After about a second of the faint note, the familiar intro kicks in. The 45 has a fade that starts on a downbeat at 3:47, and runs about 29 beats to 4:02. The song is recorded with a drum machine, and the BPM is constant from beginning to end, with no obvious edits anywhere (i.e., no discontinuities in the beats).

I'd always thought that the vinyl LP version was the same as the 45, and it may very well be the same, but I can't confirm.

CD versions

All of the CD versions shorten the tail of the fade. Most omit the one-second faint synth note before the familiar intro. And just about all sound very good (no added compression/limiting, no noise reduction).

I will try and describe these in what I believe to be some kind of meaningful order.

The closest thing to the 45 that I found is a 3:59 version on Madacy's Rock On 1985 Walking On Sunshine (1998). It lacks the one-second faint synth note, but runs longer than the common CDs. This version has a fade that starts on a downbeat at 3:46 (the same downbeat that's at 3:47 in the 45) and runs 24 beats from 3:46 to 3:59.   This version also has no obvious edits anywhere (no discontinuities in the beats).

There are other 3:59 versions on CD, but I don't have any of those discs. They all came out after the Madacy disc, and I don't know anything about the mastering. They're:

• Rhino's MTV The First 1000 Years New Wave (1999)
• Elektra's The Essentials (2002)
• Flashback's Flashback '80s Club Classics (2000)
• Collectables' Top Of The Pop Hits The 80s (Box Set) (?)

I discovered that the version on my 1985 Elektra target pressing (that's the pattern on the disc) of Dream Into Action is a differently-EQ digital clone of the Madacy disc, somehow, with four differences: (1) It has the one-second faint synth note intact, which is missing from the Madacy disc, (2) It has a little clipping on the peaks around -2 dB, (3) It fades earlier than the Madacy disc, with a 16-beat fade from the downbeat at 3:47 to 3:55, and (4) It has an edit on a downbeat at 3:38, which repeats about 280 or 290 samples, then picks right up where it left off. Before the edit, Dream Into Action has its absolute polarity reversed compared to the Madacy disc. After the edit, Dream Into Action has its absolute polarity matched with the Madacy disc. It's insignificant, so you won't notice it if you're listening, but it's still a weird curiosity. And it tells me that Dream Into Action is a generation removed from the Madacy disc, because the 3:38 edit isn't on the 45 or on the Madacy disc.

These discs use the same analog transfer as Dream Into Action:

• Time-Life's Sounds Of The Eighties Vol. 17 The Mid-'80s Take Two (1996) - differently-EQ'd digital clone
• Time-Life's 2-CD Modern Rock Vol. 3 1984-1985 (1999) - differently-EQ'd digital clone
• swaitek's 50-CD The A List Disc 27 (1994), so this is likely used on a TM Century disc

The version on Elektra's HoJo Best Of (1993) seems to use the same source tapes as Dream Into Action, with a different EQ nad no clipping, but cuts off the one-second faint synth note and starts with the familiar intro. The weird edit is present, too, at 3:37. The fade matches Dream Into Action perfectly, with a with a 16-beat fade from the downbeat at 3:46 to 3:54. These discs use the same analog transfer as Best Of:

• Starland/Warner Special Products' 2-CD Rockin' USA (1994)
• JCI's Only Dance 1985-1989 (1995)
• Warner Special Products' 18 Modern Rock Classics (1996) - digitally exactly 0.8 dB quieter than Rockin' USA
• EMI's 2-CD Entertainment Weekly Presents 80's Wave (1998)

My recommendation?

Try for Dream Into Action or the two Time-Life collections. Realistically, you'll never find a copy of the Madacy disc. And maybe the other 3:59 versions I listed above are good, too? I dunno.