little richard lucille

my commercial 45 for the little richard song 'lucille'
issued as specialty 598 has re-verb while the cd version
on '18 greatest hits (rhino 75899) is dry and does
not....do any of the db cd entries contain the song with
re-verb?

ok, paul...i just gave a listen to both files you sent for
the song 'lucille'....they both have re-verb on them as
the rhino disc i have has zero re-verb, and the one with
more reverb is the '22 classic cuts' uk import cd.....that
is pretty close to the vinyl 45's reverb amount.....so i'm
good with that one....thanks!!!

"Lucille" first appeared on CD on Specialty's Essential Little Richard (1985). It sounds good here. Listen for some nice high end from the light snare hits in the first 20 seconds. I hear what I call a moderate amount of reverb on the track. Listen to the tail of the word "sight" at about 1:02. The same analog transfer is used on:

• Time-Life's Rhythm And Blues Vol. 8 1957 (1991)
• Time-Life's Solid Gold Soul Vol. 23 1957 (1991)
• Time-Life's History Of Rock 'N' Roll Vol. 1 Roll 'N' Roll Classics 1957-1959 (1992)

There was a new analog transfer on Rhino's 18 Greatest Hits (1985). It has the same amount of reverb as Essential, but it lacks some of the high end (compare the light snare hits in the first 20 seconds). Maybe it uses an analog copy of the Specialty source tape? (The credits do say that it's licensed from Specialty.) It sounds very good here, with an EQ choice that pushes the vocals WAY out in front, compared to Essential. It runs 3.55% slower than Essential, too. The same analog transfer is used on:

• Rhino's Billboard Top R&B Hits 1957 (1989)
• Entertainment Weekly's mail-order 2-CD 35 Years Of Rock And Roll (1992)
• Rhino's Hard Rock Cafe Great Balls Of Fire (1999)
• TM Century's track No. 0012392

The following likely use a different dub of the same source tape as the Rhino disc:

• Time-Life's Rock 'N' Roll Era Vol. 17 1957 Still Rockin' original release (1988)
• Time-Life's Rock 'N' Roll Era Vol. 17 1957 Still Rockin' RE-1 reissue (copyright 1988, actual release ?)

There was a new analog transfer on JCI's Heart And Soul Fifties (1988), which sounds very muddy, likely due to a high-generation source tape. Avoid.

There was a new analog transfer on Specialty's 3-CD The Specialty Sessions (1989). This version has lots of reverb - far more than any of the other analog transfer listed here (listen to the word "sight" at 1:02). The same analog transfer is used on:

• Time-Life's 2-CD Glory Days Of Rock 'N' Roll Vol. 19 R&B Classics (2001) - mastered too loud and clips a bit

Finally, there was a new analog transfer for MFSL's Here's Little Richard + Little Richard reissue (2006). This version has no reverb at all!

My recommendations

I don't have the original vinyl, so I don't know what the actual speed of the track should be, or how much reverb it should have. I can generalize:

For no reverb, I recommend MFSL's Here's Little Richard + Little Richard reissue (2006).

For a small amount of reverb, I recommend Rhino's 18 Greatest Hits (1985).

For a large amount of reverb, I recommend Specialty's 3-CD The Specialty Sessions (1989).

Here's the 45 being played by the Music Prof

Lucille 45
version

Yes, the MusicProf has been giving us many 45-only versions that we didn't
have on CD, but he only "recently" started dubbing actual 45s. And, he usually
says so when it's a 45 dub. With the Little Richard coming from 4 years ago
and no 45 dub indication, his is more likely to be a CD rip.

Check out these, one being a 78 dub (so they say...). They look like they'd be
originals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNZcLABDjX4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP4Ux5jrXmU