madonna "holiday"

Ed:

According to the database, DJ 45 copies of Madonna's "Holiday" run 4:01, not 3:50 as stated on the record label. But like you, Brian W. has reported elsewhere on this message board that the actual commercial 45 run time is 4:06, not 3:50 as stated on the record label. Not sure if the DJ 45 indeed runs :05 shorter than the commercial 45 or if the 4:01 DJ time is a typo. Perhaps Pat can verify this for us. But at any rate, the commercial 45 run times should be incorporated into the database comments for "Holiday".    

My dj 45 runs (4:00) on the mono side (matrix #R-11861-SH2 7-29748-BNY-3190-v1-m-dj-sh2) and (4:03) on the stereo side (matrix #R-11862-SH2 7-29748-BNY-3190-v1-s-sh2). Both sides state as running time of (3:50).

Pat:

As always, I appreciate you updating our information in the database... Regarding "Holiday", you correctly indicate that commercial copies of this 45 run 4:06, but you didn't mention that the record label incorrectly states the run time at 3:50.

I've found in my library an "extended remix" that runs 6:58 approximately.

It doesn't sound like the 1987 "You Can Dance" album remix (but may contain some elements later included in the remix), and the LP version isn't this long... and the LP version is what was on the 12" discs of the era.

The intro is clearly different from the LP mix, but the next three minutes similar to the LP mix. From that point, the mixes go their separate directions... so it's not just an extended LP version as I originally thought.

It says the source is "The Warner Bros. Remixes Bootleg Disc 1" but I'm having a challenging time finding any information about this, either.

Was this mix available to clubs in 1983, and I've just overlooked the source?

@Indy500 -

The 45 version is properly on CD on the 1996 Japan-only CD Single Collection. Its fadeout ends about 1 second later than the actual 45, so you can hear music for about 1 second after "holiday...celebration" vocal, whereas I think (based on YouTube rips) you can't really hear anything past "celebra-".

The 45 version was also released in 2022 on CD & digital on the Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones compilation. However, it's brickwalled, and the song carries on for another 13 seconds longer than the single, with the fade beginning where the actual single ends, not reaching total silence before abruptly cutting off.

To re-create with the album version from a common US CD of the Madonna eponymous album, it's as follows:

0. If using Adobe Audition, go to Edit > Preferences > Data and set both delete/cut/edit crossfade values to 9 ms.

1. Remove lead-in silence and the 8-bar intro, but leave 0.030s before the first beat intact, so as not to cut off the synth strings starting up in the right channel. Do a sinusoidal fade-in from zero during that section. All times now are relative to the beginning of that fade-in being 0:00.

2. Remove 0:16.596 (0.004s before the downbeat) to 0:33.197 (0.015s before the downbeat).

3. At the start of the "it would be so nice" vocal, remove 1:45.755 (0.029s before the clap) to 2:02.354 (0.024s before the clap).

4. Remove 1:51.993 (0.009s before the downbeat) to 2:00.280 (0.017s before the downbeat).

5. Remove 3:07.207 (0.007s before the downbeat) to 3:15.496 (0.017s before the downbeat).

6. Remove 3:10.837 (0.018s before the downbeat) to 3:44.048 (0.020s before the downbeat).

7. Remove 4:06.000 and beyond to match the 1996 CD, or 4:04.537 and beyond (cutting off "celebration" before the last syllable) to match the 45 (I think; see above).

8. Apply a linear fade-out from 3:50.832 to the end. Do this a second time and it will pretty closely match the 45.

By the way, this is one of those songs where I can totally see the 45° tape splices causing the right channel's edit points to be 9ms before the left's.

Edited by mjb50