"Maniac" -- Michael Sembello

And now... the be-all end-all "Maniac" post! :)

The first version of the song to appear anywhere was on the Flashdance Soundtrack LP. (Casablanca 811492, released 1983, printed 4:12, actual 4:09, 157.6 BPM throughout). CDs weren't quite on the market yet, so the vinyl LP was all there was.

The first single from the soundtrack was Irene Cara's "Flashdance...What A Feeling", and it was a big hit.

The second single from the soundtrack was "Maniac". The 7" was Casablanca 812 517-7, released 1983, printed 4:13, actual 4:15, 157.4 BPM throughout.

The 45 was a remix of the soundtrack version, featuring a more interesting drum track with an accented snare sound and actual drum fills (listen for the two tom-toms that start the song; the soundtrack version has no such tom-toms and starts on the downbeat), new background vocals (listen for "maniac, maniac" during the chorus behind the lead vocal, and the new "crazy crazy crazy crazy" at the very end of the chorus right before the next verse). The guitar solo is the same in both versions (Michael is a terrific guitarist, who played on Stevie Wonder's Songs In The Key Of Life, among others.) The fade starts in the same place as the soundtrack version, but the tail is longer.

The B-side of the commercial 45 was the instrumental (printed 4:13, actual 4:14, 157.4 BPM throughout). Don't know what promos were released to radio.

The single was huge. So huge, in fact, that there was a minor backlash - WPLJ in New York held a "Maniac"-free weekend! I remember hearing both versions on the radio at the time, but I don't remember which stations played which version.

American Top 40 initially played the soundtrack version for the first few weeks (I checked the 7/23/83 show), and switched over to the 45 remix after that (I checked the shows of 8/6/83 and 9/3/83, and the year-end special).

The 45 label read, "From the original soundtrack from the motion picture 'FLASHDANCE' 422-811 492-1 M-1". The label also read, "Michael Sembello appears courtesy of Warner Bros. Records".

Later in 1983, Michael Sembello released the Bossa Nova Hotel album (Warner Bros. 23920), which had the minor hit "Automatic Man" starting side 1 and "Maniac" closing side 1. I've never listened to side 2.

The Bossa Nova Hotel album uses the 45 remix of the song, printed 4:18, actual 4:17, 157.6 BPM throughout. Compared to the Casablanca 45, the very tail end of the fade lasts two or three seconds longer.

So, as of the end of 1983, there were two versions of the song: the Flashdance soundtrack version running 4:09, and the 45 remix/Bossa Nova Hotel version running 4:15-4:17. It appears that both radio (judging by AT40) and Michael himself (judging by Bossa Nova Hotel) prefer the 45 remix.

And then, CDs were introduced to the market. Confusion reigned, society broke down...

The first version of the song on CD was on the Flashdance Original Soundtrack CD. (Casablanca 811 492-2 - a very early CD release, and one of only 59 titles listed on the catalog in PolyGram's Hear The Light Vols. 1 and 2 CDs)

According to Pat's book, the Flashdance CD ran 4:01 and faded :08 earlier than the vinyl LP version. Odd, but true. The mastering was also substandard - there was quite a bit of tape speed variation throughout, causing the tempo to average at 159.0 BPM, but vary by +/- 0.4 BPM in places. Yikes!

There were a handful of CDs that either used digital cloned versions of the Flashdance CD or used analog transfers of that mastering. All had the same tape speed variations:

• Hear The Light Volume II (PolyGram 816 055-2, 1984, actual 4:01)
• Hits On CD (Vol. 1, but not listed as such because there weren't any other volumes yet, Mercury [W. Germany] 818 273-2, 1984, printed 4:00, actual 4:00)
• Mega-Hits Dance Classics (Volume 1) (Priority CDL 7971, actual 4:01, mastered way too loud and clips severely)
• Disco Fever (cheapie 4-CD set; Dominion [Germany] CD 5555, 1993, actual 3:59)

Finally, in 1990, there was a new transfer to digital from the analog tapes, which ran a tiny bit shorter than the proper soundtrack length but didn't have any tape speed variations:

• After Hours (3-CD set, Silver Eagle Records/Warner Special Products OPCD-4523, 1990, printed 4:05, actual 4:06, 158.5 BPM throughout)
• Mystic Music Presents Good Times (2-CD set, Warner Special Products OPCD-3523, 1991, printed 4:05, actual 4:04, 158.5 BPM throughout; digitally identical to After Hours)
• Awesome '80s (2-CD set, Razor & Tie/Warner Special Products OPCD-4551, 1994, printed 4:05, actual 4:04, 158.5 BPM throughout, sound very close to above two)

Next, in 1992, Bill Inglot did a new digital transfer of the analog tapes, now running the proper soundtrack length:

• Billboard Top Hits - 1983 (Rhino R2 70678, 1992, actual 4:09, 157.1 BPM throughout, excellent sound - best yet)
• Sounds Of The Eighties: Cinemax Movie Hits Of The '80s (Time-Life R988-31, actual 4:09, 157.1 BPM throughout; differently-EQ'd digital clone of Billboard CD)
• Sounds Of The Eighties: 1983 (Time-Life R988-03, 1994, actual 4:09, 157.1 BPM throughout, not digital clone but sound very close to Billboard CD)
• Sounds Of The Seventies: Celebration (Time-Life R138-38, actual 4:09, 157.1 BPM throughout; not digital clone but sound very close to Billboard CD)
• Like Omigod (7-CD set, Rhino, actual 4:08, 157.1 BPM throughout, mastered too loud and clips a lot)

So up until 1996, all the versions that appeared on CD were the soundtrack versions, despite the apparent preference of the 45 remix from radio and from the artist himself.

In 1996, the 45 remix finally saw a release on CD:

• Casablanca Records - Greatest Hits (Casablanca 314 526 253-2, 1996, printed 4:17, actual 4:17, 156.8 BPM throughout; sound as good as you'll find for the 45 version)
• Retro Lunchbox - Flashback Flix (Sony Music Special Products A33658/9532, 1998, actual 4:17, digitally exactly 3.5 dB louder than Casablanca Records CD - clips severely - avoid!)

There is a 12" mix available on CD, which essentially exaggerates the characteristics of the 45 remix, with a different tonality to the drums. (I don't really like it.) It's on:

• The Casablanca Records Story (4-CD set, Casablanca 314516917, actual 5:53, runs 155.2-155.1 BPM)
• Selections From the Casablanca Records Story (Casablanca SACD 921, 1994, same as above)

So there you go. "Maniac" was Casablanca's last top 40 entry.

Now I'm entitled to a "Maniac"-free weekend!

Edited by crapfromthepast

The Bossa Nova Hotel album available on iTunes appears to have the correct 45 mix / album length version. (Of course, what's on iTunes doesn't necessarily equate to what's on the physical CD.)

MMathews wrote: After it was a big hit, Z-100 (the big top 40 station in NYC "the flame-thrower!" as they would say..) had switched over to an edit of the 12" mix, and they started doing that quite often with other hits.

crapfromthepast wrote: The single was huge. So huge, in fact, that there was a minor backlash - WPLJ in New York held a "Maniac"-free weekend! I remember hearing both versions on the radio at the time, but I don't remember which stations played which version.

This is more of a radio timeline question, but wasn't WPLJ still an AOR in 1983? Maybe they just did it as a gag, but it's not likely a rock station would have played a "disco" (ie-anything danceable) song. When did Z-100 come into being? I thought it was in the late summer of '83, making it in mid-chart run of this song.
What other N.Y. stations might have played this song? Seems a little too uptempo for an AC station.

crapfromthepast wrote: ...sound as good as you'll find for the 45 version...

I'm curious about this one; is there distortion in every copy of the single mix of this song? I came into a copy of the version from either Bossa Nova Hotel or Retro Lunchbox -- whatever the source, it is horribly clipped as you described.

I assumed the distortion I heard, almost a "tearing" sound in the voice in places, was from this clipping; however, I've been able to hear another digital copy that was not clipped (perhaps from the Casablanca Records Story, perhaps from a VERY clean vinyl source), and similar distortion is audible.

I don't remember this distortion on the radio, but that was 30+ years ago and I might have blamed it on the station's processing or multipath or whatever. I was a teenager listening on cheap equipment, so the odds of me noticing were a million to one anyway. :-)

Good info, Aaron... thank you!