"Never My Love" - The 5th Dimension

Pat (or anyone else who can assist with the following):

I was patronizing one of the few remaining locally-owned CD stores in my area earlier this week and discovered it had a copy of The 5th Dimension's Playlist: The Very Best of CD (Bell/Arista/Legacy 301589) in stock. Aside from the fact that this appears to be yet another repackaging of the same material found on a number of other 5th Dimension CD compilations (although this new Playlist release does contain a DJ edit of "Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In"), my eye caught one potential rarity in particular... According the track listing printed on the rear CD tray insert (and I'm going from memory here), "Never My Love" is shown as being the "single release (mono)".

To this point, the 5th Dimension's "Never My Love" has never appeared on CD in its mono 45 form. However, it should also be noted that the song on the Live!! parent album CD release (Collectors' Choice Music 781) does not exactly match the 45 either. That's because the first 3.6 seconds of applause on the commercial 45 is different from the applause heard prior to the track on the Live!! CD. The crowd whistles and hooting/hollering are not the same. From beyond the 3.6 second mark though, the audio does match up between the 45 and CD.

At some point, I may try and see if I can locate the correct 3.6 seconds of applause elsewhere on the CD, though admittedly I'm not really looking forward to undertaking what could prove to be a rather arduous and tedious task. But if it turns out the correct mono 45 version is indeed on the Playlist CD, it would sure save the hassle!

This brings me to my first question.... The database indicates that "Never My Love" is in stereo on the Playlist CD, even though the track listing states "mono". Can someone who has this disc please confirm which mix designation is accurate and report back? Once we've established this, we should also try to determine if the opening applause on the CD matches that on the 45.

Edited by Todd Ireland

Another 45 version uncovered. Thanks gentlemen.

Thanks, Pat... Well, it looks like I'll be heading back to the CD store in the very near future!

I only wish Bell/Arista/Legacy would've utilized this opportunity to include more mono 45 mixes on the Playlist CD. If there's one act whose availability of mono single mixes continues to be dreadfully lacking, it's the 5th Dimension. Here's hoping a reissue label like Real Gone Music or Collectors' Choice Music someday decides to undertake and release an all-mono singles compilation of the group!

Tim Brown wrote: You mentioned the DJ edit of Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In. Was wondering how much it was shortened and where it was edited.

As well as which DJ edit, there were two. There was a 3:50
edit that was on the mono side of most promo 45s, and
another, shorter edit that ran around 3:05.