Pat Benatar - Single Versions on CD

budaniel wrote: What I never understood about the Pointer Sisters release was, to release the album with I'm So Excited on it, they had to remove one of the other songs originally on the album!

True. And it happened more often than most people realize, especially during the '80s. Some other examples that immediately come to mind where original songs were swapped out in favor of others while the albums were still on the charts, but not yet mentioned here:

IRENE CARA - "What a Feelin'" (1983)
SOUNDTRACK - "Beverly Hills Cop" (1984)
AUTOGRAPH - "That's the Stuff" (1985)
PSEUDO ECHO - "Love an Adventure" (1987)

I have both pressings of all four of the above albums on cassette; all exist on vinyl LP as well. Joel Whitburn apparently doesn't even know about the Irene Cara album; his "Billboard Albums" book has always shown only the LATER 1984 pressing, even though it first charted in December of '83 w/ the original track list! The original pressings of the "BHC" soundtrack featured a Rick James song that had to be replaced for legal reasons. Oh, and the front cover art was also changed on the Autograph album...

anthology123 wrote: Has anyone here heard the Pat Benatar Ultimate collection and review if the which versions are the true 45 versions, and how they sound?

Here's a full list of the correct 45 versions that appear on Ultimate Collection (including LP versions that appeared on 45 releases)

Heartbreaker
We Live For Love ([Remix] Single Edit)
You Better Run
Treat Me Right ([Remix] Single Version)
Fire And Ice
Shadows Of The Night (Edit)
Little Too Late (Edit)
Looking For A Stranger
Love Is A Battlefield (Edit)
Ooh Ooh Song
Invincible (Vocal Edit)
Sex As A Weapon
Le Bel Age (Edit)
All Fired Up (Single Version)
Don't Walk Away (Edit)
Let's Stay Together (Edit)
One Love (Edit)
True Love
Payin' The Cost To Be The Boss
Everybody Lay Down (Edit)
Somebody's Baby (Edit)

Comparing this to 2005's Greatest Hits release, "We Live For Love" is the only top 40 hit whose 45 version (an early fade) is unique to Ultimate Collection. (The 45 length of "We Live For Love" was also previously available on 1994's All Fired Up: The Very Best Of Pat Benatar.)

Instead of the full length LP version of "Promises In The Dark" (which is the correct 45 version), Ultimate Collection uses the promotional DJ Edit version. The full version does however appear on Greatest Hits.

Unfortunately, this is yet another collection on which both "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" and "We Belong" appear as LP versions instead of the proper remixed 45 versions. My theory is that this is a simple, frustrating oversight. These are her only two special 45 mixes with a run time identical to the original LP versions. I assume that whoever assembles these sets looks for shorter run times to indicate edits and therefore overlook these two.

Regarding the sound on this, it's LOUD but surprisingly doesn't sound bad to me.

For the (extremely) long answer here's a post from another forum:

Evren Göknar has digitally remastered tracks for three Pat Benatar compilations, the first being 1999s "album version-heavy" Synchronistic Wanderings box set (executive produced by Pat and Neil Giraldo.) In 2002, Capitol released a Pat Benatar entry in the Classic Masters CD series. Though the small selection of tracks were indicated as being newly "24 Bit Digitally Remastered by Kevin Bartley" and misleadingly given a new 2002 copyright, these are in fact Evren Göknar's 1999 digital remasters first issued on Synchronistic Wanderings. (The only newly remastered song for this release was a 12th track, "Heartbreaker," taken from 1983s Live From Earth.) In 2005, Capitol assembled Greatest Hits and, again, Evren Göknar was in charge of remastering. Here's where things get confusing... Five of the tracks ("You Better Run," "Hit Me With Your Best Shot," "Looking For A Stranger," "We Belong" and "Sex As A Weapon") were culled from the 2002 Classic Masters release (again, these are really Evren Göknar's 1999 Synchronistic Wanderings remasters.) I'm supposing that the producers of the Greatest Hits compilation were looking at everything on paper, saw that these had been remastered in "2002", and thought it unnecessary to RE-remaster something from only three years prior. In reality --if they weren't going to newly remaster the entire set of 20 songs-- they could have saved time and money by instead including 12 of Evren's tracks from the Synchronistic Wanderings remastering session, leaving him with only 8 to newly remaster (these due to the use of single versions.) Instead, he was given the task of remastering 15 tracks, including several that he had previously remastered in 1999 ("Heartbreaker," "We Live For Love," "Hell Is For Children," "Promises In The Dark," "Fire And Ice," "Precious Time" and "Ooh Ooh Song" appear as the same version on both Synchronistic Wanderings and Greatest Hits, yet were digitally remastered for each seperate collection.) To fill out 2008's new 2 CD Ultimate Collection, Evren Göknar was once again called upon. The new collection is comprised of 13 tracks digitally remastered in 1999, 13 tracks digitally remastered in 2005 and 14 newly remastered tracks specifically for this compilation. ULTIMATE COLLECTION MASTERING: From Evren Göknar's 1999 Digital Remastering Session ("Synchronistic Wanderings") (Note: the level has increased on most 1999 remasters to match the volume of the 2005/2008 sessions) In The Heat Of The Night You Better Run - incorrectly identified as "2002 Digital Remaster" Hit Me With Your Best Shot - incorrectly identified as "2002 Digital Remaster" Looking For A Stranger - incorrectly identified as "2002 Digital Remaster" Anxiety (Get Nervous) We Belong - incorrectly identified as "2002 Digital Remaster" The Outlaw Blues Painted Desert Sex As A Weapon - incorrectly identified as "2002 Digital Remaster" Payin' The Cost To Be The Boss True Love I Feel Lucky The Good Life From Evren Göknar's 2005 Digital Remastering Session ("Greatest Hits") Heartbreaker Treat Me Right (Single Version) Hell Is For Children Fire And Ice Precious Time Shadows Of The Night (Edit) Little Too Late (Edit) Love Is A Battlefield (Edit) Ooh Ooh Song Invincible (Vocal Edit) Le Bel Age (Edit) All Fired Up (Single Version) One Love (Edit) Evren Göknar's New 2008 Digital Remastering Session ("Ultimate Collection") I Need A Lover We Live For Love (Edit) Never Wanna Leave You Promises In The Dark (Edit) (previously unreleased version on CD) Just Like Me It's A Tuff Life The Victim Lipstick Lies (Edit) (previously unreleased version) Diamond Field Don't Walk Away (Edit) Let's Stay Together (Edit) Everybody Lay Down (Edit) Somebody's Baby (Edit) Every Time I Fall Back [2008 Recording] (previously unreleased recording)

Hope this helped! :)

Edited by Underground Dub

For some reason, the database doesn't indicate that "Shadows of the Night" is on Pat's "Classic Masters" CD. I was wondering if this CD has the single or album version of the song, as I was thinking of buying it. Can anyone who has the CD tell me? Thanks.

That disc has a dozen tracks but "Shadows Of The Night" is
not one of them.

aaronk wrote: Underground Dub wrote: To sum things up, you need Greatest Hits and All Fired Up: The Very Best Of Pat Benatar to collect all of her top 40 songs in their correct single versions. You'll also need the UK CD Best Shots, unless you don't care about having the 45 version of "Hit Me With Your Best Shot." :) The "Rock Guitar" mix IS the US 45 version.

This same mix can also be found on an EMI France single disc titled The Very Best Of released in 1994 (7243 8 28408 2 4). Total of 18 tracks (picked it up brand new for $5 plus shipping via an Amazon seller).