Chat Board - "Boogie Wonderland"

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"Boogie Wonderland" - Earth, Wind & Fire

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URL: https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1543
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Topic: "Boogie Wonderland" - Earth, Wind & Fire

Posted By: Paul Haney
Subject: "Boogie Wonderland" - Earth, Wind & Fire
Date Posted: 20 November 2006 at 3:30pm

There is one version of "Boogie Wonderland" listed in the database with a time of (3:32) on the CD "Funkdamentals" on Right Stuff 57073. Any chance this is the radio edit that I remember hearing back in 1979?

Replies:

Posted By: jimct
Date Posted: 21 November 2006 at 12:38am

Paul: I do not remember us either carting up or having an "AM drive play only" short version of Boogie Wonderland in the studio, and we were VERY dayparted at my station in early '79 - for example, I distinctly remember 3 different length carted versions for both "The Main Event/Fight" (DJ short 45, regular 45, 12") and "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now" (45/LP/12"). But we had only 2 for Boogie Wonderland (45/12"). Obviously, we played many 12" versions at night; it was the height of disco. I just pulled out my DJ 45 - both sides have a listed time of (4:55); the stereo side (deadwax ZSS-165781-1D) does indeed run (4:55); the mono side (deadwax ZSP 165780-1C) actually runs (4:58). It's certainly possible that a shorter, 2nd DJ 45 was issued, but I don't know of one/have never seen one - I would say it would've been a prime candidate for an in-station, custom shorter edit, Paul. I trust your memory, though, and I hope it turns out that there was indeed a legitimate (3:32) version issued.

Posted By: edtop40
Date Posted: 21 November 2006 at 6:26pm

to add to the discussion.....my commercial 45's face states a run time of 4:55 and truely runs 4:55..........most of the cd versions in the db run in the 4:48 to 4:52 range/length......these cd versions are NOT the 45 version.....they run between 0:07 and 0:03 shorter than the 45.....the cd "old school boogie" conatins the full 45 version running 4:55....there may be a few other cd's that have the correct length 45 version but this one i have a/b'ed and they are identical......

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edtop40

Posted By: Gary
Date Posted: 21 November 2006 at 8:35pm

edtop40 wrote:

to add to the discussion.....my commercial 45's face states a run time of 4:55 and truely runs 4:55..........most of the cd versions in the db run in the 4:48 to 4:52 range/length......these cd versions are NOT the 45 version.....they run between 0:07 and 0:03 shorter than the 45.....the cd "old school boogie" conatins the full 45 version running 4:55....there may be a few other cd's that have the correct length 45 version but this one i have a/b'ed and they are identical......

Ed, you are right about this - I looked at all my copies of this song, most are faded way too early. The only one I have right on the money is Forever Pop Vol. 1. I bought this cd for the Randy Meisner song "Never Been In Love".

Posted By: Todd Ireland
Date Posted: 27 December 2011 at 2:36pm

Pat:

I thought I'd point out that when conducting an artist search for The Emotions, the database states the following general comment for "Boogie Wonderland":

(actual 12" single time is (8:21) not (9:21) as stated on the record label; the LP length is (4:48) while the 45 length is (4:55))

However, when doing an artist search for Earth, Wind & Fire, the info regarding the 45 and LP length is missing. Only the 12" single info is currently listed.

Posted By: The Hits Man
Date Posted: 27 December 2011 at 10:33pm

The CD compilation "Club Columbia" is the only CD I have
that contains the full 45 length. Sorry if this is already
in the database, as i no longer have access to it.

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Posted By: crapfromthepast
Date Posted: 06 November 2014 at 9:34pm

I always saw "Boogie Wonderland" as the follow-up to "September" (from Best Of), even though it wasn't quite billed that way. It was even co-written by Allee Willis, who co-wrote "September".

It first appeared on CD on EWF's Best Of Vol. 2 (1988), where it runs 4:50 and sounds pretty good. The same analog transfer is used for:

Time-Life's Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 46 '70s Dance Party 1978-1979 (1997; differently EQ'd digital clone)
EMI Australia's 5-CD Seventies Complete Vol. 1 (1997; absolute polarity inverted)

There's a new analog transfer on Silver Eagle's 2-CD Dancin' The Night Away (1988), where it runs 4:50 with a truncated fade. It's a little muffled, with not much high end, and probably doesn't use the lowestgeneration tape source. The same analog transfer is used for:

Priority's Mega-Hits Dance Classics Vol. 4 (1989, mastered WAY too loud and clips severely)
Warner Special Products' 2-CD Ultimate Dance Party (1992)

There's another analog transfer on Columbia's Seems Like Yesterday Vol. 3 (1990), where the fade starts and ends early, and it runs a bit short at 4:49. It sounds a little muffled, like a higher-generation tape source. The same analog transfer is used for:

Razor & Tie's 2-CD Disco Fever (1991)
Sony's Collector's Edition Disco (1995)
JCI's Only Dance 1975-1979 (1995)

There's still another analog transfer on Club Columbia (1990), running 4:52, which sounds the best of any discs released to this point. It's a little loud and clips a bunch, but it sounds like lower-generation source tapes than anything to this point.

The new analog transfer on the 3-CD EWF collection Eternal Dance (1992) runs 4:48, is slightly compressed and has a muffled, boomy-sounding EQ. The same analog transfer is used for:

Time-Life's 2-CD EWF Legends Of Soul Vol. 10 Earth Wind And Fire (2002, differently EQ'd digital clone)
TM Century's GoldDisc 7506

Finally, the best-sounding version I found is also the longest: Sony's Forever Pop Vol. 1 (1995), running 4:55.

The 12" single version is on Rhino's Phat Trax Vol. 7 (1997), where it runs 8:20. It's a little bit compressed, with a little high-end boost, but still sounds very good - much clearer than most of the 4:5x versions.

The 12" single version runs a little fast and fades a little early on Columbia Germany's Mixed Masters Vol. 5 (1989), which is rare enough so that you probably don't have it.

Best Bets

For the 4:55 version, go with Sony's Forever Pop Vol. 1 (1995).

For the 8:20 12" single version, go with Rhino's Phat Trax Vol. 7 (1997).

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There's a lot of crap on the radio, but there's only one http://www.crapfromthepast.com" rel="nofollow - Crap From The Past .

Posted By: Paul Haney
Date Posted: 28 December 2015 at 9:02am

After all of these years I finally snagged a copy of the Funkdamentals CD off e-Bay. The (3:32) edit of "Boogie Wonderland" on this CD seems to match my memory of the shorter version that I heard on the radio back in 1979. I realize that no "official" shorter vinyl version has ever surfaced, so this could very well be some sort of in-house radio edit, however these rarely (if ever) show up on licensed CDs, so I guess the mystery of the source of this edit continues.