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Razor & Tie compilation "Give It Up"

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Printed Date: 27 April 2025 at 7:37am
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Topic: Razor & Tie compilation "Give It Up"
Posted By: Fetta
Subject: Razor & Tie compilation "Give It Up"
Date Posted: 25 August 2009 at 5:21pm
Several years ago, I knew someone who worked at Razor & Tie and received many different compilations at that time. I just pulled from storage a double CD titled "Give It Up!" The cd contains lots of R&B tracks from the 80's and 90's.

The CD is in the datebase but not in its entirety. The database lists the follow tracks:
AL B. SURE! - NITE AND DAY
BOBBY BROWN - MY PREROGATIVE (LP version)
CALLOWAY - I WANNA BE RICH (45 version)
CAMEO - WORD UP
E.U. - DA'BUTT (45 version)    
JERMAINE STEWART - WE DON'T HAVE TO TAKE OUR CLOTHES OFF (45 version)
JODY WATLEY - SOME KIND OF LOVER (LP version)    
JOHNNY GILL - RUB YOU THE RIGHT WAY (45 version)
JOHNNY KEMP - JUST GOT PAID (LP version faded :30 early)
NEW EDITION - IF IT ISN'T LOVE (LP version faded :12 early)
ORAN “JUICE” JONES - THE RAIN (missing the first :03; faded :09 earlier than the LP)
PEBBLES - GIVING YOU THE BENEFIT (45 version)
READY FOR THE WORLD - OH SHEILA (LP version)
ROGER - I WANT TO BE YOUR MAN (LP length)   
SYSTEM - DON'T DISTURB THIS GROOVE (45 version)
TIMEX SOCIAL CLUB - RUMORS (12" single version)
TONY! TONI! TONE! - FEELS GOOD (LP version)

The following tracks are not in the database:
Rock Steady - The Whispers (3:59)
(This seems to be the 45 version which would make it the first appearance on CD)
Jerk Out - The Time (3:47)
No More Lies - Michel'le (3:41)
Fresh - Kool & The Gang (3:46)
Who's Johnny - El DeBarge (4:08)
Crush On You - The Jets (4:27)
Da Butt - EU (3:52)
Lean On Mean - Club Nouveau (4:52)
Head To Toe - Lisa Lisa (4:09)
In My House - Mary Jane Girls (4:58)
Can't Stop - After 7 (4:49)
Neutron Dance - Pointer Sisters (4:08)
Dial My Heart - The Boys (4:19)
Solid - Ashford & Simpson (3:46)

Doesn't anyone else have this disc and can anyone confirm if "Rock Steady" is the 45 version?

-Fetta



Replies:
Posted By: Todd Ireland
Date Posted: 25 August 2009 at 7:10pm
I wonder if the Give It Up! compilation was released as both a full 2-CD set and an abridged single disc collection, like with many Time-Life CD compilations?

Meanwhile, Fetta, what is the sound quality like on this CD set? I haven't been thrilled with Razor & Tie product over the past ten years or so because I find the mastering on many of their CDs suffers from overcompression.


Posted By: crapfromthepast
Date Posted: 25 August 2009 at 8:41pm
Since you mentioned Razor & Tie, I thought I'd throw in my two cents. Here's the first few years of their catalog.

This batch came out in the early days of CD compilations. Sound quality is on par with many of the CBS Special Products discs of the day - no compression/limiting at all, but most tracks from higher generation tapes.

Those Fabulous '70s (1990)
Those Funky '70s (1990)
Those Rocking '70s (1991, 2 CD)
Disco Fever (1991, 2 CD)
More Fabulous '70s (1991)
Sweet '70s Soul (1991, 2 CD)

A little time elapsed, and when they started releasing more compilations, they really stepped it up. This set was outstanding:

Easy '70s (1993, 2 CD)

They got Steve Hoffman to master these sets, which are truly outstanding. No compression at all, pretty good source tapes (comparable to the Warner Special Products source tapes).

Totally '80s (1993, 2 CD)
Awesome '80s (1994, 2 CD)
Forever '80s (1994, 2 CD)

Steve Hoffman then did this one, which isn't on par with the above three:

Back To The '80s (1994)

Then these came out. The '90s collections are better than the comparable Time-Life collections, the '70s collections are a notch below the Time-Life '70s-era collections that came out in the mid-to-late-90s.

Everything '80s (1995, 2 CD)
Living In The 90s (1995, 2 CD)
Super '70s (1995, 2 CD - Steve Hoffman mastered)
'90s Style (1996, 2 CD)
The Big '90s (1996)
Suddenly '70s (1997 - Steve Hoffman mastered; I think there's a 1-CD version of this not mastered by SH, but I could be thinking of Super '70s)

I know Monsters Of Rock and Monsters Of Rap were on Razor & Tie, but I don't know when they came out.


Posted By: Brian W.
Date Posted: 25 August 2009 at 9:14pm
Originally posted by crapfromthepast crapfromthepast wrote:


Steve Hoffman then did this one, which isn't on par with the above three:

Back To The '80s (1994)


There are actually two editions of that, a one-disc and a two-disc. Hoffman only mastered the two-disc version.


Posted By: thecdguy
Date Posted: 02 April 2020 at 6:11am
Originally posted by Fetta Fetta wrote:

Doesn't anyone else have this disc and can anyone confirm if "Rock Steady" is the 45 version? -Fetta


I have the 2-Disc set and it runs 3:59. However, I don't have the 45 to compare so I can't say with absolute certainty that it's the correct 45 version.

-------------
Dan In Philly


Posted By: thecdguy
Date Posted: 02 April 2020 at 6:20am
Originally posted by Todd Ireland Todd Ireland wrote:

I wonder if the Give It Up! compilation was released as both a full 2-CD set and an abridged single disc collection, like with many Time-Life CD compilations?

Meanwhile, Fetta, what is the sound quality like on this CD set? I haven't been thrilled with Razor & Tie product over the past ten years or so because I find the mastering on many of their CDs suffers from overcompression.


Yes, there was a 1-Disc and 2-Disc set for this compilation. There seem to be a good amount of copies of the single disc on eBay, for example. On Discogs, however, I only saw a listing for the 2-Disc set.

As for the sound, I'm no audiophile, but it does sound a little on the loud side. It's great for people like me who do most of their listening on iPod or stereo systems. I'm not sure that it would sound too good on high end audio equipment, though.

-------------
Dan In Philly


Posted By: thecdguy
Date Posted: 02 April 2020 at 6:30am
Re: Lean On Mean - Club Nouveau (4:52)

It should also be noted that the version of the song on this compilation is a total re-recording. It also sounds as if there's a dropout at the 1:52 mark in the song on the words, "To Lean".

-------------
Dan In Philly


Posted By: AdvprosD
Date Posted: 24 November 2021 at 8:53pm
Originally posted by crapfromthepast crapfromthepast wrote:

Since you mentioned Razor & Tie, I thought I'd throw in my two cents. Here's the first few years of their catalog.

This batch came out in the early days of CD compilations. Sound quality is on par with many of the CBS Special Products discs of the day - no compression/limiting at all, but most
tracks from higher generation tapes.

Those Fabulous '70s (1990)
Those Funky '70s (1990)
Those Rocking '70s (1991, 2 CD)
Disco Fever (1991, 2 CD)
More Fabulous '70s (1991)
Sweet '70s Soul (1991, 2 CD)

A little time elapsed, and when they started releasing more compilations, they really stepped it up. This set was outstanding:

Easy '70s (1993, 2 CD)

They got Steve Hoffman to master these sets, which are truly outstanding. No compression at all, pretty good source tapes (comparable to the Warner Special Products source tapes).

Totally '80s (1993, 2 CD)
Awesome '80s (1994, 2 CD)
Forever '80s (1994, 2 CD)


Thank you Ron, for listing these Razor & Tie discs.

It is almost 2022 and I am still discovering discs on this label. Many I have already picked up in the last year or so.

Was this a TV offer only company, or only sold in Canada? I find it odd that I totally missed the bus at record and CD stores with this label here in the Midwest.
I seem to have found a number of CDs on the "Quality" label out of Canada, though almost no Razor & Tie.

-------------
<Dave> Someone please tell I-Heart Radio that St. Louis is not known as The Loo!


Posted By: aaronk
Date Posted: 24 November 2021 at 8:58pm
Razor & Tie started off as a mail order company, if I recall correctly. I'm not sure if in later years they had CDs at regular retail stores, but I vividly recall ordering Totally '80s because of the commercial. After placing my first order, I seem to remember them sending a small catalog advertising their other releases. Because of the catalog, I ended up ordering Awesome '80s, Forever '80s, Back To The '80s, Those Rockin' '70s, and Disco Fever. These were outstanding collections of hits that really helped me out in the early days of starting my mobile DJ business.

-------------
Aaron Kannowski
http://www.uptownsound.com" rel="nofollow - Uptown Sound
http://www.919thepeak.com" rel="nofollow - 91.9 The Peak - Classic Hip Hop


Posted By: AdvprosD
Date Posted: 24 November 2021 at 9:20pm
The catalog must have had a serious boom in content at some point. Maybe sort of like the Real Gone collections did? Aside from the V/A collections you mentioned,
I have seen a number of solo artists and bands that are also listed under Razor & Tie.

I have to admit, some of the content on the V/A discs sounds a lot more familiar to me than some of the Time Life or Rhino collections do. I'll be
exploring these in greater detail over the Winter.

-------------
<Dave> Someone please tell I-Heart Radio that St. Louis is not known as The Loo!


Posted By: crapfromthepast
Date Posted: 24 November 2021 at 9:21pm
Very much a mail-order company at the start.

Aaron - Is https://crapfromthepast.com/compactdiscs/razorandtie/70spreservationsocietymusiccatalog1993.pdf - this the catalog you had back then?

I agree about the mail-order stuff being vital to my mobile DJ work (and the radio show, too, which I started in 1992).

Back then, I bought pretty much the entire https://crapfromthepast.com/compactdiscs/silvereagle/silvereaglecatalog.pdf - catalog of Silver Eagle Records, or at least the interesting pop stuff. I didn't know about the Razor & Tie sets until well after the fact.

I also bought a few Priority Records collections, which turned up everywhere used in record stores where I was. Rhino sets rarely turned up used, so it would take me a few years to pick up the Have A Nice Day sets and all the 10-track Billboard sets. I signed up as a subscriber for Time-Life's Sounds Of The Eighties series in 1994, which was pure gold for me.

-------------
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: aaronk
Date Posted: 26 November 2021 at 11:08am
Ron, I had a similar catalog, but it must've been a later edition, because I'm positive it had their releases for several of their '80s collections, which are not found in the one on your site.

I also ended up buying Super 70s and Livin' In The '90s shortly after they came out, and I wonder if, once again, they sent me an updated catalog with these new releases. I don't ever recall seeing a TV ad for Super 70s, and to the best of my recollection, I ordered it based on a catalog advertisement.

-------------
Aaron Kannowski
http://www.uptownsound.com" rel="nofollow - Uptown Sound
http://www.919thepeak.com" rel="nofollow - 91.9 The Peak - Classic Hip Hop



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