Not much to report on for this song; this post is just a convenient place to log my comparison notes.
The first CDs that included the song were the MCA Japan-for-US pressing of the full-length Physical album (copyright 1981), and the far more common MCA [IOlivia's Greatest Hits Vol. 2 (copyright 1982). Both sound good. It also turned up on the extremely hard-to-find 4-CD promo set from MCA called MCA Hits Sampler (1988), where it has a mild dropout during the fade. All three of these appear to be unique analog transfers.
Mastering engineer Dan Hersch did a new analog transfer for Geffen's Back To Basics (1992). To my ears, it sounds like Back To Basics used lower-generation source tapes than the previous three discs. The highs are more crisp on this disc, and I hear a better defined soundstage than the others. No evidence of noise reduction on any of the four discs I've mentioned.
The same analog transfer as Back To Basics is used for:- Rhino's Billboard Top Hits 1981 (1992; differently EQ'd digital clone)
- Time-Life's Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 38 Celebration (1994; too loud and clips a lot - avoid)
- Razor & Tie's 2-CD Everything '80s (1995)
- Time-Life's Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 47 '70s Dance Party 1979-1981 (1997; differently EQ'd digital clone)
- Time-Life's Sounds Of The Eighties Vol. 24 Everything '80s (2002; differently EQ'd digital clone that adds compression/limiting - avoid)
The song also appears on EMI's 5-CD 101 Aussie Hits (2010), where it's severely compressed/limited -avoid.
For the song "Physical", I heartily recommend Geffen's Back To Basics (1992), Rhino's Billboard Top Hits 1981 (1992), Razor & Tie's 2-CD Everything '80s (1995), and Time-Life's Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 47 '70s Dance Party 1979-1981 (1997). All sound stellar for this track.
As a side note, I think the whole Physical album may have been recorded with a drum machine, or at the very least a taped loop for the basic patterns. The song "Physical" on Back To Basics runs at 124.3 BPM, except during the guitar solo from 2:19-2:50, where it runs 124.1 BPM and has a slightly different drum pattern than the rest of the song. All the other analog transfers show a similar slowdown during the solo.
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