LP version (runs 3:55)
All of the LP versions of "Hold The Line" I encountered sound pretty good. All of the ones I listed have nice dynamic range, good EQ, and no evidence of noise reduction.
I think the oldest analog transfer is on Columbia's Pop Classics Of The '70s (1989), which sounds very nice. The same analog transfer is used for:- Silver Eagle/Capitol's 3-CD Formula 45 (1988; I know that this came out a year before Pop Classics but this release would have been ignored by the compilers at Columbia)
- Time-Life's Guitar Rock Vol. 2 1978-1979 (1993; levels imbalanced by about 3 dB)
- Warner Special Products' 3-CD Rock Box (1994)
The other analog transfer I found is on Columbia's Toto collection Past To Present 1977-1990 (1990), which also sounds great. There are digital clones on:- Time-Life's AM Gold Vol. 26 1979 (1997; 4 dB louder)
- Time-Life's 2-CD Classic Soft Rock Vol. 9 Cool Night (2007; about 4.89 dB louder)
45 edit (runs 3:30)
The first instance of the 45 edit I have is on Time-Life's Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 21 Rock 'N' Soul Seventies (1991). Here, it seems to be edited from the same analog transfer as Pop Classics, which I found interesting. It's likely an after-the-fact recreation of the 45 edit, and I confirmed from a vinyl 45 dub that the edits match. It sounds very nice here.
Time-Life's 2-CD Guitar Rock Monsters (1992) uses the same analog transfer as Rock 'N' Soul Seventies, but has its left/right channels swapped. I found quite a few instances of swapped L/R channels on Guitar Rock Monsters.
swaitek's promo 50-CD The A List Disc 1 (1994) also has the correct 45 edit, but I couldn't trace a mastering history. It could be an in-house edit from TM Century.
All of the above sound quite nice, with nice dynamic range, nice EQ, and no artifacts of NR on the fade.
Here are editing instructions for creating the 45 edit from the LP version:
Segment 1
Ends on downbeat
Extends from 0:00.0 to 2:56.6 of the LP version (on Pop Classics Of The '70s)
Extends from 0:00.0 to 2:56.7 of the 45 edit (on Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 21 Rock 'N' Soul Seventies)
Remove the 16 beats from 2:56.6 to 3:06.6 of the LP version (on Pop Classics Of The '70s).
Segment 2
14 beats long, begins on downbeat, ends on downbeat on the word "line"
Extends from 3:06.6 to 3:15.4 of the LP version (on Pop Classics Of The '70s)
Extends from 2:56.7 to 3:05.5 of the 45 edit (on Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 21 Rock 'N' Soul Seventies)
Remove the 16 beats from 3:15.4 to 3:25.3 of the LP version (on Pop Classics Of The '70s).
Segment 3
16 beats long, begins on downbeat on the word "line", ends on downbeat on the word "time"
Extends from 3:25.3 to 3:35.4 of the LP version (on Pop Classics Of The '70s)
Extends from 3:05.5 to 3:15.5 of the 45 edit (on Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 21 Rock 'N' Soul Seventies)
Remove the 8 beats from 3:35.4 to 3:40.5 of the LP version (on Pop Classics Of The '70s).
Segment 4
begins on downbeat on the word "time", extends to end of song
Extends from 3:40.5 to 3:58.6 (end) of the LP version (on Pop Classics Of The '70s)
Extends from 3:15.5 to 3:31.6 (end) of the 45 edit (on Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 21 Rock 'N' Soul Seventies)
If you edit the LP version on Past To Present, the first edit point falls at 2:56.7, and you should be able to count out the rest. They'll all be within about 0.1 second of the Pop Classics timings.
Best Bets
All of the discs I listed sound quite nice for the song, so if you have the song anywhere, it likely sounds pretty good.
If I had to pick, I'd choose Past To Present 1977-1990 (1990) for the LP version, and Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 21 Rock 'N' Soul Seventies (1991) for the 45 edit.
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