For this album, the band went by "Thirty-Eight Special", rather than "38 Special", or even ".38 Special" before that. OK then.
The promo CD single is A&M CD 17671 (copyright 1988):
1 - "Edit", printed 4:33, actual 4:34
LP version (5:01)
I only have an mp3 of the LP version, and I'm not sure where it came from. It's a safe bet that the LP version sounds nice on the full-length 38 Special album Rock And Roll Strategy.
45 version (4:34)
The promo CD single is designated as "Edit", but it's just an early fade of the LP version, from 4:19 to 4:34. The promo CD single seems to be a digital clone of my mp3 file of the LP version (until the fade), and therefore I'd guess that it's also a digital clone of Rock And Roll Strategy until the fade.
There's a digital clone of the promo CD single, fade and all, on Heartland/Warner Special Products' 2-CD Magic Moments (1992), where it's digitally exactly 0.2 dB quieter than the promo CD single. Neat!
The same analog transfer as the promo CD single is used on Priority's Eighties Greatest Rock Hits Vol. 5 From The Heart (1992), where it's slightly too loud and clips quite a bit. There following three CDs are all digitally exactly 3 dB quieter than the Priority disc:- Time-Life's 2-CD Body Talk Vol. 14 Love And Tenderness (1997)
- Time-Life's Guitar Rock Vol. 26 Power And Passion (1999)
- Razor & Tie's 2-CD Monster Ballads (1999)
The above don't sound terrible, but I avoid anything that came from Priority Records if I can.
The version on Quality Canada's This Is Music 6 (1989) fades about five seconds earlier than all of the above; avoid.
My recommendations
For the LP length, I guess you can't go wrong with Rock And Roll Strategy, although I can't comment on the sound on the A&M or Hip-O 38 Special anthologies that include the LP length.
For the 45 length, Heartland/Warner Special Products' 2-CD Magic Moments (1992) is a worthwhile but rare compilation that very much resembles the other Warner Special Products 2-CD sets from the early-to-mid-'90s. It might be cheapest to just buy Rock And Roll Strategy and manually fade from 4:19 to 4:34. I can't recommend anything related to Priority Records with a clear conscience.
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