Santa Esmeralda - Don’t Let Me Be...

aaronk wrote: Bummer. I just discovered that the Kill Bill soundtrack uses an mp3 source for this song, which is unfortunately the source I used when re-creating the single versions. :(

Oh, my God, even back then it was happening?!?

The best sounding source of this is the Casablanca 45 RPM single. I own a commercial stock copy I bought new in 1977 and I own a promo copy of it with Mono/Stereo. The promo is also pressed on vinyl. My commercial copy is pressed on styrene. Excellent sounding 45 and one of my favorite disco tunes of all time. Every single I have ever heard has the clap intro!

Edited by KentT

Just so people know, the reason for the pitch difference on that Varese Sarabande CD - it was mastered from vinyl and I guess their turntable was slightly fast, which explains the off speed. It must have been faded early to hide the vinyl sounds as the song fades. No record label has ever released the single edit from a tape source. When Varese released the single edit on their CD, they obviously had two choices for releasing the single edit - they could take the single and clean it, or they could take the many 16 minute album versions available on CD (from tape) and edit it. They chose the former. Interestingly, a guy on this site, MMathews, chose the latter and did an amazing job creating the single edit from CD (tape) sources - not just amazing in editing but also in sound and mastering.

Also, I recall I having a 45 of this that ran about 5:25 minutes, but I didn't save it. I bought it at the time the song was climbing the charts, thinking I was buying the single edit I'd been hearing on the radio, and when it wasn't, I went back to the store and returned it for the right version.

Edited by EdisonLite

aaronk wrote: Now, I have this song copied on a CD-R from a different friend, who also did a vinyl transfer, and that edit begins the same way as the (5:25) version---no clapping on the intro---and runs (3:48). HOWEVER, I have not yet confirmed if this edit is one that he created. It sounds to me like he may have transferred the (5:25) version and took a chunk out of the middle. If that's the case, then there is only ONE (3:48) version and the (5:25) version. I'll post the info as soon as I hear back from him. Sorry for the confusion.

I was just reading all the posts above to refresh my memory. Aaron, regarding the quote above (granted, it was from nearly 5 years ago, so you may not recall!) but you mentioned getting 2 vinyl dubs from 2 friends on CDR - did you ever find out if the 3:48 vinyl version you received on a CDR from the 2nd friend was edited by that friend or taken from his actual 45? Did he supply you with a matrix number for that 45? Due to the fact that no one has come across an actual 3:48 edit on a 45 different from the common one, and the fact that your friend gave you a CDR and not an actual 45, my guess is there is no such 45... but it will be interesting to see what your friend's response was.