single mix of We Got the Beat?

Jody Thornton wrote: But the US 45-rpm disc had an edit at :40 during the instrumental break, did it not?

No. The LP is the same as the hit 45. I have both and
compared them.

All they are saying on that CD comp is that there was
once an earlier version before it was recorded for I.R.S.
Records and became a hit single. That they do this only
confuses people.   

Edited by The Hits Man

Here we go - I guessed at :40 but it's :45 seconds. Take a listen for the splice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uqqb71gEAbY&feature=related

Finally got to sort this one out.

First, it was recorded for a UK Stiff Records 45 in 1980. It's really obvious that it's a completely different recording. Then, it was rerecorded from scratch for I.R.S.

The first pressings of the Beauty And The Beat vinyl LP had this original I.R.S. mix on it, which Andrew correctly described above as having more bass, less reverb on the snare, no one-note keyboard after the first chorus, and is six seconds longer than the subsequent single mix that came out later.

The six second difference is after the first chorus and before the second verse - it's just extra repetitions of the guitar line. That's how it was originally arranged on the Stiff version, and they carried it over to the I.R.S. recording.

After "Our Lips Are Sealed" had run its course, I.R.S. tweaked "We Got The Beat" for the 45, bringing Belinda's vocals a little more clearly in front, adding keyboards and a few handclaps, and taking out six seconds to get into the second verse more quickly. All were very good decisions, in my opinion. Mind you, the two mixes sound very similar, to the point where even after hearing the song for 30 years, I couldn't tell one from the other until I got to the second verse.

This remix made it onto the 45, made it onto later pressings of the LP, and made it onto all the CD versions of the song that I know of. The original mix is lost to history, much like a few of Michael Jackson's tracks from Off The Wall.

I verified all this myself at a local record store (yay, Cheapo!) They had four copies of the Beauty And The Beat LP, three of which had the original mix - that's good news if you're looking for the original mix. The fourth had a "2" in the matrix number - something like "M2" at the end of the matrix number. The others didn't have the M2. I bought one of the nice condition original pressings (it still had the plastic and the contains the single "Our Lips Are Sealed" sticker on it), but I just moved into a new house, and it will be a significant amount of time before I can get back to dubbing vinyl.

If you want to check your copy of Beauty And The Beat, it's easiest to let it play into the second verse - if it gets there when you expect it, it's a later pressing that has the 45 remix. If it sounds like it's taking too long to get to the second verse, that's an original pressing with the original LP mix. The artwork, including the labels, are the same for both. All your CDs have the 45 remix.

Edited by crapfromthepast

Just updating the list. All are the common 45 mix.

The first place it appeared on CD was I.R.S.'s Beauty And The Beat (1981; not sure when CD was actually released). There's a differently EQ'd digital clone on Greatest (1990), and a few that use the same analog transfer as both of these:

• Priority's Eighties Greatest Rock Hits Vol. 2 Leather And Lace (1992; a little loud and clips a lot)
• Swaitek's 50-CD promo The A List Disc 12 (1994)
• Big Ear Music's Only In The '80s Vol. 1 (1995)
• Time-Life's Sounds Of The Eighties Vol. 25 Rolling Stone 1980-1981 (1995)
• Time-Life's Gold And Platinum Vol. 4 (1997; digitally identical to Greatest)
• Time-Life's 2-CD Modern Rock Vol. 5 Dance (1999; differently EQ'd digital clone of Sounds Of Eighties)

I think the same analog transfer may have been used for Warner Special Products' 2-CD Night Beat (1988), because the two track so closely, but the EQ is different enough that I can't really tell. There are some that use the same analog transfer as Night Beat and sound extremely close to Night Beat:

• Razor & Tie's 2-CD Awesome '80s (1994)
• JCI's Only Dance 1980-1984 (1995)
• JCI's Only Rock 'N Roll #1 Radio Hits 1980-1984 (1996)

All of the above sound pretty good, all with very nice dynamic range and no extra compression. (The Priority disc is too loud, though.) Any variations in sound quality is basically EQ, and there is a wide variety of EQ setting for these discs. The only other analog transfer I could find is on Return To The Valley Of The Go-Go's, which sounds surprisingly good - no extra compression or any weird EQ.

Overall, if I had to recommend one, I'd pick Greatest (1990), because it has a better EQ than Beauty And The Beat.

Edited by crapfromthepast

No, this is the one with the original mix:
https://www.discogs.com/Go-Gos-Our-Lips-Are-
Sealed/release/2518530