Spinners - The Rubberband Man

The LP version runs 7:20, which is plenty long for this song. I have it on Atlantic's 2-CD A One Of A Kind Love Affair (1991), where it sounds just fine.

The 45 is edited seamlessly from the LP version, and there are plenty of edits scattered throughout the song. If all you've known is the 45, you'd never suspect how many edits are in the song. (How many? By my estimation, a truckload.) The 45 runs 3:32.

I found three distinct analog transfers for the 45 version. All sound fairly similar, with nice dynamic range, nice EQ, no evidence of noise reduction, a little bit of pleasing tape hiss on the fade, and a little hum in both channels (60 Hz and harmonics, I think.) All seem to be from very good tapes.

The first analog transfer is on Silver Eagle/Warner Special Products' 2-CD Dancin' The Night Away (1988). Levels are a bit low, but otherwise it sounds just fine here. The same analog transfer is used for:

• Warner Special Products' 2-CD Good Times (1991; digitally identical)
• Priority's Mega-Hits Dance Classics Vol. 9 (1991; about 6 dB louder, and clips a little)
• JCI's Only Dance 1975-1979 (1995)

The second analog transfer is on Time-Life's Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 4 1976 (1989), where it also sounds just fine. The same analog transfer is used for:

• Warner Special Products' 2-CD Disco Collection (1993; absolute polarity inverted - that doesn't affect the sound, but it makes the waveform look upside-down in your editor)
• Time-Life's Solid Gold Soul Vol. 11 1976 (1996; differently-EQ'd digital clone)

And, finally, Bill Inglot did a new analog transfer for Rhino's Very Best Of (1993).

I love the Rhino disc, but that's mainly because I love all the Spinners singles. For sound quality, all sound pretty good and none really stand out as being exceptionally good or exceptionally bad. Take your pick!

Edited by crapfromthepast