"Careless Whisper" - Wham!...

Todd: Would you say the database entries running 5:02 end there because of the very low audio present?

I just noticed something curious on my CD of the LP "Make It Big:" the track, when looked at in the spectrum analyzer, shows a constant "whistle" (although I can't hear it) just below 16 khz (about 15,830 Hz, to be exact).

It is slightly quieter in the opening section (perhaps some minor noise reduction, or just fewer mics open in the original recording?). It fades with the song at the end of the track, as if it is in the master recording.

The CD I have has the "best value" label, so I'm sure I picked it up 10 years or more after it was originally a hit. It's labeled as a "digitally masted analog recording."

It partially strikes me as so odd because this is a "noise" I often get when recording from my cassette deck. I've always assumed it was something going bad, or something unprotected from the electrical interference generated by my computer.

Could anybody else with this CD rip "Careless Whisper" and take a look at it? Even more interesting: if you have the original LP & the equipment to get a quiet enough recording of the vinyl, do you see this tone?

As I mentioned, I've never noticed it (too many years listening to FM, I suppose!), so it doesn't hurt the enjoyment of the CD... it just bugs me, knowing it's there and wondering if I could have gotten a bootleg, or perhaps it has since been remastered (without squashing, please!) without the tone.

One other note of interest: between 2:09 - 2:15, the tone drops just slightly... perhaps indicating a variance in the speed of the tape being played back? It drops just slightly, then jumps right back up to the original speed... almost like a spliced-in section of the song recorded at a different time or something. The jump is pretty clear in the spectrum analyzer, both the down & up point.

Anyone else see what I'm seeing?

Aaron,

LOL... yes, that's exactly the sort of experience I've had. :)

Is the high-pitched hum the same thing I hear on Peter
Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" and ABC's "How To Be A
Millionaire"?

My (rather feeble) understanding of that distinctive
sound is that it's an artifact of some of the early
digital recording process. I believe that for those
tracks, the vocals were recorded on analog tape, and the
rest of the instruments were recorded digitally. (Don't
know why.) On the ABC track, I remember hearing the
high-pitched hum except for the guitar solo/break, where
it's absent. (It's been 20+ years since I listened to
the track specifically for this artifact, so I may be
remembering incorrectly...)

It's very possible that "Careless Whisper" was recorded
the same way, since it's in the same time frame.

There's a 3:59 edit of "Careless Whisper" that I've heard many times over the years. I always assumed it was an official DJ fade but I'm unable to find it on anything released by Wham! or their label.

It does appear on the 1986 compilation Gold & Platinum Volume 2 (Realm Records), so it could have been made by them to accommodate more songs on that release.