"Go Insane" - Lindsey Buckingham

I received the "Hollywood Christmas" CD yesterday, and this contains a master tape version of "Holiday Road" as well. Today I A-B'd it with the version on "Retrospective", and I found the version on "Retrospective" to be much duller than this. This is EQ'd almost as bright as the vinyl version I have (which is on 12", and I believe, the same EQ as the 7" - the 12" is certainly the same mix and length). The only other difference between the 2 CDs that have this song is that on "Hollywood Christmas", the song's fade lasts about 1 second longer, much like the vinyl version. Based on that, I'd say that Time-Life (who put out "Hollywood Christmas") could not have used "Retrospective" as its source. But both are from tapes and can be EQ'd to be as bright as the original, if you wish.

So, in summary, "Retrospective" was the first promo CD to include "Holiday Road" from a tape source, and "Hollywood Christmas" was (probably) the first commercially released CD to do so. I say that because I haven't got "Back to the 80's Movie Soundtrack Rewind", so I don't know what source was used for that (and offhand, I forget the year of release, though "Hollywood Christmas" was 2009, and from Time-Life, a more reliable source than the label that released "Back the the '80s..."). And now, of course, the original version is available digitally, as well as the 2015 slight remix. I guess its use in continued "Vacation" movies as well as a TV commercial a couple/few years ago has brought back interest in the song, and it's finally getting more releases.

Edited by EdisonLite

EdisonLite:

As another big fan of "Holiday Road", yes, you've summed up the CD history of this song pretty well. :-) I initially discovered the existence of the Hollywood Christmas CD from Time-Life when I revived this thread back in February of 2013, and I posted about the U.K. promo sampler that also has the track. I wanted the Hollywood Christmas CD, too, and when I saw that it was still in print at the time, I put it on the back burner. Over the last month or two, I'd been hearing about the "Vacation" re-boot in theaters and had been seeing that Infiniti QX60 commercial on TV w/ Christie Brinkley, which also features "Holiday Road" playing in the background. So when you brought this thread back yet again last Saturday, that sealed it - I finally ordered the Hollywood Christmas CD from Amazon as well. (Was going to take one for the team, and then you posted late Sunday that you'd ordered it as well, lol.) My copy still has yet to arrive (didn't use Amazon Prime for shipping), but hey, I also went ahead and ordered the new Steppenwolf collection, as well as a couple others I'd been wanting, so they should all be here first thing next week...

Anyway, if "Holiday Road" had been a top 40 hit (as I think we all agree it deserved to be), the Hollywood Christmas CD from Time-Life w/ the original (2:11) 45/LP version, and the new Vacation soundtrack w/ the (2:21) remix would be the only two entries in Pat's on-line db. I can tell just from looking at the photos and track listings that that 2-CD Back to the 80's Movie Soundtrack Rewind that you found on eBay is actually a gray-area collection that somebody threw together, as is this so-called "limited 10th anniversary edition" of the Christmas Vacation soundtrack, which you may have missed here. So by going w/ the Time-Life CD, you picked what's still the only legit source for the original hit recording (aside from the two LB promos, that is). I've had the original 1983 National Lampoon's Vacation soundtrack on cassette since the '80s, and was always surprised that it's never been re-issued on CD, even as an import (AFAIK)! LB definitely needs a "Best of..." or "Greatest Hits" issued - although it wasn't a single, I always liked "Time Bomb Town" from the original 1985 Back to the Future soundtrack as well... :-)

EdisonLite wrote: ...I always prefer to have original physical CDs over digital WAVs.

I hear ya - call me "old school", but I'm still the same way...

EdisonLite wrote: Kinda reminds me of the Barry Manilow "Oh Julie" situation. For years, the only version available on CD was a Japanese "Here Comes the Night" CD which had everything on the original mix and more (i.e. it wasn't missing anything - it just had lots of extra keyboards and vocals). I actually came to like the remix more! And eventually found the original mix on another Japanese CD years later by accident. (Same CD - "Here Comes the Night" - just a later pressing, where they used the original, unaltered mix.)

I still remember your original posts here from years ago on the subject, and as a result, have periodically looked for those Japanese versions of Here Comes the Night, although I'd prefer to obtain the later pressing w/ the original mix of "Oh Julie" (still haven't ever heard the remix). Alas, when they do turn up, both versions still seem to fetch at least $50-$75, and I just can't justify the price - but hope to find one on the cheap someday, so thanks for posting that info!

PopArchivist wrote: Since no one I know has a dub of 1984's Go Insane promo 45 by Lindsey... That and Only When She Leaves being the other one we recently found out from Bill C that there was a shorter edit for.

I'm sure I have a copy of the promo 45, but as far as I know it's the same 3:05 version that appears on the LP and stock 45.

In the last part of your post, are you referring to "Only When You Leave" by Spandau Ballet?