Maxine Nightingale - Right Back Where ...

For the search engine, this thread is for "Right Back Where We Started From" by Maxine Nightingale.

The vinyl 45 runs 3:13, and I believe that the LP version is the same as the 45 (can't confirm).

I have a 45 needledrop (credited to Mr. M and Xenomorf) that features the intro sax in the left channel. I'm about 90% confident that this left/right configuration is correct, but can't confirm firsthand.

The oldest CD I have with "Right Back Where We Started From" is Silver Eagle/Warner Special Products' 2-CD Dancin' The Night Away (1988), which features the intro sax in the right channel. Like all the tracks on this collection, the levels are a bit low and the EQ is a little bass-heavy. The following discs all use the same analog transfer as Dancin' The Night Away, but with a more reasonable EQ (and all feature the intro sax in the right channel - probably incorrect):

• Warner Special Products' 2-CD Feel Good Rock (1989; differently-EQ'd digital clone)
• Priority's Mega-Hits Dance Classics Vol. 10 (1991; too loud and clips a bit - avoid)
• Time-Life's Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 18 1976 Take Two (1991; differently-EQ'd digital clone)
• Warner Special Products' 2-CD Disco Collection (1993)
• Time-Life's Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 38 Celebration (1994; clips a lot around -2 dB; avoid)
• Time-Life's 2-CD Seventies Music Explosion Vol. 4 Magic (2005; digitally exactly 1.6 dB louder than Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 18 1976 Take Two)

Bill Inglot did a new analog transfer for Rhino's Have A Nice Day Vol. 18 (1993), which features the intro sax in the left channel. It sounds a little better than the batch of discs listed above, but doesn't exactly sparkle. The following discs all use the same analog transfer as Have A Nice Day Vol. 18 (and all feature the intro sax in the left channel - probably correct):

• Cema Special Markets' Rock-N-Roll Greatest Hits Vol. 5 (1995; digitally exactly 0.136 dB quieter)
• Time-Life's AM Gold Vol. 23 1976 (1996; digitally exactly 0.9 dB louder)
• Time-Life's Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 45 '70s Dance Party 1976-1977 (1997; differently-EQ'd digital clone)

And finally, some outliers:

Razor & Tie's 2-CD Disco Fever (1991) isn't based on any of the above. It sounds really shrill here, with an unpleasant, trebly EQ. It clips a bit in the right channel around -1 dB. On the plus side, the intro sax in the left channel (probably correct). You should really hunt down a different copy of the song, if this disc is all you have.

Eric's Hard To Find 45s On CD Vol. 8 (2002) seems to be based on the same source tape as Dancin' The Night Away (1988), but swaps the left and right channels so that the intro sax in the left channel (probably correct). (The channel swap is half of my 90% confidence.) I think I hear evidence of noise reduction, and the EQ severely boosts the treble. It doesn't sound good.

I have the song on four foreign compilations, all of which have the intro sax in the left channel (probably correct, and the other half of my 90% confidence). All sound a little better than the Dancin' The Night Away group, but not as good as the Have A Nice Day Vol. 18 group. They're:

• EMI UK's Time To Remember 1975 (1996)
• Disky UK's Beat Goes On Vol. 7 (1997)
• EMI Australia's 5-CD Seventies Complete Vol. 2 (1999)
• Disky UK's 8-CD Wow That Was The 70's (1999)

My recommendation: Go with Rhino's Have A Nice Day Vol. 18 (1993).

Edited by crapfromthepast

The Have A Nice Day compilation is also my own music
library preferred version.