Atlantic Starr - Secret Lovers

Anyone know where the version of this song on their "Ultimate Collection" CD comes from? It's labelled as "Single Version", but
runs around 4:23 whereas the actual 45 runs around 4:03. I compared the two and the 4:23 seems to be the same as the 45, just faded
about 20 seconds or so later. None of the other 45 configurations listed on Discogs from other countries show a 4:23 running time,
and in fact the UK Single is apparently even shorter at 3:38.

11 songs are listed as "Single Version" on the compilation, but there's at least one other error besides "Secret Lovers": their
biggest hit "Always" is actually the Album Version running around 4:45. The 45 runs about 4 minutes.

There's a terrible cross-faded edit around the one
minute mark that combines the first and second verses
and omits the first chorus. I wince everytime I hear it
as the vocals are out of phase.

It makes the single version more like a rondo with only
one big verse, a chorus, a bridge, a chorus, and then a
fade/coda depending on how the ending drags out. A&M
shouldn't have cheaped-out and done the edit from the
session masters and not edit after the album version was
complete.

Edited by AutumnAarilyn

Maybe it isn't a crossfade or I've described it wrong.
I've always heard the album version on my station and
when I listened to a local gold station it was quite
jarring to say the least.

Yes, that's the same jarring edit that I heard. It's not a crossfade, as the "s" sound you hear after the edit point is also on the album version at that spot on top of the "o."

LP version (5:29)

The LP version first appeared on A&M's Secret Lovers The Best Of (1986). It sounds just fine here, with terrific dynamic range, nice EQ, no evidence of noise reduction, and a nice, long tail on the fade. It's recorded with a drum machine, and seems to be originally recorded to analog tape because there's an insignificant (but real) drift in tempo from 80.1 BPM at the beginning to 80.0 BPM at the end. The same analog transfer is used on:

• A&M's Classics Vol. 10 (1987) - digitally exactly 0.4 dB louder in right channel and 0.2 dB quieter in right channel
• the promotional disc PGD Gives You The Richness Of Black Music Disc 6 R&B Classics I (1992)
• Eclipse Music Group/EMI's Rock 'N Roll Relix 1984-1985 (1998) - differently-EQ'd digital clone
• Time-Life's 2-CD Body And Soul Vol. 7 Slow And Easy (1999) - differently-EQ'd digital clone
• Time-Life's Ultimate Love Songs Collection Secret Lovers (2004) - differently-EQ'd digital clone

All of the above sound basically the same, with minor EQ differences among them, and a small left/right imbalance on Classics. You'll be pleased with whatever version you find.

45 version (4:03)

I still haven't figured out if the 45 can be edited down from the LP version.

There's an edit at 0:01 that deletes 16 beats of the LP version and shortens up the intro.

There's an edit at 1:03 that deletes 28 beats of the LP version. This is the jarring edit mentioned above, and I think it would have been much less jarring if it had cut out a full 32 beats, rather than just 28 beats. Listen for the snare appearing out of nowhere (rather than a rimshot) shortly before the short drum fill that begins the second verse. You won't be able to unhear it.

There's some out-of-sequence stuff later in the song that replaces part of a chorus with some of the deleted 28 beats from above. I gave up, since TM Century couldn't get it right (something screwy happens at 3:27 on the TM Century version), and the 45 is readily available on CD.

The 45 version first appeared on Time-Life's 2-CD Heart Rock (1988). The song sounds OK here, and runs at 80.3 BPM throughout. (The 45 has the same insignificant, but real, drift in tempo that the LP has.) This CD set has a lot of early fades, but this track runs to its full length, albeit a little faster than other discs.

There's a slightly better analog transfer on Time-Life's 4-CD Great Love Songs Of The 70's And 80's Vol. 2 Let Your Love Flow (1991). It runs at 79.9 BPM throughout (also with insignificant drift). The same analog transfer is used on:

• Starland Music/Warner Special Products' 2-CD Lost In Love (1994) - truncates fade
• Time-Life's Body Talk Vol. 7 Hearts In Motion (1996) - differently-EQ'd digital clone
• Time-Life's Sounds Of The Eighties Vol. 15 The Mid-'80s (1996) - differently-EQ'd digital clone

20 seconds longer than 45 version (4:22)

I don't have this version, and can't confirm that the edits match the 45. As best as I can tell, this version first appeared in 2000 on the Hip-O CD Ultimate Collection (2000). It turned up later on A&M's Best Of: 20th Century Masters The Millennium Collection (2001), and I know that several of the discs in this series used versions of songs that had never appeared before.

My recommendations

For the LP version, I use A&M's Secret Lovers The Best Of (1986), but any of the Time-Life discs will also sound nice.

For the 45 version, I use Time-Life's 4-CD Great Love Songs Of The 70's And 80's Vol. 2 Let Your Love Flow (1991), but any of the other Time-Life discs will also sound nice.