Super Hits Of The '70s: Have A Nice Day - volume by volume discussion

Thank you, sir! My main goal would be to get back to the sound of those singles, or strike some kind of balance between that, and what an audiophile would like to hear. And, I would make damn sure the single versions, or what was mostly played on the radio, made the cut. No approximations of the 45s. I would use stereo, but if it did not match the mono 45, I would go for mono. None of this "close enough" crap. And, the 45 version fades would be correct.

 

Yeah. That tripped me out when I heard that; considering I had the original
45 when it came out and I had only heard that version before.

 

Not to rag on Rhino at all for these, because when they came out I couldn't have been more thrilled. I cherished them. But I would pay premium price for an updated, corrected series.

Back when I was a buyer for a store, I'd get the advance cassettes from Rhino of the future volumes in this series...I think I still have a few of them - but they'd be WAY in advance, before they'd actually been mastered for realese and the cassettes were just scratchy old 45's with skips and just the most atrocious sounding 45's you could imagine, as if they'd found some Jamaican pressings that had been made out of the gravel on the side of the road. But, the point being, these advance cassettes were definitely compiled from the 45's and not album cuts because they even left the needle dropping on the 45's crackly intro deadwax on these tapes. I think some even had different track listings from what actually ended up on the released product. I've gotta dig through some boxes and see if I can find them.....

 

I'm not certain that I've ever seen vol. 3 in the stores. My favourite tracks are Gypsy Woman and I Think I Love You, but I have them both on CDs by the respective artists. I like Tighter and Tighter and Neanderthal Man, but not quite enough to want them on CD. I don't really mind Indiana Wants Me but it's not really believable and I've heard it plenty already (Gotta See Jane, by the same artist, is terrific though). I can live without anything by Bobby Sherman.

Everybody knows that Hotlegs later became known as 10cc, I presume?

 

I could too if it wasn't for that brilliant marriage of swamp-rock and sunshine-pop called "Waiting At The Bus Stop" - that song is one of my biggest guilty pleasures.

 

Green-Eyed Lady, In the Summertime, and I Think I Love You

i'd love to see a modern remake of Green-Eyed Lady, come to think of it... love the way that one feels, i'm sure it would rock again today, especially the long version...

 

Volume 3 is another strong volume. I like all of the tracks except the last one, and even though I've obviously played it since I own the cd I could not even tell you how Punch's Falling Lady sounds. On the one hand, it's strange that it got included in a series with so many bonafide hits, but I suppose that it must have been a hit in some markets. (There's at least one parallel track on the soul companion series -- Dave and Ansil Collins' Double Barrel, a song that did get a lot of airplay where I lived even though it wasn't a national hit.)

 

I wonder what are the one and two hit wonders whom they were not able to get clearances for. We know that Billboard Top Hits series is missing Beatles, Stones, Dylan and a couple others.

But what hits are missing in this HAND arena?

 

I've never found a good sounding copy of this one either.

I do have it on this Varese Saraband comp. and I'm going to pull it out as I haven't played that cd in a while. their comps tend to sound pretty good...though odd to find it on a pure bubblegum comp IMO.

 

I think the point was to concentrate more on those hits that many people had forgotten about, or that you just don't hear on oldies radio. Rhino did add quite a few big hits in this series, but they weren't usually by the big names. I'm glad they stayed away from the big artists.

When this series runs it's course, I will commence a thread on the sister set "Soul Hits Of The 70s: didn't it blow your mind".".

 

Yes! That one will be fun too. I always wish they'd done a series of the country hits of the 70's that crossed over into the pop charts, sort of like the upcoming volume of HAND that had a number of "Rose Garden"/"For The Good Times"/"Help Me Make It Through The Night" type things that fall into this category.

 

I think the reason we didn't see it is because R&B and pop were the most significant musical movements in the 70s. I think the 90s would be more conducive to country collections of this nature. Either that, or the Rhino people just didn't have much interest in country music, as evidenced by the vast majority of it's catalog. They did, however, issue a Billboard country hits collection for the late 60s. Those years of country were kind of close to pop music, so i tend to think it is because the people at Rhino had little interest in country music. After all, they were all in Southern California!

 

The HAND CD has the same full-length track as the London 45, only difference being the 45 is mono, and the CD has the stereo mix from the LP. The promo 45 had an edited version, minus the instrumental break. I have the Bell Studios mastering acetates for both versions, in mono.

A wide stereo mix of the single edit was released on a Motown Yesteryear reissue single.

Agreed!

 

"Falling Lady" was a big hit in L.A.,which is why it was included.--From what I've heard,one of the main factors in what made it onto the series was if it got played on KHJ-THE big top 40 station in LA.
As for "Double Barrell" it WAS a national hit (somewhere in the Top 40)-some markets played it,some didn't,and apparently at different times.It was a #1 hit in England....

 

The single edits are what the public heard and should be included.

My only complaint with this series is the playing time(too short).

Evan

 

The mono mix is slightly different. The vocals are much louder. That may not matter to some.

 

"Who killed Bojangles?" - Homer Simpson

As with all of these, means that HAND is the best-sounding version of the song that I own.

Have A Nice Day Vol. 4 (1990)

1. Christie / Yellow River

It was a choice between HAND and Rock Artifacts Vol. 1 (1991), with a fairly hefty EQ difference between the two. HAND is way brighter, and Artifacts sounds muffled and a little boomy in comparison. I went with the bright sounds of HAND, although your tastes may differ. The two versions track close enough so that I wonder if Artifacts (1991) is an EQ'd version of HAND (1990); I can't tell without the liner notes in Artifacts (I have the reissue with no booklet). Time-Life's Sounds Of The Seventies - Seventies Top Forty (1992) is digitally exactly 0.6 dB quieter than Artifacts.​

2. Lynn Anderson / Rose Garden

A toss-up for this track. There's a version on Time-Life's 2-CD Echoes Of Love (1991) that sounds basically like HAND (and maybe even a little bit brighter), and runs 7 seconds longer. The 2:54 version on Echoes seems to have come from a 1990 compilation called Columbia Country Classics, Vol. 4: Nashville Sound, and the 2:47 version is from HAND. I voted for the longer version, since both sound similar.​

3. Ray Price / For The Good Times

Another toss-up between HAND and the same 2-CD Echoes Of Love (1991) from above. Both sound about the same; I voted for HAND because the fade-out is about a second longer. Both are in true stereo; there's a mono version on Columbia Country Classics, Vol. 4: Nashville Sound.​

4. Sammi Smith / Help Me Make It Through The Night

Yet another entry on Echoes Of Love (1991), only here HAND sounds like a lower-generation tape source and sounds a bit better. Madacy's Rock On - 1971 (1996) is digitally exactly 1.9 dB louder than Echoes, with no clipping. Time-Life's Singers And Songwriters - Early '70s uses the same analog transfer as HAND.​

5. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band / Mr. Bojangles

There's the 1971 mix, and there's a 1986 remix that was done for the Twenty Years Of Dirt LP. I'll assume that you're not interested in the remix (any more than you'll want to hear the 1986 remix of "Daydream Believer"). The original mix sounds best, to my ears, on HAND, with a digitally identical clone on Time-Life's AM Gold - 1971 (1991). Also pretty good is JCI's Only Rock And Roll 1970-1974 (1994) - not much of a difference from the above two. FYI - it took me quite a while to untangle the mix differences, and there's a big ol' thread about it on the Pat Downey site.​

6. Wadsworth Mansion / Sweet Mary

They're all taken from vinyl. HAND was taken from a 45, and has digital clones on Time-Life's Superhits - Early '70s Classics (1992, 0.1 dB quieter), Time-Life's AM Gold - Early '70s Classics (1992, 0.1 dB quieter) and Time-Life's Sounds Of The Seventies - Pop Nuggets: Early '70s (1996, 0.3 dB louder). All of the above are 45 length, or 2:39. There's an album-length version on Dick Bartley - On The Radio Vol. 4 (1998), which runs 2:52 to a cold ending. There seems to be a tiny (and I mean tiny) amount of compression on the Dick Bartley CD, but it sounds really good. Lots of air, especially compared to HAND in the first verse of the song, and a pleasing hiss throughout. No NR on any of these. So I give the nod to the LP length on On The Radio Vol. 4, and those wanting to hear the 45 length can put their own 16-beat fade on the downbeats from 2:30 to 2:37. ​

7. Brewer And Shipley / One Toke Over The Line

Sounds just fine on HAND. The version on Time-Life's AM Gold - 1971 uses the same analog transfer as HAND, but with its L/R channels reversed. There are digital clones of AM Gold on Time-Life's Singers And Songwriters - 1970-1974 (2001, 1.005 dB quieter) and on Madacy's Rock On - 1971 (1996, 0.1 dB quieter).​

8. Ocean / Put Your Hand In The Hand

Doesn't sound all that great on HAND, but that's the best of the full-length 2:55 versions I have. The same analog transfer is used on Time-Life's AM Gold - 1971, but with its L/R channels reversed. There's an identical digital clone of AM Gold on Time-Life's Singers And Songwriters - 1969-1972 (2001). Warner Special Products' Freedom Rock (1987) uses an even higher-generation tape source, and sounds like mud. But there's one more version out there - an early fade running only 2:21 - that sounds astonishingly good. Impossibly clean, remarkable definition and soundstage, fantastic dynamic range. A new mix from the multitracks? Don't know. It's on the European disc The Beat Goes On Vol. 3 (Disky, 1997). I suspect that it's the same version that's on the Pair CD Best Of Buddah, which I don't have.​

9. Bells / Stay Awhile

There's a digital clone of HAND on Time-Life's Body Talk - Romantic Moments (1998, 1 dB louder). Time-Life's Sounds Of The Seventies - SS33: AM Pop Classics II (1993) uses the same analog transfer as HAND. I have a 2-CD set called Best Of Canadian Rock (Cirpa, 1991) that has really low levels and a really high-generation tape source.​

10. Matthews' Southern Comfort / Woodstock

HAND sounds better than the others I have. I hear a higher-generation tape source on Time-Life's Sounds Of The Seventies - 1971 Take Two (1990), and its digital clones on Madacy's Rock On - 1971 (1996, 0.1 dB quieter) and Time-Life's Singers And Songwriters - 1970-1971 (2000, different EQ). There's a 3:22 version (promo 45) on Dick Bartley - On The Radio Vol. 2 (1997), which doesn't sound as good as HAND.​

11. Mark Lindsay / Silver Bird

Sounds OK on HAND, and don't have anything else to compare it to.​

12. Glass Bottle / I Ain't Got Time Anymore

Sounds OK on HAND. Time-Life's Sounds Of The Seventies - AM Pop Classics (1993) uses the same analog transfer and sounds very close to HAND.​

So "Rose Garden" and "Sweet Mary" sound better elsewhere, and the other tracks sound best on Have A Nice Day Vol. 4. Discuss.

 

Volume 4 is a lousy collection. I only like:

Rose Garden - A very, very cold-blooded song.

Sweet Mary - Great pop tune. I never tire of hearing it.

Wile I don't much care for "Put Your Hand In the Hand", it reminds me of the very strong Jesus movement of the early 70s. "Stay Awhile" is still embarrassing to listen to.

That's it for me. I'm ready for the next volume...

 

Love "Silver Bird" - especially that scream Mark offers leading into the fade-out. These early volumes are incredible in terms of selection.

 

This is not one of my favorite volumes either, "Sweet Mary" is the highlight by a country mile - pun intended! I always liked the sound and production of "Rose Garden" too. When I bought this compilation, I had never heard the Glass Bottle track - even though it's top 40, I don't ever remember hearing it on the radio (and even though I was only 5 in '71, I was buying 2 45's a week regularly with my allowance money: the sickness started early with me).

But since I've become acquainted with "I Ain't Got Time Anymore", I sort of dig it - it's not the best thing ever, but it's not bad for an overblown dramatic pop song (how's that for a backhanded compliment) - and I like the trivia nugget that Dickie Goodman of "Mr. Jaws" & "The Flying Saucer" fame produced it.

 

Yellow River is my favourite track on vol. 4. I have the Artifacts CD, and also the Tremeloes CD with No Comprende, which uses the identical backing track.

Woodstock is second, Mr. Bojangles third. Sweet Mary and I Ain't Got Time Anymore are, at a stretch, passable. I much prefer Joe South's own version of Rose Garden. Speaking of whom, Don't It Make You Want To Go Home is a truly wonderful track that (so far as I know) has never appeared on one of these volumes.

Put Your Hand In The Hand and Stay Awhile are the ones I would prefer not to run into again ...

 

Yellow River is just the coolest thing! It has the woodsy vibe, and pop drive like a good CCR song or something, it is that good. Great guitar work all over it.

I had Sweet Mary on 45 when I was a tot. It sounded great then and now sounds a little cheap to me.

 

Yeah. Vol. 4 is kind of on the weak side.
But I can still get a few favorites out of it:

"Rose Garden", "For The Good Times", "Help Me Make It Through The Night",
"Mr. Bojangles" and "Sweet Mary"

"Sweet Mary" has always been one of my favorite pop songs.

The very fact that "Stay Awhile" exists on magnetic recording tape is
just plain wrong.:thumbsdn:

 

Definitely a weaker volume than the first three. Unlike some others here, however, my vote for favorite track on volume 4 would go to The Bells' Stay Awhile. I loved the campiness of the song when I was 10 years old and I still love it. My other favorite is Rose Garden.

 

This conversation is making me think I need to invest in a couple of volumes of this series...