The Razor & Tie '80s compilation (Awesome/Forever/Totally '80s) track-by-track thread

The Rhino disc is better than the others, including Totally '80s, but it's not perfect. By the time the Billboard Top Hits - 1985 disc came out, Bill Inglot's Rhino collections were starting to get a little bit loud. "St. Elmo's Fire" clips a bit on this disc.

 

Do you know what Time Life collections it appears on?

Pat

 

Yep, you ain't kidding. 1980,1981 and 1982 Billboard CD's were OK, 1983 was so so, by the time the 1984, 1985 discs came around digital manipulating things louder during mastering was the latest and sadly lasting craze.

 

The three that I know of are Sounds Of The Eighties - Movie Hits Of The '80s (a differently-EQ'd digital clone of Billboard), Another Lost Decade - At The Movies (also a differently-EQ'd digital clone of Billboard), and Sounds Of The Eighties - 1985 (sounds extremely close but not a digital clone).

The Billboard and Time-Life CDs all run at 111.2 BPM.

The discs with the truncated intro run at 111.0 BPM, including Night Beat (1988) and ones that are based on the same analog transfer as Night Beat: Totally '80s (1993), After Hours (1990), and Only Rock N Roll 1985-1989. There may be others that I don't have.

I know that the Billboard/Time-Life CDs have their L/R channels reversed, compared to the others, but I don't know which is "correct".

 

any info on which version appears on Atlantic's 40th Aniversary "Hit Singles 1980-1988"?

 

Thanks. I have the Night Beat CD's (are there only 2?) and the Time Life Sounds of the Eighties 1985. Weird that the channels are reversed.

Pat

 

I"ll have to check tonight...

 

With so many "retractions" one has to wonder if you actually listened to them before. Why the rampant revisionism?

 

Haven't you ever changed your mind?

 

Yes, of course, but it seems rather extreme in this case. New gear perhaps?

 

No, new CDs.

I didn't have any of the Rhino Billboard CDs when I first posted all this two years ago. They turned up so often, so cheap, with so few tracks per disc, that I'd never bothered to buy any of them. Who knew they'd sound so good?

And I should point out that all my comparisons are based just on CDs that I own. I don't have everything, of course.

In the process of listening to all these CDs, I'm able to generalize a bit:

• Most of the Warner Special Products pop CDs (of '70s/'80s material) from around 1990 to about 1995 sound pretty similar. They all seem to be based on a pretty decent set of analog transfers, and I haven't found any that really offend in terms of clipping, compression/limiting, noise reduction, or outrageous EQ.
• The three Razor & Tie collections that Steve mastered sound pretty much like the other Warner Special Products collections released from 1990 to 1995. Keep in mind that Warner Special Products put out collections for Sessions, Heartland, Silver Eagle, Music By Mail, Starland Music, the Only Rock 'N' Roll series, and yes, Razor & Tie. I have a lot of these.
• The Rhino pop collections (also of '70s/'80s material) put out between 1990 and around 1993 sound better (to my ears) than most of the others because Bill Inglot seems to have gotten lower generation source tapes. After around 1996, the Rhino collections got loud, and I don't really like those at all.
• The Time-Life collections (still talking about '70s/'80s material) are hit-and-miss in terms of sound quality. If you can find Time-Life compilations mastered by Dennis Drake, they're almost always made up of differently-EQ'd digital clones of existing CDs. I really like Dennis Drake's EQ choices, but they're not terribly drastic changes from the source CDs. For '80s material, most of the Sounds Of The Eighties series is excellent. There are a few clunker CDs in the series that use extra compression - I'll eventually get around to posting all my notes. The Time-Life Modern Rock series is entirely mastered by Dennis Drake, and is (completely?) made up of differently-EQ'd digital clones. That series is hit-and-miss, but only because of some odd choices for source material. Again, I'll eventually post all my notes.

 

The version of "St. Elmo's Fire" on Atlantic's Hit Singles 1980-1988 also has its opening note truncated.

On the plus side, it has the terrific guitar intro on Laura Branigan's "Self Control". Win some, lose some.

 

I found Totally 80s in FYE and it sounds rather flat and uninvoling to me. Perhaps I need to give it a few more listens? A few of the same songs on Billboard Top Hits comps from Rhino are preferred so far, even if they are EQ'd.

 

Just revisited the 45 edit of "Shout" by Tears For Fears.

The version on Awesome '80s seems to be the only one that has its full dynamic range intact, without any clipping. Unfortunately, it seems that it's taken from a higher-generation tape than all the other CDs I checked.

I prefer the version on Rhino's Billboard Top Hits - 1985, even though it clips quite a bit near the end of the song. I hear better definition to all the little percussion effects, more full bass, and a overall less "tinny" sound than on Awesome '80s. Pretty sure it's a lower-generation source tape as well.

There is a digital clone of the Billboard CD on More Pure '80s (0.997 dB quieter), and a non-digital-clone that uses the same analog transfer on Time-Life's Sounds Of The Eighties - The Rockin' Eighties.

The version on The A-List Disc 28 is taken from vinyl.

 

Any idea how "Shout" on those comps sounds compared to various album masterings (original atomic, MFSL)? There's something about the sound of this particular song that doesn't appeal to me.

 

Just revisited "Morning Train (Nine To Five)" by Sheena Easton, based on some new CDs I got.

The first compilation that it appeared on was on Warner Special Products' 2-CD Feel Good Rock (1989), where it sounded OK. The version on Totally '80s (1993) used the same analog transfer as Feel Good Rock, and it, too, sounded OK.

It appeared on Priority's Eighties Greatest Rock Hits Vol. 7 (1993), where it was way too loud and clipped severely. The same analog transfer was used for Time-Life's Sounds Of The Eighties - 1981 (1996).

Much better than all of these is the version on Cema Special Markets' cheapie 10 Best Series - Greatest Hits (1995), which has a larger dynamic range than all of the above, and sounds like it's from lower-generation source tapes. Who'da thought?

 

Just re-listened to "Ghostbusters" by Ray Parker Jr. Still sounds great to my ears, but there are also a few other discs that sound essentially the same:

The original analog transfer for this track was done by Bill Inglot for Rhino's Billboard Top Hits - 1984 (1992).

The same analog transfer was used for Warner Special Products' 2-CD Ultimate Party Album (1992), Razor & Tie's 2-CD Totally '80s (1993), JCI's Only Rock N Roll - 1980-1984 (1994), Time-Life's Sounds Of The Eighties - 1984 (1994; differently EQ'd digital clone of Billboard), and Time-Life's Sounds Of The Eighties - Movie Hits Of The '80s (1996; differently EQ'd digital clone of Billboard).

All of the above sound great.

There was a different analog transfer done for Arista's Ray Parker Jr. Greatest Hits (1993), which is a superb-sounding collection with a great track selection. Sounds great, but fades about 5 seconds earlier than the others. This is a perfect summation of his recording career, and I can't say enough good things about this disc. Strangely hard-to-find, though. (Arista 18732, released 1993)

 

Revisiting "Whip It" by Devo. Thought I'd share the chronology...

The earliest version of "Whip It" on CD appears to be on WB's Freedom Of Choice CD. I have the W. German target, so it's from sometime in the early-to-mid-'80s. Sound is quite nice, but levels a bit low. The song is played with a live drummer and a click track, and this version has a tempo of 157.9 BPM throughout (no drift).

The next version on CD was on WB's Greatest Hits (1990). It's a digital clone of the Freedom Of Choice CD version, about 3 dB louder and a slightly different EQ. Sound is also quite nice, and this version has proper levels.

There were then a flood of CDs that used the same analog transfer as the above two. All sound fairly close to the Greatest Hits CD, and none are digital clones:

• Priority's Rock Of The '80s Vol. 1 (1990; clips the bottom half of the waveform at -3 dB in the L channel)
• Sandstone's Rock The First Vol. 3 (1992; mastered by our host)
• Razor & Tie's 2-CD Awesome '80s (1994; also mastered by our host; brightest EQ out of this group of CDs)
• JCI's Only Dance 1980-1984 (1994)
• Warner Special Products' 2-CD Punk (1996)

I found three other analog transfers of "Whip It".

One was on Silver Eagle/Warner Special Products' 3-CD After Hours. It runs 159.3-158.4 BPM, and there's tape drag that slows down the last minute or so of the song. This is the only CD that does this - avoid if possible.

Another was on Rhino's Just Can't Get Enough Vol. 2 (1994). It's a superb analog transfer from great source tapes, but it's a little bright and is about 4 dB louder than Awesome '80s in a side-by-side comparison. Inspection of the waveform doesn't show any significant clipping, but the peaks on the drums go right up to within a dB of 100%. (Maybe a 45 master? I know Bill Inglot doesn't add compression, so it sounds like the Rhino source tapes have a little "squoosh" to them, compared to the WB tapes above.) This transfer runs at 157.5 BPM throughout.

The JCGE analog transfer was used for Time-Life's Sounds Of The Eighties - The Rolling Stone Collection 1980-1981 (1995), Rhino's Millennium New Wave Party (1999; digitally exactly 0.21 dB quieter than JCGE until 1:37), and Time-Life's Modern Rock - 1980-1981 (1999; digitally exactly 3 dB quieter than JCGE). All sound basically the same.

Finally, there's what appears to be a new analog transfer for Rhino's Like Omigod box (2002), which is a fraction of a dB quieter than JCGE and isn't as brightly EQ'd. It runs at 157.7 BPM throughout.

Overall, I'd have to go with Rhino's Just Can't Get Enough Vol. 2 (1994) for the best-sounding version. The presence on the Rhino disc is astounding. I hear a more vivid soundstage than the WB discs, which sound kinda lumped into the center in comparison. The brightness on the Rhino discs really brings out the fine hi-hat work and the synth accents on the upbeats. In a side-by-side comparison, the WB discs sound like they use a higher-generation tape source - not bad, but I prefer the Rhinos.

 

I'm impressed that you managed to listen to "Ghostbusters" so many times. No disrespect to Ray, but this is one of the worst '80s relics that has definitely not aged well.

 

Actually, Greatest Hits is readily available on Amazon for $7.98 (and even less from Amazon Marketplace):

http://www.amazon.com/Ray-Parker-Jr...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1275623612&sr=8-1

My gripe with this set is that it uses the edited version of "Let Me Go," without the spoken intro.

 

Crap From the Past successfully identified the best sounding version of the worst song of all time "We Built This City".

 

Wow, great stuff. I have Greatest Hits, Awesome '80s, and Like Omigod -- but have never compared them. I probably just assumed Steve's was best and didn't bother thinking further. So, that one's the brightest... how can that be? Steve's version, the brightest?

 

The brightest of those 5 CDs, that is. There's really not much difference among those 5 and the GH CD. The Rhino transfers are MUCH brighter than the others, as you might imagine, but I think they work very nicely for the song.

 

I found a copy of Awesome '80s to replace my current copy, and find that the cover art is different on each CD! Did Paula Abdul decide she didn't want her face on the cover or something? The interior side of the tray card reproduces the art (without the title text) and the variations match the cover on both CDs. Very strange...

 

this is from crap from the past:
This isn't a complete list, but I have a few other Razor and Tie collections worth hunting down. Most of the '80s collections below are mastered by Steve Hoffman, a superb engineer who used to work for the Dunhill Compact Classics (DCC) label, and did the sound for the "Rock The First" and "Cosmopolitan" compilations. His CDs are possibly the finest-sounding in existence.

Totally '80s (1993)
Awesome '80s (1994)
Forever '80s (1994)
Back To The '80s (1994)
Everything '80s (1995)
Living In The 90s (1995)
Super '70s (1995)
'90s Style (1996)
The Big '90s
Suddenly '70s (1997)