The Now Spinning/Recent Purchases Thread

Funny story (or you had to be there).

I worked in a radio station and as a result, our station played through the offices all day. Skeeter Davis' "The End Of The World" was an often-played record and a co-worker and I used to give each other a look as Skeeter did the "talking" part of the song in the middle. She started it with "Why...does the sun...", but with her southern accent, it came out as "Whaaah..."

Whenever weird stuff happened around us in the radio station, I'd look at her and she'd look at me and we'd repeat in unison, "Whaaa?"

Maybe you had to be there... :)
I have a Facebook Page where we are trying to get Ms Davis inducted into the Country Music Hall Of Fame... I have voted on getting The Carpenters inducted into The Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame, I mean when they first came out, they were referred to as Rock artists...I mean if they can put rap artists in there, why not our duo?
 
Features Pat Metheny prior to his first album under his own name.

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Bryan Adams “Let Me Take You Dancing” is still my favorite disco tune! On A&M 12” single. I guess that was the only way they would sign him on A&M Canada? When his full album was finally released, it was a whole different sound,and voice as well. The song wasn’t on there. They sped it up for that song, and he’s almost unrecognizable. I love to play it for people to see if they can guess who it is. So far no one has until you give them good hints. Pretty funny.
It's hard to find the original since the remix was so popular, but here it is:



The John Luongo remix. Adams is only sped up by a semi-tone but it gives his voice a helium effect for sure. :D

 
Interesting, I’ve never heard the slower version, only the 12” faster one that we danced to for years. Still do once in awhile. Good disco swing or street hustle tune for sure. Perfect beat. Mine has a yellow label and plays at 45rpm as well. Thanks Rudy!!!!
 
It’s only been on one various artists cd back in the 90’s and it’s the edited version too. I think it was a continuous mix type dance compilation that wasn’t very good. The remix isn’t very good either. Too slow and the lyrics are changed, kind of repetitive. The faster version is much better in my opinion. Still it was nice to hear the alt version.
 
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A song that Bryan Adams wants to FORGET!! Said by the late Casey Kasem back in 1983 on "American Top 40" back then. Matt Clark Sanford, MI
 
Rudy, the first version of "Let Me Take You Dancing" that you posted, was slowed down by the maker of that video. Here is the actual A&M Canada 45 of the song, at the correct pitch...

 
I new there was a 45 released as well, but I’ve never heard it until today. I had no idea the extra lyrics were there and that it slowed down half way through. Thanks for sharing. Guess he had to record this to get signed even if he hated the song. It certainly doesn’t sound like the singer most people know and love. He’s great to see live in concert. Puts on an excellent show.
 
Rudy, the first version of "Let Me Take You Dancing" that you posted, was slowed down by the maker of that video. Here is the actual A&M Canada 45 of the song, at the correct pitch...
This video has the pitch of the 12" single remix, so I'm thinking whoever did the video sped up the playback or their table is running too fast. The original version is at a lower pitch, and I have a feeling that video I linked could have been slowed down further on the original. Luongo insisted on a faster beat (around 120bps). Jim Vallance (co-writer) has the story on his own site:

"Let Me Take You Dancing" was written during the first week or two Bryan and I spent together in January/February 1978. It started off as a Robbie King-inspired piano riff I’d written on my parents' piano during Christmas holidays, 1977. Bryan helped turn the riff into a song.

In 1978 Bryan hadn't yet "found" his voice. He was still singing in a high, fragile vocal range, a hold-over from his time with "Sweeney Todd", where he'd been expected to emulate former singer Nick Gilder.

It didn't help matters when "Let Me Take You Dancing" was sped up during the re-mix (to achieve the required 120 beats-per-minute tempo) making Bryan sound like a chipmunk on helium!

...........

Following the Vancouver session, John took the master tape to New York where he completed a number of re-mixes. "Let Me Take You Dancing" went to #1 on several New York disco charts and enjoyed significant success at retail. However, despite the positive outcome, Bryan was bitterly disappointed with the sped-up sound of his vocal.

John, on the other hand, believed it was of critical importance to achieve a certain tempo, even if the vocal was somewhat compromised.

Bryan Adams - Let Me Take You Dancin'

He has samples posted of the song on there, hopefully at the correct pitch. I can vouch for the pitch of the 12" single since I have one, but don't have the pre-remix 45 from Canada to compare it to. The original was released under catalog AM468, as it was the only release from 1978 and available only in Canada.
 
I new there was a 45 released as well, but I’ve never heard it until today. I had no idea the extra lyrics were there and that it slowed down half way through. Thanks for sharing. Guess he had to record this to get signed even if he hated the song. It certainly doesn’t sound like the singer most people know and love. He’s great to see live in concert. Puts on an excellent show.
Bryan Adams replaced Nick Gilder, as lead singer of the Canadian band Sweeney Todd (their biggest hit was a song called "Roxy Roller"). During that time, he did his best to sound like Nick, as that is what fans of the band expected, and Bryan did an excellent impression! I imagine that he recorded his first solo single in his "Nick" voice, to sell records to fans of Sweeney Todd (perhaps at A&M's suggestion).
 
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This video has the pitch of the 12" single remix, so I'm thinking whoever did the video sped up the playback or their table is running too fast. The original version is at a lower pitch, and I have a feeling that video I linked could have been slowed down further on the original. Luongo insisted on a faster beat (around 120bps). Jim Vallance (co-writer) has the story on his own site:



Bryan Adams - Let Me Take You Dancin'

He has samples posted of the song on there, hopefully at the correct pitch. I can vouch for the pitch of the 12" single since I have one, but don't have the pre-remix 45 from Canada to compare it to. The original was released under catalog AM468, as it was the only release from 1978 and available only in Canada.
I doubt that the video I posted was sped up. Note the running time on the label, 3:01 . The song, including fade-out on this video is 3:05. Surely if it were sped up, or the table was running fast, the time would be shorter than that?
 
The American 12” is the 2nd one Rudy posted. It sounds exactly the same as my copy does. Thanks for all the Bryan info. Interesting that he was kind of a Nick Gilder clone for a song anyway. That’s explains a lot after 40 years.
 
I doubt that the video I posted was sped up. Note the running time on the label, 3:01 . The song, including fade-out on this video is 3:05. Surely if it were sped up, or the table was running fast, the time would be shorter than that?
I'm not sure at this point--I know later singles from 1979 are clocked at 3:13, but they are the Luongo remix, and who knows how close the label times are to the actual length of the song? I may try to find a copy of AM468 since it seems to be the only release of the original version, but the only ones I find are in Canada and cost nearly as much to ship over to the US as the single costs. AM474 is the Luongo mix, apparently.

The track has appeared on CD only once, from what I've heard. It's on a series of discs called "Disco Box" that were a continuous mix of hits. This is the one @GDB2LV mentions above.

Various - Disco Box Vol. 2 - Disco Heat
 
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I'm not sure at this point--I know later singles from 1979 are clocked at 3:13, but they are the Luongo remix, and who knows how close the label times are to the actual length of the song? I may try to find a copy of AM468 since it seems to be the only release of the original version, but the only ones I find are in Canada and cost nearly as much to ship over to the US as the single costs. AM474 is the Luongo mix, apparently.
The plot thickens... Assuming the clip of the 1978 single, from the Jim Vallance website, is the correct pitch - using Audacity, I compared the clip to the corresponding section of audio from YouTube that I posted, and then extrapolated the percentage difference to the whole track. The running time comes out to 3:13 ! So, the labels of both the stock copy AM468, and the white label promo DJ-AM468 are incorrect. The YouTube video is messed up after all! You've got good ears Rudy! :bow:
 
I'm cursed with perfect pitch, so any little variation in pitch will be noticeable. :sigh:

One of my older turntables used to run slightly fast, and it didn't occur to me until I compared it to an older turntable I had, and later noticed that when I was recording the tracks to DAT, the timing always came up short on the DAT's counter. I finally corrected it by finding a wide rubber band to place around the subplatter to increase its size, and with that and a new belt, it ran at the right pitch. Rega turntables for years, decades ago, were also known to run fast--some manufacturers felt that the higher pitch made the records more "exciting." Since mine was also a British turntable, that could have been the reason why. My current TT is also a belt drive, but uses a DC motor with a speed control, which is adjustable, so I can tweak the speed slightly when I need to.
 
Heck, there are variations in pressings too. I've run across quite a few Carpenters tracks that on one pressing or another have slightly different speeds. Some are noticeable to those of us with perfect - or close-to-perfect - pitch. Others go by unnoticed until you compare them side-by-side in software.

Singles have notoriously been sped up over the years, and as Rudy mentioned, a slightly faster speed gets perceived by the masses as more exciting. Some radio stations also used to speed up their turntables to make the same records sound "more exciting" on their station. Same with added reverb.
 
Speeding up records at the radio station might also allow them to squeeze in an extra commercial per hour. 😁

One A&M 12" single that was knowingly sped up was Brothers Johnson, "Strawberry Letter #23." Having heard the correct version now, I find I slow down the turntable to the correct speed. Some later 12" singles I have (from the mid 80s) were sped up over the originals, but the remixes were sometimes quite changed from the original tracks. I remember the 12" singles for Michael Jackson's Bad album were all sped up. And I think some of the remixing engineers were tone deaf since they didn't speed up the recording and end up being off-pitch between the proper notes. At least the Bro Jo single was increased by a semitone (A-flat minor from G-minor).

Remixes on 12" singles originally consisted of three parts--mixing drums and percussion higher in the mix (and highlighting a few other parts previously buried in the mix), recording new additional percussion parts, and extending (or keeping the length of the album version of) the original recording. Extending a track often meant "looping" (repeating a part or parts of the original recording to lengthen it), and the looping was often the "breakdown" in the middle where they stripped away everything but drums and bass, then slowly added the other parts back in "rebuild" to the original track.
 
I was recently having some internal debates with myself as to whether a track was speeded up or not. In this case, it's from the university recording of the Carpenters doing "And When I Die". Every version I've heard of this record online is either sourced from the same recording, or they all sound bad.


Karen sounds like she's on helium here to me and I've tried slowing it down, but can't find the perfect factor for slowing it down.
 
Karen sounds like she's on helium here to me and I've tried slowing it down, but can't find the perfect factor for slowing it down.
I gave it a quick listen. I don't think it's too helium-like, so it's pretty close--the giveaway is in some of the sustained notes. But it's in the key of C♯, which would be rather uncommon. Maybe drop it a semi-tone to the key of C and see how it goes (I think that's about 5.6%?). If the pitch is changed in steps to corresponding musical pitches, that makes it easier than seeking via a random pitch.

Here's a list of frequencies charted to musical notes. Might be helpful in determining how much to change it.

Frequencies of Musical Notes, A4 = 440 Hz

One hit that was released a semi-tone fast was Del Shannon's "Runaway." The single is in Bb when it was originally recorded in A. His follow-up hit "I'll Follow The Sun" was at the proper speed, and his remake of "Runaway" for the theme song of the TV show Crime Story both match voice-wise, where "Runaway" is slightly heliumed. Slow down "Runaway" to the pitch of "I'll Follow The Sun" and it's easy to hear how the voices then match.

The term in acoustics for it is "formants," which are the additional frequencies and overtones that, for instance, differentiate a trumpet from a piano playing the same note. The wrong pitch on vocals changes the frequencies of the formants, which causes someone's voice to sound not quite right.
 
Listening to smooth jazz pianist Brian Culbertson "Colors Of Love" from last year & a great sounding CD which is 63 minutes long!! Matt Clark Sanford, MI
 
It's time!



I need to find an indie record store to get the vinyl version...
 
Level up!

3284

I'm on the 2nd side now and I'm finding it's a really good Stray Cats record. They're not quite as hungry as they were in the early days, but Setzer and Lee Rocker have grown substantially as musicians, and Slim Jim still lays down a solid beat on his limited drum kit. I hope they don't wait another 23 years for the next one! The music is also a lot more developed than their earlier tunes, in a good way, and it's still a lot of fun. It's like the old Stray Cats spirit got all done growed up. :laugh: Think I found my summer jam. :thumbsup:

But dang it...40...40 years...I remember going to a party in high school when Built For Speed was charting. (That was a compilation of their first two records, released only in the UK, with the title track added in the US.)
 
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