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crapfromthepast
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| Posted: 07 November 2013 at 8:41pm | IP Logged
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The 45 has a printed time of 3:26, an actual run time of 3:25, and runs at 160.0 BPM throughout (a live drummer playing to a click track). At the time, the song was far more popular in the rest of the world than in the U.S., although it's very fondly remembered here.
On CD, EMI put out Very Best Of in 1987, to cash in on the success of "You Keep Me Hangin' On" on MCA. I was unaware of this CD until right now (!)
I have 13 compilation CDs that feature this song, which range from sounding pretty good to sounding terrible. None sound spectacular, and I attribute that to the style in which the song was mixed. It works really well for the song, and it sounds great coming out of the radio speakers, but it's not audiophile-grade sparkly.
I'll start with what I think is the best-sounding version - Rhino's Just Can't Get Enough Vol. 5 (1994). It's got a reasonable EQ, good dynamics, no noise reduction, and seems to have the longest fade of the bunch. It clips a teeny bit near the end of the song, but that's no big deal. The same analog transfer is used for:- Time-Life's Sounds Of The Eighties Vol. 22 1980-1983 (1997; differently EQ'd digital clone)
- Simitar's Number Ones Eighties Rock (1998; not 100% sure about this one)
- Madacy's Rock On 1982 Hot In The City (1998; digitally exactly 3 dB quieter than Just Can't Get Enough)
- Time-Life's 2-cd Modern Rock Vol. 14 Lost Hits Of the Early '80s (2000; digitally exactly 1 dB louder than Sounds Of The Eighties)
Interestingly, most of the U.S. compilations are based on the Rhino mastering. One exception is EMI's Living In Oblivion Vol. 1 (1993), which fades early and sounds like it used high-generation source tapes. Very disappointing, considering the overall high quality of the Living In Oblivion discs. Avoid using Oblivion as a source for "Kids In America". Another exception is swaitek's 50-CD promo set The A List Disc 12 (1994), where it actually sounds quite nice and has no NR.
I have a file labeled as being from The Very Best Of Kim Wilde, which is probably from the 1987 EMI disc I noted above. It sounds fine here. Two others that use the same analog transfer are:- Sony Germany's 2-CD Pop & Wave Vol. 5 (1994)
- EMI's 2-CD Now The Millennium Series 1981 (1999)
It also turns up on six foreign EMI compilations:- EMI Australia's 5-CD Eighties Complete Vol. 1 (1997) - high-generation source tapes, sounds very muffled, avoid
- Disky's 8-CD Greatest Hits Of The '80s (1998) - sounds just fine
- Disky's 8-CD Greatest Hits Of The '80s (2002 - not the same set as above) - left and right channels reversed, avoid
- EMI's CDCard Time To Remember 1981 (1997) - has additional compression and a slightly boosted high end, but sounds like it was from very low-generation source tapes; sounds better than one would expect, but not quite as good as the Rhino disc
- 2-CD Best Of 1980-1981 - sounds OK; EQ a little thin
So overall, my recommendation is Rhino's Just Can't Get Enough Vol. 5 (1994).
Edited by crapfromthepast on 07 November 2013 at 8:42pm
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80smusicfreak
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| Posted: 08 November 2013 at 8:59am | IP Logged
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crapfromthepast wrote:
| At the time, ["Kids in America"] was far more popular in the rest of the world than in the U.S., although it's very fondly remembered here. |
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"Very fondly remembered here"??? Absolutely. "Far more popular in the rest of the world than in the U.S."??? Not really. I say that because the song was actually much bigger here than its #25 Billboard & #20 Cash Box peaks would seem to indicate, if that's all one were to go by. Two other major factors to consider: 1) It was a hit here in the U.S. more than a year after being so in most of the rest of the world (Summer of '82 vs. Spring of '81); this can be attributed to the video eventually gaining a strong foothold on MTV, as EMI was initially going to pass on releasing Wilde's debut album here. And as I recently mentioned when also discussing the popularity of Talking Heads' "And She Was", MTV play wasn't factored into the trade magazines' pop charts. And 2) The song actually lasted 18 weeks on the "Hot 100" in Billboard, as well as 20 weeks on the "Top 100" in Cash Box, which is much more characteristic of a top 10 - or even top 5 - hit. In addition to peak position, longevity is just as important to consider when judging a song's popularity, and w/ that also factored in, it's easy to see why "Kids in America" just barely missed being one of the top 100 hits for all of 1982 here in the U.S. (probably fell in the top 110, if not 105, using Jim Quirin & Barry Cohen's much more accurate formula in their book, Rock 100, vs. Joel Whitburn's Pop Annual) - and that's WITHOUT the MTV popularity also factored in...
crapfromthepast wrote:
| On CD, EMI put out Very Best Of in 1987, to cash in on the success of "You Keep Me Hangin' On" on MCA. I was unaware of this CD until right now (!) |
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That's most likely because The Very Best of... was never issued here in the U.S. (in any format). It was first released in 1984 as a contractual filler, when she left RAK/EMI, and signed w/ MCA. But at that time, because CDs were still just a minor blip on the radar screen (less than 5% of the market), it initially came out on vinyl LP & cassette only (have the latter myself - used to see it in used bins quite a bit back in the late '80s and early '90s). As you correctly note, it DID finally come out on CD as well in 1987, but that can be attributed more to the digital disc gaining a foothold in the battle of the music formats vs. Wilde's success w/ her cover of "You Keep Me Hangin' On" that same year - after all, the compilation was already three years old at that point, so how could it possibly be called a "cash-in" by RAK/EMI??? (But since you mentioned her version of "YKMHO", I DO feel it was one of the best cover tunes of the '80s - I actually prefer it over the original!)
It's also important to remember that Wilde's second and third albums, Select (1982) and Catch as Catch Can (1983), weren't released here in the U.S., either. In fact, her second American album was actually late 1984's Teases & Dares, her debut for MCA. So w/ her 1981 s/t debut - the parent album of "Kids in America" - still in print Stateside, there was no need to ever issue 1984's The Very Best of... here. And while there have been umpteen collections of her hits issued elsewhere in the world since, at this time, her only U.S. compilation has been 1993's The Singles Collection 1981-1993 on MCA - which thankfully includes the (international) hits from her first three albums on RAK/EMI...
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crapfromthepast
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| Posted: 08 November 2013 at 9:27am | IP Logged
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Great details! I did a bit of guessing, based on the
copyright date, so it's good that you clarified what
actually happened back then.
In hindsight, it's very odd that Kim Wilde was completely
off the radar in the U.S. for the five-or-so years between
"Kids In America" and "You Keep Me Hangin' On". For the
radio show, I frequently trot out "Chequered Love" (UK top
5 in the spring of '81), which I like even more than
"Kids". It's one of my "secret weapons"!
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Hykker
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| Posted: 08 November 2013 at 12:05pm | IP Logged
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80smusicfreak wrote:
Two other major factors to consider: 1) It was a hit here
in the U.S. more than a year after being so in most of
the rest of the world (Summer of '82 vs. Spring of '81);
this can be attributed to the video eventually gaining a
strong foothold on MTV, as EMI was initially going to
pass on releasing Wilde's debut album here. And as I
recently mentioned when also discussing the popularity of
Talking Heads' "And She Was", MTV play wasn't factored
into the trade magazines' pop charts. |
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Another factor to consider here too...Top 40 radio was
still in its post-disco slump in 1982, and wouldn't re-
ignite for another 6 months or so. Many cities (even
major ones like NYC) didn't really have a top 40 station
in those years, so a lot of potential fans of the song
likely never heard it. MTV was only a year old then, and
wasn't on most cable systems yet (and cable itself
wasn't available in many places then either).
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Top 40 Music on Compact Disc : Chat Board
Topic: Kim Wilde - Kids In America
