https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/ Copyright (c) 2006-2013 Web Wiz Forums - All Rights Reserved. Sat, 09 May 2026 21:43:51 +0000 Fri, 03 Jan 2014 10:17:41 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Web Wiz Forums 12.07 360 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/RSS_post_feed.asp?TID=7860 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum//images/Top-40-Music-on-CD-Forum-Logo.png https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/ https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7860&PID=40061&title=olivia-newtonjohn-physical#40061 Author: crapfromthepast
Subject: 7860
Posted: 03 January 2014 at 10:17am

Not much to report on for this song; this post is just a convenient place to log my comparison notes.

The first CDs that included the song were the MCA Japan-for-US pressing of the full-length Physical album (copyright 1981), and the far more common MCA [IOlivia's Greatest Hits Vol. 2 (copyright 1982). Both sound good. It also turned up on the extremely hard-to-find 4-CD promo set from MCA called MCA Hits Sampler (1988), where it has a mild dropout during the fade. All three of these appear to be unique analog transfers.

Mastering engineer Dan Hersch did a new analog transfer for Geffen's Back To Basics (1992). To my ears, it sounds like Back To Basics used lower-generation source tapes than the previous three discs. The highs are more crisp on this disc, and I hear a better defined soundstage than the others. No evidence of noise reduction on any of the four discs I've mentioned.

The same analog transfer as Back To Basics is used for:

• Rhino's Billboard Top Hits 1981 (1992; differently EQ'd digital clone)
• Time-Life's Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 38 Celebration (1994; too loud and clips a lot - avoid)
• Razor & Tie's 2-CD Everything '80s (1995)
• Time-Life's Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 47 '70s Dance Party 1979-1981 (1997; differently EQ'd digital clone)
• Time-Life's Sounds Of The Eighties Vol. 24 Everything '80s (2002; differently EQ'd digital clone that adds compression/limiting - avoid)

The song also appears on EMI's 5-CD 101 Aussie Hits (2010), where it's severely compressed/limited -avoid.

For the song "Physical", I heartily recommend Geffen's Back To Basics (1992), Rhino's Billboard Top Hits 1981 (1992), Razor & Tie's 2-CD Everything '80s (1995), and Time-Life's Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 47 '70s Dance Party 1979-1981 (1997). All sound stellar for this track.

As a side note, I think the whole Physical album may have been recorded with a drum machine, or at the very least a taped loop for the basic patterns. The song "Physical" on Back To Basics runs at 124.3 BPM, except during the guitar solo from 2:19-2:50, where it runs 124.1 BPM and has a slightly different drum pattern than the rest of the song. All the other analog transfers show a similar slowdown during the solo.

Edited by crapfromthepast]]> Fri, 03 Jan 2014 10:17:41 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7860&PID=40061&title=olivia-newtonjohn-physical#40061