Amy Grant - "Baby Baby"

I’m most definitely the noobiest of the noobs to this forum, but I’m also for
considering Side A/Track 1 of whatever the dominant single format
happened to be at the time as the “official single version“. So, “Baby Baby”
– cassette single - “LP version” is our winner here :)

Edited by sheardbeard

aaronk wrote: Todd Ireland wrote: Assuming that we're sticking with a policy stating that Side A/Track 1 on a commercial 2-track single format release is considered the "official" single version I think this is where the confusion has come in. The policy since the beginning has not been just that it's on any commercial 2-track single; it's that the dominant 2-track single at the time is considered to be the one with the "official" single version. That means for songs charting between 1955 to around 1989 (maybe Ed or Paul H. can verify), it's the vinyl 45. From around 1990 to 1995, we've considered it to be the cassette single. And from 1996 until things went to downloads it was the 2-track CD single. Again, someone would need to verify the actual dates/years, as I'm not 100% sure. Whenever there wasn't a 2-track single on one of those formats during that time period, we've defaulted to something else, like a maxi single or 12" single. That means in the case of "Baby Baby," since the cassette single has the LP version as the A-side, that would be considered the "official" single version and therefore no database designation is needed for CDs containing the LP version (45 and LP are the same). If collectively we want to change this policy, that would definitely mean making numerous database updates.

Ok, I gotcha now. I don't really have a problem with that, although I agree that we probably should determine for certain which format was the dominant one for each year from approximately 1988 to 2000. I think we can glean some valuable and accurate information for this from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) figures below (which, by the way, was just newly updated with figures through 2024):

https://www.riaa.com/u-s-sales-database/

Todd Ireland wrote: Assuming that we're sticking with a policy stating that Side A/Track 1 on a commercial 2-track single format release is considered the "official" single version

I think this is where the confusion has come in. The policy since the beginning has not been just that it's on any commercial 2-track single; it's that the dominant 2-track single at the time is considered to be the one with the "official" single version. That means for songs charting between 1955 to around 1989 (maybe Ed or Paul H. can verify), it's the vinyl 45. From around 1990 to 1995, we've considered it to be the cassette single. And from 1996 until things went to downloads it was the 2-track CD single. Again, someone would need to verify the actual dates/years, as I'm not 100% sure. Whenever there wasn't a 2-track single on one of those formats during that time period, we've defaulted to something else, like a maxi single or 12" single.

That means in the case of "Baby Baby," since the cassette single has the LP version as the A-side, that would be considered the "official" single version and therefore no database designation is needed for CDs containing the LP version (45 and LP are the same). If collectively we want to change this policy, that would definitely mean making numerous database updates.

Assuming that we're sticking with a policy stating that Side A/Track 1 on a commercial 2-track single format release is considered the "official" single version, then here is what we have with "Baby Baby":

Cassette single = LP Version (A-side)
Vinyl 45 = LP version (A-side)
CD single = "7-Inch Heart in Motion Mix" (Track 1)

Therefore, "Baby Baby" is a case in which the song was issued on multiple commercial single formats, and yet at least one of them -- the commercial CD single -- features a different version as Side A/Track 1 than the others. Going back and reviewing the title notes currently listed in the database for "Baby Baby", it appears that the commercial CD single information is missing and, therefore, I suspect this is what's causing the confusion here. (I could swear, though, I thought you had mentioned info at one point, Aaron, but evidently it's now gone.)

Perhaps you might also be confusing the commercial CD single with the promo CD single, which is why I recommended just listing the contents of the promo CD single separately (or at least for Tracks 1-3 since we've established that those are the ones that got the most Top 40 radio airplay) in the title notes, along with the featured lead track on each of the individual commercial single formats (cassette single, CD single, and vinyl 45), like we've always done. I know it's a lot of information and a bit of a headache to read through, but I think this may be the only way we avoid further confusion. I'll leave it up to you to decide whether or not you think it's then necessary to make detailed comments for individual CDs ("LP, cassette single, and vinyl 45 version" vs. "CD single version").

Edited by Todd Ireland

prisdeej wrote: aaronk wrote: That's why in this case I think it's probably best to stick with what the database (and book) has shown since the beginning: no designation in cases where the "official single version" (aka "45 version") is the same as the LP version. Aaron, I agree wholeheartedly here. Thanks!

I very much agree with this as well. We're just trying to figure out how best to deal with situations like "Baby Baby" in which the song is issued on multiple commercial single formats, yet at least one of them features a different version on Side A/Track 1 than the others. We'd like to have other forum members share their thoughts and opinions on this as well.