"All I Need Is a Miracle"

Todd, my good friend, both sides of my promo 45 state "Vocal/Faded Version." My stopwatch results for both sides do, in fact, reflect both a listed and actual running time of exactly (3:45).

This song on the vinyl LP tracks into the next selection "Par Avion." (title: Mike + Mechanics -self titled- "Atlantic 81287-1")

--abagon

I'm 99% sure it's an early fade, but I will try to pull my promo 45 shortly and
confirm for sure.

Seeing that Jim's timing was 3:45 for the promo 45, I went
back and re-timed mine. Listed and actual time for mine
really is 3:45. Scrap what I said above. Fade is from 3:35
to 3:45.

Edited by eriejwg

LP and 45 length (4:10)

The song first appeared on CD on the full-length CD Mike + The Mechanics (1985), where tracks into the next selection on the album, "Par Avion". You can hear a bit of synthy sound effects in the last second or two of the fade. I don't know exactly what's at the tail of the 45, but I suspect that it's faded at or before the synthy sound effects.

There's a differently-EQ'd digital clone on Atlantic's 3-CD Classic Rock 1966-1988 (1988). This is one of my very favorite compilations from the late '80s, and was considered an essential purchase back then by lots of us old DJ folks. It's mastered by Ted Jensen and sounds superb, start-to-finish. For this song, the synthy sound effects are faded to zero, to avoid the abrupt end that you'd get from tracking into the next selection.

The LP/45 length appears in the TM Century library twice. Track number 6706 sounds just fine, with no evidence of noise reduction all the way out to the synthy sound effects. Track number 763 hastens the fade and includes noise reduction - avoid. The version on swaitek's promo 50-CD set The A List Vol. 32 (1994) bases its mastering on TM Century track number 763, so it, too, hastens the fade and has noise reduction - avoid.

Promo 45 length (3:45)

According to John G's post above, the promo 45 is just an early fade of the LP/45 version, faded from 3:35 to 3:45. Unfortunately, the promo 45-length versions on CD begin and end their fades too soon.

The almost-promo 45 length first appeared on CD on Warner Special Products' 2-CD Sessions Presents Night Beat (1988), where it fades from about 3:27 to 3:40. Here, the balance is a little off, so that the left channel is a little louder than the right channel, which is not great. I don't hear any evidence of noise reduction on the fade. The same analog transfer is used on:

• Razor & Tie's 2-CD Totally '80s (1993)
• Time-Life's Sounds Of The Eighties Vol. 12 1985-1986 (1995) - differently-EQ'd digital clone of Totally '80s
• Time-Life's Ultimate Love Songs Collection Love Is You (2004) - differently-EQ'd digital clone of Totally '80s

I strongly suspect that every CD that has the almost-promo 45 length uses the same analog transfer as Night Beat.

My recommendation

If you already own Atlantic's Mike + The Mechanics (1985), then by all means use it in your library. It sounds just fine.

If you're going to purchase a disc, then go with Atlantic's 3-CD Classic Rock 1966-1988 (1988), which is stellar in every way.

You can fade either of the two discs from 3:35 to 3:45 if you really want the true promo 45 version. I've used Night Beat in my library for years, and didn't really notice any issues with it until I read through this thread.