Aretha Franklin - "Think"

My commercial 45, which is mono and confirmed as Atlantic
A-2518, has a listed time of (2:15), and has an actual
time of (2:15). However, I bring this up because all CDs
have about the same time except that the 45 is sped up and
starts to fade at the point when the sound on the other
versions end.   So, the 45 has five seconds more musical
content.

David,
It's possible they haven't got all the mono masters.
I recall years ago in the BSN newsletter, Mike Callahan
interviewed someone from Atlantic re-issue camp (don't
remember who, may have been Bill Inglot, but not sure) -
they were discussing the various CD releases, and the
Atlantic fire.

He said they still had much of the 50's and early 60's
are intact, including multitracks.

But sadly, tapes covering mid-60's to early 70's were
devastated.

This is why the Queen Of Soul box was a mix of sources.
Many masters were replaced off album reels located
elsewhere, like V/A comps, and album safety copies.

Groups like The Drifters have been treated to CD sets
sourced from multi's - and they certainly wanted to give
Aretha the same treatment, but the tapes are all gone.

Just like Universal, i'd hope Rhino would look overseas
for replacements, if that is possible.
MM

that's odd, hits man....i pitched up the 'queen of soul' cd
version very slightly and the pitch matches the vinyl 45
and runs exactly the same at 2:15........the vinyl cd has a
more gradual fade than the vinyl 45....but they run the
same speed and time...........are there two vinyl
45's??....my run out groove etching is 'A-14310-24 delta
sign 71369'

hitsman....what is the etching in the run out groove of
your vinyl 45?

Although I have several other late-'60s cutout titles, "Think" was the only time I ever encountered a current Columbia Pitman-pressed Atlantic 45 in the Twin Cities, so it's possible there was a disruption in the pipeline among Atlantic's usual manufacturers when it was issued.

The actual time on my copy j-u-s-t makes it to 2:16; Deadwax is   "CP"   "A-14319-1B"   ;   and a single, indecipherable character. Union rules then in effect at CBS mandated that Columbia Records Custom Division handle the mastering in addition to the pressing, which explains why multiple "Think" masterings exist (same story with the Turtles' White Whale 45s pressed by Monarch and Columbia.) Ed's Monarch pressing and the other (non-Columbia) manufacturers would have utilized Atlantic's in-house mastering.

I only have "Think" on CD via the 1986 2-CD 30 Greatest Hits, where it also runs an actual 2:16. The speed is slower than the 45.

Speed differences aside, the Pitman-pressed 45 does have some added length, but I only detect about 1.4 seconds of unique content extending beyond the cutoff of the CD track's fade. As Grant pointed out, the fade on the 45 does start later, but unlike Ed's 45, the fade is actually more gradual than the one on the CD (which quickly fades to a very low volume, then rides along at that barely-audible level for its final four seconds.)

In terms of practical listening, the combination of the later start of the 45's fade, its less-steep curve and that extra 1.4-second length makes it appear to run almost four seconds longer than the CD track.

Edited by Yah Shure