AC/DC - Back In Black

A little confused for this one.

The Discogs site shows label scans for the promo 45, Atlantic 3787 (1980). One side is "Long Version" (printed 4:17, matrix number ST-A-38821-SP). The other side is "Short Version" (printed 3:59, matrix number ST-A-39283-SP). Both sides are stereo, and both sides have a pale light-blue color. (No red-and-white side.) Discogs also shows another US promo 45 that has a different font and "MO" instead of "SP" in the matrix number - different pressing plants, I assume?

Discogs shows scans of the US commercial 45, also Atlantic 3787 (1980), with a printed time of 4:17 and the same ST-A-38821-SP matrix as the "Long Version" of the promo 45.

Discogs also shows a 2-track CD of "Back In Black" and "You Shook Me All Night Long", released in 1993 in a cardboard sleeve as part of the "CD Back Trax" series. The printed time is 3:59. I'm 99% sure that I used to own this, and in my collection I found a CD-R of this version of "Back In Black", which is just an early fade of the LP version. I don't have the exact timing in front of me, but it runs a little longer than 3:59.

I unearthed a few different versions on the hard drive, and I'm trying to map out what's what.

(1) There's the album version.
(2) There's an early fade of the album version, which I'm 99% sure is from the "CD Back Trax".
(3) There's a slightly shorter early fade, a few seconds shorter than the "CD Back Trax".
(4) There's a version that has the same fade as (3), but cuts off the guitar/hi-hat intro and starts on the full downbeat.

Can anyone with the vinyl help sort this out? All of these are really easy to recreate from the LP version, but I'm trying to figure out what was on the commercial and promo 45s.

By the way, I think the best-sounding "Back In Black" is on the original '80s-era Atlantic CD of Back In Black. There's a differently EQ'd digital clone on the 3-CD Classic Rock 1966-1988 (1988).

Thanks to Jim and Aaron, I'm getting things straight.

The LP version runs 4:14 on my original Atlantic CD
pressing of Back In Black. (This was mastered by
Barry Diament and is regarded as the best-sounding
version of the album.) It has a really long fade, which
is undoubtedly why the other versions are shorter. The
fade extends from 3:45 to 4:14.

The 1993 2-track CD Back Trax version is a digital
clone of the Atlantic CD (1.112 dB louder) until an early
fade that starts at 3:51 and ends at 3:59. This tells me
that this fade was created in the digital age, after the
Back In Black album was digitized for CD. So it's
not necessarily an accurate representation of what came
out on vinyl in 1981.

The promo 45 short version is an early fade of the LP
version, including the 8-beat intro, with a fade that
extends from 3:43 to 3:59.

The commercial 45 short version cuts off the 8-beat intro
and begins on the true downbeat, and has fade points in
exactly the same places as the promo 45. Here, because
the 8-beat intro is missing, the fade extends from 3:37
to 3:53.

The promo 45 long version is the LP version.

I assume that the commercial 45 long version is also the
LP version. (Can't confirm.)

During the song's stay on American Top 40, each
airing included the 8-beat intro, so AT40 played
either the LP version or the promo 45 short version.
They accelerated the fades each time it aired, so I
couldn't tell which was which.

Very odd that there are two different commercial 45s.
Any insights as to which came first, or which was
considered the hit? I don't remember hearing the song at
all on Top 40 radio, which would have been WABC and WNBC
in New York at the time - both were more Air Supply than
AC/DC. Rock stations only played the LP version.

crapfromthepast wrote: A little confused for this one. The Discogs site shows label scans for the promo 45, Atlantic 3787 (1980). One side is "Long Version" (printed 4:17, matrix number ST-A-38821-SP). The other side is "Short Version" (printed 3:59, matrix number ST-A-39283-SP). Both sides are stereo, and both sides have a pale light-blue color. (No red-and-white side.) Discogs also shows another US promo 45 that has a different font and "MO" instead of "SP" in the matrix number - different pressing plants, I assume?

That's correct:

SP = Specialty Records, Olyphant PA

MO = Monarch Records, Los Angeles CA

Atlantic (or Warner Music, which Atlantic became a part of in the late '60s) never owned their own pressing plants until the late '70s, but contracted with outside plants for all of their pressing work. Around 1968, Atlantic began putting a suffix identifying the pressing plant on the master number printed on the label.

Around 1978 or 1979, Warner Music decided to buy its own plants. They bought two of them, Specialty to serve the eastern half of the country, and Allied Records in Los Angeles (Atlantic suffix "AR") to serve the western half. Atlantic then allowed its contracts with other plants to run out and used Specialty and Allied exculsively. They can't have used Monarch much beyond the point when this single was released.