David Bowie - Let’s Dance

I learned that the Ryko discs, and virtually all the multi-artist compilations that followed on other labels, use a slightly incorrect recreation of the 45 edit for the song "Let's Dance".

In a discussion on the Steve Hoffman board, member "karmaman" posted a clip that first plays the true 45 edit from EMI's Best Of Bowie (2002) and then plays Ryko's slightly incorrect recreation of the 45 edit from Changesbowie (1990). Pretty small difference, but enough to qualify for a designation of "failed attempt to recreate the 45 edit" or something to that effect.

I'll check tonight to get a proper clock time in the song to highlight where that edit is.

The faulty edit first surfaced on Ryko's Changesbowie (1990), which sounds very nice for "Let's Dance".

There are plenty of other discs that use the same analog transfer as Changesbowie, and also sound very nice but use the incorrect edit:

• Ryko's 2-CD The Singles 1969-1993 (1993; digitally identical to Changesbowie)
• Razor & Tie's 2-CD Awesome '80s (1994; mastered by Steve Hoffman)
• Time-Life's Sounds Of The Eighties Vol. 26 Rolling Stone 1982-1983 (1995; digitally exactly 0.4 dB quieter than Changesbowie)
• Madacy's Rock On 1983 (1996; digitally exactly 0.1 dB quieter than Changesbowie)
• Time-Life's 2-CD Modern Rock Vol. 21 Club '80s (2001; differently EQ'd digital clone of Changesbowie; mastered by Dennis Drake)
• Time-Life's Sounds Of The Eighties Vol. 24 Everything '80s (2002; digital clone with added compression)

EMI's Best Of Bowie (2002) has the proper 45 edit, but the mastering is not as good as the Ryko discs.

Edited by crapfromthepast

What are the differences?

Crap you mentioned that you were going to post the exact timing location where the editing point is in error but you have not posted that time yet.

Ah OK i hear it very clearly now in the sample.

The original 45 made the edit 2 drum beats later than the
mistaken/Ryko edit does.
This results in an extra guitar lick that was omitted from
the original 45. MM

It's too bad that the correct 45
edits of "Let's Dance", "China
Girl", and "Modern Love" started
appearing during the loudness war
era with the release of Best of
Bowie in 2002. I'm wondering if
the single masters for those tracks
were unavailable at the time
Changesbowie was being
compiled since this compilation
includes tracks from the Bowie
albums released originally by RCA,
but Let's Dance (the parent
album for the title track, "China
Girl", and "Modern Love") and
Tonight (the parent album
for "Blue Jean") were released by
EMI, so it's likely that Ryko
decided to create their own edits
of the Let's Dance singles
attempting to match their 45 edits
using the LP versions rather than
using the actual single masters.

Edited by David Pro