"Love Is a Battlefield" - Pat Benatar

According to abagon, the actual 45 run time of Pat Benatar's "Love Is a Battlefield" is 4:08, not 4:00 as stated on the record label.

Interesting findings for this song.

Abagon reported above that the 45 version runs 4:08. It seems that the 45 is a slightly different mix from the LP, and cannot be edited down from the LP version. The panning on the opening percussion is very drastic on the LP mix, but is a little more centered on the 45 mix. You can actually see the panning visually in the waveform. In addition, the opening beat on the 45 is a backwards-sounding beat that's not found on the LP - this beat is left off a few CDs, to make matters a little more complicated.

The first place that the 45 appeared was on a record-club CD on Realm called Gold And Platinum Vol. 1(1986, 4:00). It has its opening beat intact, but unfortunately, it fades about 10 seconds early. Avoid this CD - it has a lot of early fades.

The next CD the 45 appeared on is a 2-CD set from Time-Life called Rock Dreams (1993, 4:08). The opening backwards-sounding note is intact on this disc. The sound quality is pretty good - nice dynamic range, decent EQ, and the source tapes sound OK.

There's a CD that uses the same analog transfer as Rock Dreams, but cuts off the opening backwards-sounding intro beat - Razor & Tie's 2-CD Awesome '80s (1994, mastered by Steve Hoffman). And there's a CD that's a differently EQ'd digital clone of Awesome '80s - Time-Life's Sounds Of The Eighties Vol. 11 1983-1984 (1995). Avoid these two if you want the opening backwards-sounding beat.

The opening backwards-sounding note is intact on Sony Germany's 2-CD Pop And Wave Vol. 5 (1994, 4:07), but the fade is slightly shorter than Rock Dreams.

(I don't have the All Fired Up CD, but Pat's book says that it runs 4:08. Can anyone report whether it has the opening backwards-sounding beat?)

In 1996, Chrysalis released Heartbreaker 16 Classic Performances, which I suspect has a bunch of digital clones of All Fired Up (I'll be happy to check this if someone sends me the version from All Fired Up.) This version runs 4:08, has the opening backwards-sounding beat intact, sounds like it's from great source tapes, and has a nice EQ, but is a little compressed. (Sonically, it strongly resembles Blondie's The Platinum Collection, which came out around the same time as All Fired Up.) Overall, I'd rate the sound on Heartbreaker a little better than on Rock Dreams, probably due to lower-generation source tapes.

There are digital clones of Heartbreaker on EMI UK's Time To Remember 1984 (1997, a little compression added, opening backwards-sounding intro beat removed) and on EMI UK's 2-CD Best Of 1984-1985 (2003).

There's a version that sounds similar to Heartbreaker on EMI Australia's 5-CD Eighties Complete Vol. 1 (1997), but it fades early.

Finally, there's a recreation of the 45 edit from the LP version on the promo 50-CD set The A List Disc 22 (1994). It doesn't quite match because of the intro panning, and possibly because of some other mix differences that I haven't noticed.

Bottom line: for the 45 version, try Heartbreaker (1996). Or, if it turns out that Heartbreaker is sourced from All Fired Up, then use All Fired Up.

For the LP version, the most common and probably the least expensive option is Best Shots (1989, 5:20). There are plenty of discs that use the same analog transfer as Best Shots, including: Big Ear Music's Only In The '80s Vol. 2 (1995), Madacy's Rock On 1983 (1996, digitally exactly 1.6 dB quieter), and Universal's More Pure 80's (2000, differently EQ'd and possibly extra compression added).

There are different analog transfers for the LP version on two different 8-CD box sets on Disky called Greatest Hits Of The '80s, one from 1998 and one from 2002. It sounds better on Best Shots.

Bottom line: for the LP version, try Best Shots (1989).

There's also a 12" version running 6:27 on Sony Germany's 2-CD Pop And Wave - The 12" Mixes (1995).

Edited by crapfromthepast

Thanks for another amazing analysis, Ron. An additional
FYI: the UK import of "Best Shots" used the 4:08 single
version, complete with the "reverse drum" opening note.

Thanks to Santi, I can confirm that Heartbreaker 16
Classic Performances (1996) is a differently-EQ'd
digital clone of All Fired Up (1994).