Dug out my 45 for this one.
It's a commercial release, with picture sleeve. Atlantic 7-89320. Version is labeled as "Edit of Remix" on both the label and the sleeve. Printed time is 3:45, actual time is 3:47.
There's a tiny, tiny about of tempo drift from the beginning (80.1 BPM) to the end (79.8 BPM).
The 45 versions I have on CD are all over the place in terms of tempo.
The closest to the 45 that I have is Priority's Eighties Greatest Rock Hits Vol. 8 (1993), which runs 3:48 and has very little drift from beginning (79.9 BPM) to the end (79.8 BPM). There's a differently EQ'd digital clone on Time-Life's Sounds Of The Eighties Vol. 20 The Late '80s Take Two (1996).
The version on the promo-only Atlantic's Year In Review 1987 runs 3:43. This version runs 81.8 BPM at the beginning (about 2.1% faster than the 45) and 80.9 BPM at the end (about 1.4% faster than the 45). The difference in time is more-or-less due to the speed difference; the fade points are in the same place. Too fast + tape drag = not my preferred version for the song.
There's a version that has the same speed error + tape drag problem on Warner Special Products' 3-CD After Hours (1990). It runs 3:43, with 81.6 BPM at the beginning and 80.9 BPM at the end. The same analog transfer is used for JCI's Only Dance 1985-1989 (1995), which sounds extremely close to After Hours.
And finally, I have the album version on Atlantic's Golden Age Of Black Music 1977-1988 (1988), where it runs 5:17 and 80.2 BPM throughout.
Hard to imagine that I'm recommending a disc on Priority Records, but there it is!
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