Olivia Newton-John – Livin’ In Desperate Times (US 12″)
Posted by DjPaulT on August 31st, 2012
BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1983
Re-Rip Remastered
Originally I posted this one back in June of 2010. But for those who may have missed it or if you are a new reader just discovering BTG. I decided to give this one a new rip with my newer equipment. This 12″ is also being posted in 24 bit flac for the very first time!
Produced by David Foster the epic track “Livin’ In Desperate Times” was the second single released from the Soundtrack to the film “Two Of A Kind”. “Livin’ In Desperate Times” debuted on the Billboard Top 40 on February 25, 1984. The single remained on the chart for five weeks peaking at #31.
The 12″ version of “Livin’ In Desperate Times” was only released in the US, Canada and Sweden and was backed with the extended version of “Twist Of Fate”.
SIDE A:
Livin’ In Desperate Times (Extended Version) 6:36
Written-By – Barry Alfonso, Tom Snow
SIDE B:
Twist Of Fate (Extended Version) 5:30
Written-By – Peter Beckett, Steve Kipner
VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
CHARTS:
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Livin’ In Desperate Times | U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | #31 |
RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: MCA Records – MCA-13987
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 33 RPM
Country: US
Released: 1983
Genre: Electronic
Style: Synth-pop
Credits: Producer – David Foster
Engineer, Mixed By – Humberto Gatica
NOTES:
From the MCA LP, MCA-6127 Music From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack “Two Of A Kind”
Find The 12″ On DISCOGS
EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut III
Cartridge: Ortofon Super
Stylus: Ortofon OM Stylus 30
Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Soundcard: ESI Juli@
VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Brother MFC-6490CW Professional Series Scanner
SOFTWARE USED:
Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Adobe Photoshop CS5
ClickRepair
dBpoweramp
Playlist Creator
RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
Downsampled to 24bit/96kHz and16bit /44kHz using iZotope RX Advanced 2
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi
PW: burningtheground
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August 31st, 2012 at 1:12 pm
Yaaaaaaaaaay! I’m loving this Olivia series you’re doing. Keep up the great work, Paul xoxo
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DjPaulT Reply:
August 31st, 2012 at 1:57 pm
You’re welcome Matt
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August 31st, 2012 at 1:28 pm
I was just listening to the version you posted back in 2010. Thank you for re-posting this using your new equipment. Woo-hoo!!!
This really takes me back to those “desperate times” when I would only record this off of a radio station. So, I can’t wait to give this “fresh” version a listen later today. Thank you again Dj Paul and have a nice long weekend ahead!
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DjPaulT Reply:
August 31st, 2012 at 1:57 pm
You’re welcome MusicdivaSF
Please let me know what you think of the new rip as compared to the old one. Have a great Labor Day Weekend!
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musicdivaSF Reply:
August 31st, 2012 at 11:53 pm
This is, of course, is a better rip than the first one. It’s a lot clearer than the first one and it sounds better. Thank you very much for the work you put into this and sharing this with all of us.
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August 31st, 2012 at 3:14 pm
Dear Paul! All day long I listen to all previous singles by Olivia, whom you have pleased us these days. Celebration continues! We are preparing for the birthday of our favorite singer, which will be very soon! Thank you Paul!
Congratulations to all with the beginning of autumn, with the first day of September!
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DjPaulT Reply:
August 31st, 2012 at 6:20 pm
I am very happy that autumn is on the way. I love the fresh cool air and all of the colors
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August 31st, 2012 at 4:07 pm
*****************************************************************************************
I’m sorry, I have a problem. When extracting an archive for 24-bit, I get the error: Unexpected end of archive. The file is damaged. Has anyone experienced the same problem? I downloaded archive 2 times and each time the extraction failed.
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DjPaulT Reply:
August 31st, 2012 at 6:29 pm
Hi Spring,
Sorry about that. Please try again I think I fixed the problem
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Spring Reply:
September 1st, 2012 at 5:23 pm
Thank you, Paul!
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August 31st, 2012 at 5:21 pm
Hi Paul, a special note about the fantastic new ONJ rips with your newer equipment. The OM30 stylus tracks the groove much much better than the OM10 or OM20, because of its narrower diamond shape. The OM30 is of course more expensive than a standard spherical stylus, but the result is more clarity, and less distortion especially in the last part of records where the information density in the groove is much higher (‘crowdier’) than in the beginning of records. And because vinyl records have a fixed RPM (45 or 33 1/3), the stylus has to ‘digest’ more information in the last part, while the speed in that region is not allowed to increase. That’s why the last part on records always sounds a bit less clear than the first part. The better your stylus (the shape of the diamond), the less you hear the (inevitable) loss of frequency range in the last part. In other words: fidelity steadily drops as playback progresses; there is more vinyl per second available for fine reproduction of high frequencies at the large-diameter beginning of the record than at the smaller-diameter end closest to the center.
And there we have (apart from clicks and pops) the main limitation of analogue phonographic records: the frequency range lowers gradually towards the end. Nothing you can do about it, it’s natural science! Some pressing plants tried to neutralize this limitation by making their run out grooves as large as possible.
A digital carrier of course lacks this severe limitation.
If this is becoming too technical, just put on your headphone and compare the first and last chorus for example on the Whitney Houston German 12″ of How Will I Know. Or take the Communards 12″ Never Can Say Goodbye, which has also been pressed fairly loud (much high and low frequencies) and therefore stimulates the decline of frequency range towards the end ever a step further.
That’s the main reason why I am so very happy when you re-rip your older posts (and these ONJ singles) with your new OM30 stylus: the last part of the record has a better sound quality than with the OM10 or OM20 (or in other words: has less decline of the frequency range).
But re-ripping unfortunately means new transfering. I more or less know what it takes to produce a quality transfer. It’s all VERY time-consuming. You clean the vinyl first, maybe even repair the jitter when the record has an acentric hole (and polish the hole a bit more centric, so it won’t jitter anymore), afterwards you remove pops and clicks by hand, normalize the volume, make high quality scans of the cover, place the files on your blog in different audio formats, compile the additional track information… gosh, what you do deserves a medal, really.
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DjPaulT Reply:
August 31st, 2012 at 6:18 pm
Hi Stefano,
Thank you for all of the technical information. In addition to upgrading my stylus to the Ortofon OM30 I also upgraded the tubee in my Bellari VP 130 Tube PhonoPre-amp. The new tubes is a gold-pinned Tung-Sol 12AX7 Tube which I noticed made a huge difference as well. I also started resampling from 24bit to 16bit using iZotope RX Advanced 2 instead of Adobe Audition.
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Stefano Reply:
September 1st, 2012 at 4:44 am
Could you tell me what you think is different about the new tubes, I’m curious.
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DjPaulT Reply:
September 1st, 2012 at 9:31 am
Hi Stefano,
I immediately noticed clarity in vocals the bass was strong. The music just sounded more alive it was almost like it woke my OM30 up. I highly recommend this tube. I wasn’t even aware that there were tube upgrades until I spoke with my aduio dealer at Needle Doctor I’m so glad I did
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August 31st, 2012 at 7:48 pm
Wow, Stefano, thanks for your sharing your knowledge. Indeed a major project, this vinyl ripping process!
And thanks Paul for your upgraded Olivia series…lovin’ it!
She worked well with David Foster doesn’t she?
Happy weekend!
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DjPaulT Reply:
August 31st, 2012 at 9:43 pm
Ric do you remeber her duet with him called “The Best Of Me”? In the video she is soooo pregnant. Love that song too. I have a Brazilian 12″ of it but there not a remix
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ric Reply:
September 1st, 2012 at 12:35 am
I LOVE that beautiful duet!
It’s Richard Marx’s first Hot 100 entry as a writer, isn’t it?
Given that David had just scored a Top 20 hit with the St Elmo’s Fire Love Theme, I thought this duet would be another smash. But alas, it didn’t do well.
Cliff Richard finally made it his 100th single in the UK and enjoyed a #2 in his homeland in 1989.
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August 31st, 2012 at 8:12 pm
DjPaulT, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!!! This is one of my all-time favorite Olivia songs and I love the remix! Thank you so much for posting this!! I loved the video too! One of Olivia’s most underrated songs. You have made my day!!! Thank you so much for posting all the Olivia remixes! It’s great to see someone who loves and appreciates Olivia’s music as much as I do!
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DjPaulT Reply:
August 31st, 2012 at 9:44 pm
You are so very welcome Chris
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September 1st, 2012 at 4:05 pm
My only complaint about the remix of the song was they didn’t incorporate the newer vocal adlibs at the end they did for the “7 version… Thanks for posting btw.
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September 1st, 2012 at 7:02 pm
Great post Paul!!
Thank you very much!, Can you please upload the 7″ version for us?
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September 2nd, 2012 at 3:43 pm
Awesome! This and Twist of Fate are two of my personal ONJ favorites.
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September 14th, 2012 at 9:41 pm
wow thank you SO SO SO SO MUCH!!! i’ve been searching for the 12″ mix of this forever. it’s my favorite ONJ single by a mile… do you by any chance have the 7″? i bought it with my allowance in ’84 (i was 8) and played it until it cracked. i’m DYING for those ad-libs!
thanks again xxx
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October 7th, 2012 at 10:30 am
thanks dear dj
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