Spider – Better Be Good To Me (US 12″ Promo)

BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1981

Side A

“Better Be Good to Me” is a hit rock song, written by Mike Chapman, Nicky Chinn and Holly Knight. The song was originally recorded in 1981 by American rock band Spider with co-writer Holly Knight as a member. Holly Knight went on to become a successful songwriter for various artists and later formed Device. “Better Be Good To Me” later became a hit for Tina Turner in 1984.

Spider’s version was taken from their second album Between the Lines and features Amanda Blue on lead vocals.

SIDE A:
Better Be Good To Me (Long Version) 7:24
Producer – Mike Chapman
Written-By – Holly Knight, Mike Chapman, Nicky Chinn

SIDE B:
I Love 3:11
Producer – Mike Chapman
Written-By – A. Fig*

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint (generic)

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Dreamland Records ‎– DLSPX 11
Format: Vinyl, 12″, Promo
Country: UK
Released: 1981
Genre: Rock
Style: Pop Rock

NOTES:
From the LP “BETWEEN LINES”

Find the 12″ on DISCOGS

Side B

EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut Carbon (DC)
Cartridge: Ortofon 2M
Stylus: Ortofon OM Stylus 30
Platter: Pro-Ject Acryl-It platter
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck 
Phono Pre-amp:
Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Tube:
Tung-Sol 12AX7ECC803-S Gold Electron Tube
Soundcard:
ESI Juli@
Record Cleaning:
VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Artwork Scans:
Brother MFC-6490CW Professional Series Scanner

SOFTWARE USED:
Recording/Editing: Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Down Sampling: iZotope RX Advanced 2
Artwork Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Click Removal: Manual
FLAC/MP3 Conversion: dBpoweramp
M3U Playlist: Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

19 Comments
Newest
Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
David
David
June 13, 2016 1:26 pm

I’d never heard of this before, but I love it. And I love this blog, introducing me to stuff I’d never normally dream of listening to, broadening my horizons. Thanks so much!

TD
TD
May 30, 2016 1:31 pm

I have the shorter, edited version of this song. Thrilled to now have the long version. Holly Knight’s cover of Love Is a Battlefield, which she co-wrote, is excellent too.

musicdivaSF
musicdivaSF
May 28, 2016 10:59 pm

This is why I LOVE and support your blog. Asides from just recapturing all / most of the music that I enjoyed growing up, I get to learn something new (from what can considered a classic). This is one of them.. I’ve grown to only know the Tina Turner version, not knowing that this is the original version and original group show sang it first.

Thank you for this post and for this sducational journey Dj PaulT! 🙂

oldDJ
oldDJ
May 28, 2016 1:58 pm

Paul, my first time hearing this. Definitely will track down the album. Thanks!

And thanks for everything you do on the blog week after week…have a great holiday weekend!

Daniel
Daniel
May 28, 2016 8:59 am

Thank you Paul for this great post. Another great find for me. This original version is even better than Tina’s!

Song_And_Dance
Song_And_Dance
May 28, 2016 5:21 am

I never knew the Tina version wasn´t the original. Great find for me, Paul. Thank you!

k.

Jermajesty
Jermajesty
May 27, 2016 3:25 pm

An interesting post DJPaul, I didn’t realise this was also a cover by Ms Turner.

I’m finding more and more of her classics were done by someone else first. Most surprising for me was [Simply] The Best which was a Bonnie Tyler album track before TT made it her own.

Will be interesting hearing this one. 🙂

Jon
Jon
Reply to  Jermajesty
May 27, 2016 3:33 pm

Bonnie also recorded “Save Up Your Tears” before Cher on the same album as “The Best” (Bonnie’s album was called “Notes From America” in the US and “Hide Your Heart” in the UK [same tracklisting]). Also for the curious that album includes a version of “Don’t Turn Around”, first by Tina Turner (as a B-Side) then ASWAD then Ace of Base. “Don’t Turn Around” was written for Tina but dropped from Break Every Rule.

Jermajesty
Jermajesty
Reply to  Jon
May 28, 2016 6:29 pm

OMG I didn’t realise Aswad *didn’t* write Don’t Turn Around!! :-O

Lots to check out.

Rafael Cova
Rafael Cova
May 27, 2016 2:37 pm

Thanks Paul! I love this song, i love Spider great band, ‘Between The Lines’ is a incredible album, again THAKS A LOT, you’re so cool!

Jeff
Jeff
May 27, 2016 1:08 pm

It’s always great to see/hear of a song that was before another song that one is familiar with. Thank you Paul for something that is indeed a surprise to me. I am intrigued. I hope you have a grand weekend.

All the very best!

Jeff

HERC
HERC
May 27, 2016 12:51 pm

Oops, this looks like the UK 12″.

HERC
HERC
Reply to  HERC
May 28, 2016 8:56 pm

Just saying the post title and tags say US even though you specifically say UK and link to UK single on Discogs in your post.