All or nothing--who loves 12" versions?

[KYYX4ever]

[quote][i]Originally posted by q89747[/i]
<br>[quote][i]Originally posted by KYYX4ever[/i]

My fave 12", though, is Psychedelic Furs' "Heartbeat" (New York Mix). It's actually totally different than the album cut. [/quote]

You mean the New York Mix of'Heartbreak Beat' right? Cos there's the 'Remix' version of 'Heartbeat' that's pretty awesome.
[/quote]

It's "Heartbeat". Not a big fan of "Heartbreak Beat"; haven't heard that 12".

Last night, the 12" of "Nowhere Girl" by B-Movie came up on my player--there's another great 12". Although that girl's laugh is kind of creepy !

[Doctor Doctor]

Used to collect a lot of these in the 80's.
I pretty much bought anything Pet Shop Boys released. For me they were the most creative when it came to 12" singles. They used the format as if they were adding additional chapters in a book. Never went for the easy option of extending the instrumental part of the single a couple of times and calling it good. I bought a cassette ep that was entirely made up of mixes of Always on my mind and each mix doesn't feel repetitive. I think they would be an interesting band to look at if one were to study the art of the 12" remix.

[b]"And now I know how Joan of Arc felt, as the flames rose to her roman nose and her Walkman started to melt"[/b]

[budaniel]

Prince also seemed to be fully dedicated to making his 12" mixes complete full length epics instead of mere extensions.

[pepeguspap]

Why this topic is so popular because versions in general are what we remember. They are just as important as the song itself. Most songs had a 7” version (45”), an album version, an extended or remix version, a dance version (slightly different than the extended one) and a dub version.
General Public’s ‘General Public’ for example had three different versions but each unique and cool, the 45” version, the LP version, and the 12” version.
Another example was Tin Tin’s ‘Kiss Me’ – the original 1983 version. There were the 45” version, the 12” version that you hear all the time, and a Dub version that had a scream sound prior to the start of the song that was just so cool back in’83.
Most radio stations featured the 12” versions during special times (WLIR played them during ‘Party Out Of Bounds' which aired on Friday nights), which helped promote 12” versions. Looking back at least LIR tried at times to play the different versions and actually pushed what they felt was the better ‘sounding’ version during normal play time, even if it was an extended or ‘different’ version from the original single that was released. An example was Pseudo Echo’s “Living in a Dream” version they played was not the album version you’d hear now on ‘Love and Adventure’.

[Frank_Chickens]

I have a bit of a love-hate relationship in this area, mainly due to my hopes being dashed on the whole when I hear them.

There are the ones that take the piss like B-Movie's 'Remembrance Day' and The Kinks 'Come Dancing' where the extra running time for both combined come to around half a minute. Albania's 'Could This Be Love' is an absolute travesty, the person responsible should be throughly ashamed with their self for this abortion.

The good ones are Seiko Matsuda - 'Dancing Shoes' which is a damn sight better than the album version. One of my favourite album versions is Blue Zoo - 'Cry Boy Cry' as I certainly enjoyed hearing the extra verses.

On the whole, the best field for extended versions IMO is jazz-funk with the likes of Incognito, Shakatak and The RAR Band (no surprise with Richard Hewson behind it) where the extra length adds to the music without making it outstay its welcome.

[Thejimness]

Wow

12" versions were & still my life ESPECIALLY remix versions
I.e. FRANKIE Goes To Hollywood

James colgan