Record Collection Porn: 80s 12-Inch Single Edition

Let me say from the outset that this is not about 80s nostalgia.  I have no time for it.  I was there the first time and they were crap – and crap isn’t any less crap just because it’s nostalgic crap.  In fact, seeing the 80s revised into some kind of golden ages gives me a slight idea about what it might have been like to grow up in the 1960s – pop culture has conspired to suppress all the crap so they end up looking much better than they were.

Of all the things we remember the 80s for – big hair, loud colours, new romantics, ra-ra skirts, stone-wash denim, poodle metal, superstrats – one that never gets mentioned is the phenomenon of 12-inch singles.  As mentioned on one of the records below, a 12-inch single was just like a 7-inch single, only bigger – and longer.  Although the format began in the 70s along with disco, and continued into the 90s before going the same way as the 7-inch single for the same reason, by the mid-80s, any single with an outside chance of charting was also released as a 12-inch and often with an extended remix.

It was not a remix as we interpret the word today.  In fact, on most extended versions, the mix (that is, the balance of instruments and vocal parts and their placement in the stereo picture) was exactly the same as the regular version.  In these cases, a better description would have been Extended Edit, or in some cases, Unedited Version.

There were many ways artists and/or producers made songs longer for the larger format.  Sometimes they were the full length version of the recording before it was edited down for released.  Sometimes they had extra parts added.  Sometimes they just let the song play out.  If you can get hold of the 12” of World Party’s Ship Of Fools, the extended version is created by not fading out until two minutes later, giving the listener a rare glimpse into what happens after the fade.  Dire Straits’ Money For Nothing didn’t need extending because the album version goes for 8 minutes anyway. 

A common method of creating a 12-inch mix was a simple cut-and-paste job.  Firstly, play the intro twice.  If you can’t resolve the intro musically in order to play it again, it doesn’t matter – just stop at the end of the intro, throw in some S-S-S-sampled B-B-B-beats and start again.  Next, play the first verse without the vocal.  Do the same with the chorus if you feel like, then start with the first verse proper.  If there’s a middle-8, play an instrumental copy of it before the second verse.  If there’s a guitar solo or other instrumental part, double the length.  Then repeat the final chorus with lashing of gratuitous delay and Bob’s yer uncle!  You’ve got yourself a 12-inch extended version.

12-inch singles also had a fascinating mystique to a young collector.  They were never played on the radio, not included on compilations and certainly not available on cassette.  The only way to hear the extended version was to buy the record.

I had wondered whether to include these examples in the order they were released or in the order that I discovered them.  In the end, I went with a bit of both.

Tina Turner:  We Don’t Need Another Hero
This is the first 12-inch single I bought.  The main reason was because I had just received a turntable for Christmas and this was the song I liked most in the 12-inch rack at my local record store.
It’s a bit of a tease as extended versions go.  It’s exactly the same as the regular version up until about two thirds of the way through.  The song is from Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, so composer/producer Terry Britten’s sense of drama may have had something to do with how the 12-inch version was arranged.

Thompson Twins:  King for a Day
I bought this a week later and it was the first 12-inch of a song that I really wanted to have the 12-inch of.  Yes, it’s the Thompson Twins, of Hold Me Now – what’s your point?  Despite looking very mockable, they had some really nice songs and don’t forget this record was produced by the great Nile Rodgers. 
It’s a particularly long version that in part follows the standard method mentioned above but also features some actual different mixes in parts and still doesn’t outstay its welcome.

Mike Oldfield:  To France
This was the first time I had heard this song, but I would buy anything with Mike Oldfield’s name on it, so at first it was hard to where it has been extended.  Even without comparing it to the album version, it’s pretty clear now that an additional instrumental section has been edited in just before the end of the song.

Marillion:  Market Square Heroes
I had never heard anything of Marillion before this, but the record was calling to me.  This is actually the B-side of Punch and Judy and I truly don’t know if that’s an extended version.  I suspect probably not.  Truthfully, the reason I bought this is… well, just look at it!  How cool is it?  Fortunately, the song isn’t bad either.

Paul McCartney:  No More Lonely Nights
This is where it all came together - Paul McCartney and an extended mix and a picture disc.  I was holding out hope when I bought this that it would be the ballad version of No More Lonely Nights, which is not only one of the greatest ever Paul McCartney love songs but also one of the greatest ever David Gilmour guitar solos.  Ah, but no such luck – it’s the playout version, which closed his forgettable film Give My Regards to Broad Street.  It might be just as well.  Doing an extended version of the ballad would be like trying to improve on perfection.

There were actually two extended mixes of this track.  This one was released in the UK and I actually like it better than the more collectable Arthur Baker mix released in the US.

Tears For Fears:  Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Probably a good example of an obligatory extended edit, although the bassline at the beginning does sound rather similar to Michael Jackson’s The Way You Make Me Feel, which was still two years away.  The full guitar solo is used until the recording appears to peter out and starts again for the final chorus and a repeat of the first part of the solo, which is faded early.

Prince and the Revolution:  Raspberry Beret
This “new mix” starts out with the same intro that is used on the official video but not used in the album or single version.  As the song nears conclusion, it repeats the minor key variation used in the intro (complete with cough) and finishes up just noodling around.  It seems like he started with an interesting idea but didn’t know where to take it.

Cliff Richard and The Young Ones:  Living Doll
In 1986, even a novelty charity record had an extended 12-inch (ooh-err!) and the fact is lampooned in the extended portion of the song.  There are also skits at the beginning and end that weren’t on the 7-inch version.

Genesis:  Invisible Touch
Um, I have no explanation for this one.  I was young and curious.  Don’t judge.

Men At Work:  Down Under
Not released alongside the initial 1981 single, but remixed for a 1986 best-of album.  I believe this is the version that was included on that compilation as well.  In terms of the mix itself, there are some subtle differences, with Colin Hay singing the beginning of the final chorus solo.  As an extended edit though, it’s awful.

Icehouse:  Crazy (Mad Mix)
At which point, we begin naming the remixes, preferably along the same theme as the song.  Rather than follow the same old formula, Iva Davies completely reconstructs the song in a genuine remix and re-edit.  We also discover that the guitar solo which is cut down to a middle-8 on the album/single version actually goes for a whole verse and more as originally recorded.  This mix takes an already bombastic song and cranks the dramatics up well beyond 11.  It’s all utterly mad but then, that is what it says on the label.
The B-side features the rather lovely Midnight Mix, which does away with the rhythm section altogether and suddenly it’s become a song of seduction – which goes to show how important mixing can be.

George Michael:  I Want Your Sex (Monogamy Mix)
Now this is creative!  I Want Your Sex was a controversy-baiting single dressed up as a safe sex message.  As nookie songs go, it’s exactly mid-way between Barry White and Salt’n’Pepa.  However, if this record had finished at the 5-minute mark, it would still have fulfilled all the requirements of a 12-inch.  Instead, it’s presented in three sections –  Rhythm 1: Lust, Rhythm 2: Brass in Love, Rhythm 3: A Last Request.  As I understand it (I haven’t heard the album), the first two sections follow the album arrangement, with the final section (also on the album but not in the same order) turns it into a 13-minute epic.
I was fascinated by the idea of three sections looking at the cover in the record shop, but couldn’t come at actually buying a George Michael record.  I picked this up at a market many years later.  Listen without prejudice.

Roger Waters:  Radio Waves
The Radio KAOS album is regarded as a bit of a mistake by most which is quite unfair.  Waters’ intention was to make a straightforward rock and roll album and naturally threw in some apocalyptic fear and a message of redemption for good measure.  In fact, the album’s other theme of corporate dominance and dedication to all those who find themselves at the violent end of monetarism are more relevant than ever. 
Appropriately for the musical objective of the album, an extended version of the lead single was released.  It’s a fairly formulaic mix, but interesting coming from an artist like Waters.

George Harrison:  When We Was Fab
George’s wonderfully dry sense of humour was all over this record.  The A-side is clearly labelled “unextended version,” but the B-side featured the “reverse ending,” where the song plays all the way through to the end, and then comes back playing backwards!

Paul McCartney:  Once Upon a Long Ago
A good example of an extended version being a less edited version than the single release.  An additional intro is tacked on at the front, but most of this version is the song in its entirety with an ad-libbed repeat of the first verse at the end and full length solos.  The extended string note right at the end is a nice touch.  A beautiful and underrated song.

Travelling Wilburys:  End of the Line
Even a band of five traditionalists like the Travelling Wilburys couldn’t avoid the obligatory 12-inch mix, and this mix is exactly what you would expect when fulfilling obligations.

Paul McCartney:  Figure of Eight
This is a rare example of a 12-inch single which features a completely different recording to the album version.  While not listed as an extended version, this live-in-the-studio take is longer than the album version and much closer to the arrangement that opened Paul’s live shows at the time.

Billy Bragg:  Sexuality (Manchester Mix)
It may just be coincidence, but naming the mixes after the cities they were done in (the B-side features the London Mix) looks like it may be a tribute to The Smiths, who named the three versions of This Charming Man Manchester, London and New York.  The latter was pulled almost as soon as it was released and never heard again until included on The Sound of The Smiths.
The Manchester Mix of Sexuality was mixed by Owen Morris, who would later produce Oasis.  This is both extended version and true remix, with Johnny Marr’s guitar pushed to the front of the mix.  What more could you ask for?

The Cure:  High
Curiously enough, I did actually hear this version for the first time on the radio and that’s what made me buy it because I’m not really a Cure fan.  This is both an extended edit and a remix and I think this mix is far superior to the album version.  As smitten as that!