Linda Clifford's Big 12"s

**NickNack** · August 15th, 2003, 04:37 PM

Originally Written by "jazz_pilgrim

...but there was, to my delight, a meaty 9:42 disco remix of Linda Clifford's Runanway Love which I have never heard before. A brilliant track.

Jazz had mentioned in the 'Favorite Compilations' thread that he recently found a CD with the long version of Linda Clifford's "Runaway Love", something he had not heard before. I just found this so weird, the song being so huge in the clubs. So, for Jazz and others who may have missed Linda's looong versions, here's what I got on 12". You should check 'em out. :D

CURTOM LABEL:
1. If My Friends Could See Me Now 10:12 b/w Gypsy Lady 9:58 (Jimmy Simpson Remix)
2. Runaway Love b/w (same) 9:44 (Jim Burgess Remix)

RSO / CURTOM RECORDS:
1. Bridge Over Troubled Water b/w (same) 10:20 (Jimmy Simpson Remix)
2. *Special 4-song 12"* Lonely Night 7:12, Repossessed 5:36 b/w King For A Night 7:14, I Just Wanna Wanna 5:06
3. Don't Give It Up 10:16 (Remix by Manny Slali and Roger Anfinsen) b/w Sweet Melodies 7:53 <'DGIU' was the follow up to "Runaway Love", structured almost the same and yes, very hot. Although longer than the 'double lp' version by a little less than a minute, it has less of her rap in the intro. Both are good.>

RED LABEL RECORDS:
1. The Heat In Me (4 versions: 3:56 - 6:30)
2. You're Mine (4 versions: 1:27 - 9:12)

UNIDISC (I don't have the original 12" on Curtom)
1. From Now On 7:01 b/w If My Friends...

Reading the credits is an eye-opener. Gil Askey produced and arranged everything except those songs on Red Label. It looks like The Jones Girls were doing background. Bunny Sigler wrote From Now On. Leroy Gomez wrote "Lonely Night" while Norman Harris, Ronny Tyson and Juergen Koppers produced that special 4-song 12". Great stuff.

**Boogie Child** · August 15th, 2003, 04:59 PM

I love Linda Clifford - she is excellent performing live, and one of the more consistent divas of the Seventies and early Eighties. I don't have the twelve inches in front of me, but all of these songs have longer versions than the LP's and benefit from the extension:

1. "Shoot Your Best Shot"
2. "Don't Come Crying to Me"
3. "Red Light"
4. "A Night With the Boys"

**Forrrce** · August 15th, 2003, 05:02 PM

NickNack,
I may be wrong on this, but until a few years back, the long version of 'Runaway Love' was only on a US promo. CRC Records in the UK released a 12" with 3 versions (including an instrumental, if memory serves) in 1983, which I bought, expecting it to be this rumoured 9 minute mix - and it wasn't. I found the US promo in around '86 and as you can imagine, was pleased as punch.
I hadn't seen the 9 minute version on any other format until it appeared on Unidisc(?) in full-length form in the early '90s.
I might be missing something here, but that long version was always notoriously hard to track down for a long time. If that's really the case, it's no surprise many, including Jazz Pilgrim, missed it.

**hotdiscomix** · August 15th, 2003, 05:56 PM

Disconet published a 6:38 version of "Runaway Love" on the Dance Classics Two, Disc Two.
I am however not sure whether it is a Remix or a official 12" or album version. :-?

**Art Figueroa** · August 15th, 2003, 07:03 PM

The "long" version is also available on Volume Three of the Give Your Body UP compilations released by Rhino Records

Art

**ehuerta** · August 15th, 2003, 07:57 PM

The Best of Linda Clifford CD (DEEP BEATS DEEPM 008) has the following extended songs:

From Now On 5:10
Don't Give It Up 9:26
You Are, You Are 5:16
Shoot Your Best Shot 7:48
Runaway Love 9:44

Among others

**in-the-groove** · August 16th, 2003, 01:01 AM

There were 2 different versions released of "Don't Come Crying To Me". The commercial 12" on U.S. Capitol has a 6:38 version backed with "I'll Keep On Loving You". Capitol subsequently pressed a promo-only 12" with a 6:52 remix by Rusty Garner, backed with a track called "Let It Ride". I don't know if the Rusty Garner remix has been commercially released on cd or reissue 12"...

Kevin

**Discovery** · August 16th, 2003, 03:49 AM

How is the 7:14 minute version of "King for a Night" from the special 4-track 12"?

From the track time lengths it looks like "Lonely Night", "Repossessed", and "I just Wanna Wanna" are the same as the album versions, but "King for the Night" is only about 3 1/2 minutes long on the "Here's My Love" album.

What is the 7:14 minute version like?

Thanks.

**NickNack** · August 16th, 2003, 09:15 PM

Originally Written by Forrrce

NickNack,
I may be wrong on this, but until a few years back, the long version of 'Runaway Love' was only on a US promo.

I might be missing something here, but that long version was always notoriously hard to track down for a long time. If that's really the case, it's no surprise many, including Jazz Pilgrim, missed it.

Forrrce,

I might be missing something, too. All this time I've been operating under the assumption that bonafide Euro dj's were furnished with promotional product from companies and record pools just as we were over here. Am I mistaken? This is why I expressed surprised over the song not being heard. Even if it was just a promo, hanging out in the clubs would have let one know there's a serious version out there. A version that maybe only dj's have, but out there none the less.

**NickNack** · August 16th, 2003, 09:28 PM

Originally Written by Discovery

How is the 7:14 minute version of "King for a Night" from the special 4-track 12"?

Discovery,

I think you would really like this. I don't know the lp version but this one jams. A 32-beat intro before the background girls introduce the song. A 16-beat passage and then Linda starts to sing. After the second verse there is an extended instrumental section and then Linda returns. Later, the ladies do a vocal breakdown over percussion. Then the musicians get to show off which is just great. The background comes back and Linda ad-libs to the end, all the while the music remains hot. Funky and sweet and the "Sweethearts of Sigma" and the players remind you that this is a 'Philly Sound' production. :)

If you see it, pick it up. This and "Lonely Nights" were the club cuts for sure.

**Discovery** · August 17th, 2003, 02:24 AM

Thanks NickNack. I hope to hear the long version sometime. Too bad it was shortened for the album.

Another good Linda Clifford track is "One Of Those Songs", the 11+ minute, entire side long track from side 4 of her "Let Me Be Your Woman" album. I like the way she gets so excited (in the storyline) about a song she doesn't know the name of, especially the way she really wails toward the end. :P

**Forrrce** · August 18th, 2003, 07:45 AM

[quote="NickNack"]

Originally Written by Forrrce

Forrrce,

I might be missing something, too. All this time I've been operating under the assumption that bonafide Euro dj's were furnished with promotional product from companies and record pools just as we were over here. Am I mistaken? This is why I expressed surprised over the song not being heard. Even if it was just a promo, hanging out in the clubs would have let one know there's a serious version out there. A version that maybe only dj's have, but out there none the less.

Surprisingly enough, NickNack, US promos had always been a big deal here, simply because they weren't around in any quantity at all. Second hand shops may be littered with them now, but before many dealers and collectors started bringing back large quantities of records from America in the '80s, they really weren't that common. I have spoken to some older guys about this and it seems that the majors over here would have small quantities of some (US) promo titles, which certain bigger DJs would get.
Something like the Linda would probably have come from a guy called Fred Dove, who handled disco for WEA in the UK. He sold some records to a mate of mine a few years ago and the weirdest pre-releases, both UK and US, were in there, things we didn't know existed.
I imagine it was a pretty exclusive club for the lucky few. Maybe some of the guys on the forum who were deejaying then have a take on things?

**NickNack** · August 19th, 2003, 08:55 PM

Originally Written by Forrrce

Surprisingly enough, NickNack, US promos had always been a big deal here, simply because they weren't around in any quantity at all. Second hand shops may be littered with them now, but before many dealers and collectors started bringing back large quantities of records from America in the '80s, they really weren't that common. I have spoken to some older guys about this and it seems that the majors over here would have small quantities of some (US) promo titles, which certain bigger DJs would get.
Something like the Linda would probably have come from a guy called Fred Dove, who handled disco for WEA in the UK. He sold some records to a mate of mine a few years ago and the weirdest pre-releases, both UK and US, were in there, things we didn't know existed.
I imagine it was a pretty exclusive club for the lucky few. Maybe some of the guys on the forum who were deejaying then have a take on things?

Interesting... this explains a lot. So it is quite possible that a lot of disco music in the 'US promo category' went unheard for you guys for quite some time. That could also explain why records that were common place to dj's and crowds here don't click as well with some of you. We could be talking the same titles but 'hearing' different versions.

**jazz_pilgrim** · August 20th, 2003, 03:05 AM

Cheers, NickNack for that!

This is a very strange story - how so many people never seem to have heard of this remix of Runaway Love.

I mentioned it to our good friend, Sammy Perez, who also expressed surprise at hearing about this version.

It is strange, because Runaway Love was such a massive hit with the Soul Mafia Djs in the UK and was heavily featured during the rare groove revival in the mid 80's. But I never heard the Jim Burgess remix! I only picked it up by chance when I bought a compilation CD by one of the London erstwhile "rare groove" DJs Dr Bob Jones for an Eddie Russ track and I was amazed when I heard this new version of Linda Clifford.

It is very unusual and strange that the DJs seem to have missed out on the one!

Greg - what about you guys up in the North West. Did you ever pick up on it??

**PierreConstantin** · October 9th, 2011, 08:37 AM

Originally Written by Forrrce

I hadn't seen the 9 minute version on any other format until it appeared on Unidisc(?) in full-length form in the early '90s.

The original UK 12" (Curtom/Warner K17163) is "If my friends could see me now" 7:52/"Runaway love" 7:04 (both lp versions).

In 1990 the 12" versions were finally released on the Curtom/Ichiban 12" (12CUR104) as a promo tool for a "Greatest hits" compilation: "Runaway love" 9:40/"If my friends could see me now" 10:12. Actually this 6 track compilation was a nightmare with songs awfully edited and misprints on the label. Anyway, "Runaway love" was in its 12" form here (the only one with "From now on"; the others were edits).

Unidisc released two 12"s in 1987:*"If my friends could see me now" 10:12/"From now on" 7:00 (SPEC1307) and*"Runaway love" 9:40/"Gypsy lady" 9:50 (SPEC1308). The four songs are extended.

The original Curtom 12"s are:
PRO 700 CU From now on (7:01)/You can do it (7:02)
PRO 709 CU If My Friends Could See Me Now (10:12)/Gypsy Lady (9:58)
PRO 731 CU Runaway Love (9:44)/Runaway Love (9:44)

Originally Written by ehuerta

The Best of Linda Clifford CD (DEEP BEATS DEEPM 008) has the following extended songs:
From Now On 5:10
Don't Give It Up 9:26
You Are, You Are 5:16
Shoot Your Best Shot 7:48
Runaway Love 9:44
Among others

"Runaway Love" 9:44 is the only one extended here. The others are lp versions. "From now on" is 7:00 in its extended form and "Don't give it up" is 10:16.

Originally Written by in-the-groove

There were 2 different versions released of "Don't Come Crying To Me". The commercial 12" on U.S. Capitol has a 6:38 version backed with "I'll Keep On Loving You". Capitol subsequently pressed a promo-only 12" with a 6:52 remix by Rusty Garner, backed with a track called "Let It Ride". I don't know if the Rusty Garner remix has been commercially released on cd or reissue 12"...*Kevin

The promo 12" was released first (with the lp version of "Let it ride" on the B-side) and then Capitol released the commercial 12" (with an extended version of "I'll keep on loving you" on the B-side). The timings on the promo 12" are wrong: "Don't come crying to me" is actually 6:38 and "Let it ride" 4:37. The long mix of "Don't come crying to me" is the same on both 12"s.

**totouk** · October 15th, 2011, 11:02 AM

I never knew about the extended version of Runaway Love (or the others from that album for that matter) until about 10 years ago. I bought the UK 12 inch of If My Friends and loved both songs straight away but they were only the album versions. I wasn't old enough for clubbing then so can't comment if it was played in the Midlands/North West. It must have got a good buzz though IMO as I lived in a small town and found the 12 inch straight away in a store.

From what I have read, Don't Give It Up only got released on a Promo 12inch in the States. Is that true? At least we got that on a commercial 12inch but we got the bastardised one disc album of Let Me Be Your Woman with all of the disco tracks heavily edited. I never understood the logic of that.

Is there a longer/remixed version of Shoot Your Best Shot? I only have the album and have never seen mention of another version other than the the 7inch.

I got excited when someone posted that a promo remix of Don't Come Crying To Me existed. Now that was a song I loved and got to hear in a club (at last).

toto

**PierreConstantin** · October 17th, 2011, 11:12 AM

Apparently, yes, "Don't give it up" only got released on a promo 12" in the US. In the UK it was with a nice picture sleeve, the back picture from the album "Here's my love", so I assume that it was released at the end of 1979.

Me neither, I never understood the Curtom/RSO politics of the single/double "Let me be your woman" lp. Too bad "Hold me close" wan't extended for the double album; besides, 55 min. is kind of short for a double album.

The only versions of "Shot your best shot" I know are the lp and 7" versions. The only 12" single is the British one with the lp version. It was a hard time for Curtom and they were going through some changes with their distributor: "Shoot your best shot" is still a RSO-distributed single but "I had a talk with my man" is already a Capitol-distributed single. Two US pressings of the lp are available: the RSO RS-1-3087 and the Capitol ST-12131.

**SandraDee** · October 18th, 2011, 08:56 AM

Originally Written by PierreConstantin

It was a hard time for Curtom and they were going through some changes with their distributor: "Shoot your best shot" is still a RSO-distributed single but "I had a talk with my man" is already a Capitol-distributed single. Two US pressings of the lp are available: the RSO RS-1-3087 and the Capitol ST-12131.

So that's how Linda ended up with Capitol; I always thought it was strange that her stay at Capitol was so short before moving on to the Red Label.