It's My Life

[BrunoRepublic]

Marky: Maybe the better 12" were as you describe, but most of them are de-constructions.
Quite often you can hear either some crosstalk (spillage from an adjacent track, where they used to record at such hot levels) or extraneous noises where either faders weren't completely closed or maybe tracks were still being fed to an FX device via the auxillary bus.

True, but often you can hear this on the album tracks as they recorded various tracks but later chose to mute them.

Most 12" releases were simply the choruses and/or verses stripped down to bare essentials as an intro and with added percussion for the breaks. Listen closely (as I do) and you can hear a multitude of, what would nowadays be, dodgy edits too. Very few records were played from beginning to end (but some most definitely were) and very few didn't have edits galore.

I read that Michael Zager had considerable distaste for this sort of process -- supposedly he wrote and recorded all of his songs as long versions, and that the radio versions were edits of those.

And yeah, loads of what today sound like very amateurish edits on many of these tracks....

[QUINNY]

oh but Keem-o-sabee, (think Tonto!!!) :oops:

Deconstruction before 1989--Good

After 1989--BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD.

Marky: Silver's just thrown me and brought me back down to earth.

Are we talkin' USA pre 1989 GOOD/post BAAAD or are we talking generally (where the other 6.25 billion of us live)? :D

It's an interesting thought, but I think you'd be singing a totally different tune had you lived outside the USA. But there again, according to you guys virtually nothing from the disco period has been released on CD. Personally, I'm amazed at how much material has been put onto CD, Made in USA.

One de-construction that had me reaching for my 7" copy every time was Frankie's Relax. I hated all the 12" mixes (and there was a new one every week for about a month) with a passion. They totally screwed up what was already a perfect 7" pop record. I could always work the 7" much better than any of the 12" versions. They were so much up their own ass.

One de-construction that really worked (1982/3)?
Yes - Owner of a Lonely Heart - remove the label, remove any previous knowledge of the band and who'd have guessed this was a bunch of prog rockers? It still overdid things a tad for my taste and wasn't a monster floorfiller for me, but I'd have to give 10/10 for whoever did that 12" mix (was it Trevor Horn too?). It must have had their fans reaching for for the loo.

[paul]

Well, I just received the remixed cd. Graham you are right, the British mix does suck! :evil:
I have to wonder if the guys that do these mix jobs really like the songs they're working on. This thing was hacked every which way. My mistake was not waiting for your take Graham :o I'll stick to my advice and avoid impulse shopping!
How do you know when you are getting the American version?

[BrunoRepublic]

How do you know when you are getting the American version?

We are talking about the Talk Talk version, right? The US mix was released in Canada and the USA (obviously) as a 12". It may have been released as a limited-edition UK 12" (I've never seen one, but several of the US mixes of their other songs were put out in this manner). It is not on the "It's My Mix" remix album that was issued in Canada and Italy (it contains the crappy UK mix). The only place I have seen it on CD is on a Canadian 80s compilation... which I'm going to have to go hunt down now. :/

[Bernie]

I have this on a CD called Classic Alternatives 2. It is the US version and clocks in at 6:14 just like on the US 12 inch.

[paul]

Thanks Graham and Bernie. Bernie, I will look around for that cd. Amazon is out of stock.

[BrunoRepublic]

I have this on a CD called Classic Alternatives 2. It is the US version and clocks in at 6:14 just like on the US 12 inch.

That's the one.

[paul]

Just got my copy of Classic Alternatives 2. Now dats what I'm talkin' bout. Thanks fellas. This extended version is what it should be all about, giving you all of the original and then some :D

[markydefad]

Hey tall Paul,

How much did ya pay for that cd? Just curious...sounds like some good stuff on there...most of which I only have on vinyl. :o

[paul]

Hey Marky. Where ya been hiding the last few days? :)
Anyway I found it at Tower Records and it is $12. They say the supply is low so if you're interested order it soon. I checked for it at a few other places and it's either backordered or out of stock.
I haven't had a chance to listen to the rest of the tracks because I keep hitting the replay for It's My Life. :D