Pointless ‘single edits’ of album tracks

[bobloblaw]

A Certain Ratio's new song is a single edit of an album track, which is included straight after
Single edit: 2.15
Album version: 2.45

Would any DJ shy away from a full 2.45?
Is this a new record for a pointless edit?

[Cleveland Steamer]

Maybe in the last 30 seconds it suddenly goes incredibly racist.

[markburgle]

Obligatory Outdoor Miner reference.

Album track: 1:45
Single edit: 2:51

[JesusAndYourBush]

Presumably they're for the many automated stations or people who dj from a laptop.  A real DJ can fade it out when the want, a robot can't.

[jamiefairlie]

Obligatory Outdoor Miner reference.

Album track: 1:45
Single edit: 2:51

Not an edit though. Single version was extended with added piano bits as they thought the original was too short for radio play.

[McChesney Duntz]

This one always cracks me up - one of those things where you can pretty much hear the exact thoughts of whatever label toady came up with the specific "additions" to the track...

[BJBMK2]

I know it's not an edit so much as just, blacklisting, but every year or so, I'll have a look back over that list of songs that were effectively "banned" from American radio, in the wake of 9/11.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clear_Channel_memorandum

The Bangles - Walk Like An Egyptian being on there always makes me laugh. The sheer bloody minded ignorance of that.

[TheMonk]

Radio stations in our area have started making their own edits of very well known songs, editing any interesting moments out. For example the breakdown in Don't You Forget About Me. That bit before the La La La bit makes the song. Also Money For Nothing now seems to have the dubious verse routinely removed.

All radio/ shortened best of edits of peak era Stevie Wonder are sacrilege. With the possible exception of all that crying and cooing in Isn't She Lovely.

[Huxleys Babkins]

There's a radio edit of Kings of Leon's Use Somebody that strips the bridge out, which saves about 15 seconds, but makes the song feel about ten hours long because the repetitive final chorus and reprise are now bolted together with no respite.

On the subject of bridges, it's also worth mentioning the clumsy edits of Deee-Lite's Groove is in the Heart, Christina Aguilera's Dirrty and Beyonce's Crazy In Love that strip out Q-Tip, Redman and Jay-Z's bridges for reasons that I'm sure are absolutely not racist as fuck.

[McChesney Duntz]

Radio stations in our area have started making their own edits of very well known songs, editing any interesting moments out. For example the breakdown in Don't You Forget About Me. That bit before the La La La bit makes the song. Also Money For Nothing now seems to have the dubious verse routinely removed.

If "Walk on the Wild Side" - a hit song that was played in its entirety on the radio for decades - turns up on the local "classic Rock" stations these days, it's pretty well gutted. Candy Darling verse gone in its entirety* and we are provided no indication whatsoever what sort of person or persons are given to saying "Doo do doo do doo do do doo," robbing the song of crucial context. Bah.

* Weird, or weirdly appropriate, that Lou Reed had a grand total of two top 40 US singles ("Walk..." in '72 and "Dirty Blvd." in '89), both of which contain unambiguous references to transvestites giving blowjobs. (The radio edit of the latter simply blanked out the word "suck" for safe airplay, which I'm sure was filled in with a different word rhyming with "buck" in the minds of most listening at the time.)

All radio/ shortened best of edits of peak era Stevie Wonder are sacrilege. With the possible exception of all that crying and cooing in Isn't She Lovely.

Preach. Though dropping the one-reel melodrama at the climax of "Living for the City" is an understandable excision, you also lose that agitated last verse and powerful outro, cutting the song almost literally in half and losing so much of its fury that it seems almost worthless. Stevie scarcely wasted a note in those days - just leave the songs alone, dammit, nobody's gonna complain.

[DrGreggles]

On the subject of bridges, it's also worth mentioning the clumsy edits of Deee-Lite's Groove is in the Heart, Christina Aguilera's Dirrty and Beyonce's Crazy In Love that strip out Q-Tip, Redman and Jay-Z's bridges for reasons that I'm sure are absolutely not racist as fuck.

I'm all in favour of removing Jay-Z's bit from Crazy In Love.

[Huxleys Babkins]

I'm all in favour of removing Jay-Z's bit from Crazy In Love.

You're just jealous because his texture is the best fur.

[Tarquin]

A non-pointless one as it is a lot better:

Sonic Youth:
The Diamond Sea - album  = 19:35
The Diamond Sea - single = 25:48

A pointless one that is a lot, lot worse.

Funkadelic:
I Got a Thing, You Got a Thing, Everybody's Got a Thing - album  = 3:52
I Got a Thing, You Got a Thing, Everybody's Got a Thing - single = 2:51

Fade this out after 2:51 and be horrified. Single fades at the exact second the song goes into another gear, tears the roof off one might say

[TheAssassin]

Lemonheads had a single Big Gay Heart in mid 90s.  The line "you can suck my dick" was suavely edited to "you can duck my sick".

[Billy]

On the subject of bridges, it's also worth mentioning the clumsy edits of Deee-Lite's Groove is in the Heart, Christina Aguilera's Dirrty and Beyonce's Crazy In Love that strip out Q-Tip, Redman and Jay-Z's bridges for reasons that I'm sure are absolutely not racist as fuck.

Q-Tip's not in the original UK 7" release of Groove Is In The Heart (but is on the video and US release) as this is was an era where they regularly cut the raps out of songs with a probable excuse that they'd sound better on the radio or something. I remember being a bit baffled at that when I got the record second hand about two decades later.

See also 2 Unlimited where poor Ray had to spend years just dancing around the TOTP stage to edits of their songs with all his lines cut out, occasionally keeping one or two words like "Techno" and "Techno". They finally relaxed that around late 1993/94 time but by then they were on the way down.

[buzby]

Q-Tip's not in the original UK 7" release of Groove Is In The Heart (but is on the video and US release) as this is was an era where they regularly cut the raps out of songs with a probable excuse that they'd sound better on the radio or something. I remember being a bit baffled at that when I got the record second hand about two decades later.

The 3:32 Peanut Butter Radio Mix was the version on the UK and European 7" releases, was and used for the US, UK and European radio promo singles. It was an edit of the 3:55 album mix (basically by chopping out the 40 seconds of the middle 16, which included Q-Tip's rap), which was the lead track on the US CD single and cassingle releases (no 7" was released in the US, but it was also used on the Australian 7" release) and so was the version used for the video (with the addition of Lady Miss Kier's 30-second intro and Bootsy's outro).

As well as editing out  Q-Tip's rap in the middle 16, a couple of interjections he makes into the first and second choruses (such as "Sing it baby") were also edited out of the radio version, as are Bootsy's interjections.

The Uk arm of Electra had a choice of going for the album version on the 7" release (as had been done in Australia), or using the radio edit. They presumably went with the latter as it was the one prospective buyers would have been most familiar with. In the US, the single's release campaign would have been aimed far more at 'urban' radio stations (who would have played the album version, which was the second track on the promo CD) and MTV, where the video that featured Q-Tip and Bootsy ended up on heavy rotation.

On the subject of bridges, it's also worth mentioning the clumsy edits of Deee-Lite's Groove is in the Heart, Christina Aguilera's Dirrty and Beyonce's Crazy In Love that strip out Q-Tip, Redman and Jay-Z's bridges for reasons that I'm sure are absolutely not racist as fuck.

The editing out of featured rappers for the radio promo versions of records in the US (which then get usually gets cascaded to the European radio promos) is all about radio market demographics. Can't go potentially offending WASP sensibilities - think of the loss of advertising revenue.

[bobloblaw]

Lemonheads had a single Big Gay Heart in mid 90s.  The line "you can suck my dick" was suavely edited to "you can duck my sick".

Also a version where Evan changed it to 'stroke my brick'. Which just sounded like prick, kind of defeating the point

[bobloblaw]

The 3:32 Peanut Butter Radio Mix was the version on the UK and European 7" releases, was and used for the US, UK and European radio promo singles. It was an edit of the 3:55 album mix (basically by chopping out the 40 seconds of the middle 16, which included Q-Tip's rap), which was the lead track on the US CD single and cassingle releases (no 7" was released in the US, but it was also used on the Australian 7" release) and so was the version used for the video (with the addition of Lady Miss Kier's 30-second intro and Bootsy's outro).

As well as editing out  Q-Tip's rap in the middle 16, a couple of interjections he makes into the first and second choruses (such as "Sing it baby") were also edited out of the radio version, as are Bootsy's interjections.

The Uk arm of Electra had a choice of going for the album version on the 7" release (as had been done in Australia), or using the radio edit. They presumably went with the latter as it was the one prospective buyers would have been most familiar with. In the US, the single's release campaign would have been aimed far more at 'urban' radio stations (who would have played the album version, which was the second track on the promo CD) and MTV, where the video that featured Q-Tip and Bootsy ended up on heavy rotation.

The editing out of featured rappers for the radio promo versions of records in the US (which then get usually gets cascaded to the European radio promos) is all about radio market demographics. Can't go potentially offending WASP sensibilities - think of the loss of advertising revenue.

Indeed. In the 90s, local syndicated commercial radio round my way used to proudly boast 'No rap, less chat'

[dr beat]

As a kid in the late 80s, I duly noted how the late night Radio City DJs would purposely play 12inch versions.  Always liked that.

[boki]

I'm all in favour of removing Jay-Z's bit from Crazy In Love.

Sit down and eat your Some Rap.

Spoiler alert

I actually agree with you, but couldn't resist the temptation to mash up a couple of Priceyisms

[close]

[dontpaintyourteeth]

Just remove Beyonce as well and it might become a listenable record

[Sebastian Cobb]

Would quite like a radio edit of Tinashe's 2 On that omits the rap as it's a weak point of an otherwise good record.