Does this even still happen? Did it begin in the disco era? And was it purely a radio stipulation or did some record company bods believe that Americans have a different pallette?
I've never really understood what the requirements might be for US Radio when it comes to this process (turn the drums up seems to be one angle), we get to hear these versions sneaking out as extra tracks on reissues nowadays and it's potentially intriguing to hear what the differences might be, however they often seem kinda slight, a sax solo maybe or some female BVs.
A&M remixed all of Yellow Magic Orchestra's debut for America (they are both included in the reissued version), but I can't really detect much of a difference.
But this rather kitchen sinky US version of Mother's Talk by Tears For Fears is quite radically remixed and got me wondering about this whole deal.
― MaresNest, Wednesday, 14 January 2015 21:29 (ten years ago)