12" Mixes: Search And Destroy

DESTROY: "She Sells Sanctuary - Howling Mix" by the Cult. Billy Duffy's chiming guitars are cut up and sloppily spliced in favour of entirely hokey wolf howls. Dire.

I actually don't mind the 12" version of "Ball of Confusion" by Love & Rockets.

new order, of course!

jimmy jam and terry lewis productions.

"express yourself" and other madonna club mixes (well not all of them, but you know, the good ones.)

too many hiphop 12"s to name.

I remember "Born in the USA" had dubby vocals so it would echo out "USA Usa usa..." over and over, with super pumped up drums (like they weren't already.) My memory of all them was that they were pretty bad, actually.

I also recall reading an interview w/ Springsteen at the time and he said he heard a club remix of "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and thought it was incredible, so he brought the same guy in to rework the Born in the USA singles.

The best example is New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle".. where it was a successful single, but made popular mainly thru the extended mix... (I have to defer to the album version being my favorite actually, but many would disagree)

Cameo's "Word Up" and Dead Or Alive's "You Spin Me Round" had rather amazing remixes too.

yeah maybe, but his 10-minute mix of Fun Fun's 'Happy Station' is a true masterpiece.

Also great: Propaganda's 'P:Machinery'.

Also, the 12" mix of "I Would Die 4 U": 10+ minutes of the Revolution just fucking jamming and wailing away. Perfection.

Slave to the Rhythm is a great extended version by Trevor Horn.

Anyhow, the 12" mix of "E=MC2" Big Audio Dynamite, by oh god what was his name? It might actually have been called "The director's cut mix"...

(must search out that Yes 12" that Billy mentioned. the Steve Lipson single remix is being included as a bonus track on the forthcoming 90125 CD reissue, but not the T.Horn mix. d'oh!)

Destroy: I don't know.

This thread isn't nearly definitive (or more bluntly: long) enough for my purposes.

David Cassidy - Romance:
Such a slight adjustment to the original - the dancier, bongo-assisted groove, that hesitant bassline, the removal of the chintzier parts of the chorus - but these slight shifts in emphasis turn the tune from "Hungry Eyes" into "The Downtown Lights".

The Commodores - Nightshift:
I love the gentleness and generosity of this tune in any form, but that slight hint of exotic grit that the attenuated tropical percussion gives it on the 12 inch mix just makes its spectral, wistful quality even sharper. At any rate 7 graceful minutes is the perfect length for this tune. (youtube linked)

Search: Ultra Vivid Scene's 'Mercy Seat'. completely unfamiliar every time you hear it until 2 or 3 minutes in when he introduces things that you vaguely recognise before it morphs quite quickly but very naturally into the familiar short version.

Destroy: Siouxsie and the Banshee's 'Dazzle'. probably groundbreaking at the time but the digital stuttering now just sounds like a problem with the cd.

Search: Visage "Fade To Grey" as appears on this s/t release: http://www.discogs.com/Visage-Visage/release/1519201

Destroy: Visage "Fade To Grey" as appears on the "Fade To Grey" 12-inch single. As one Discogs user said: "The song simply repeat itself twice. There's only one cut just before the chorus repeats to fade out, straight to the first verse, and goes again till the ends. that's it. What's the point of releasing a 12" if it doesn't contain a 12" version? I could never understood that."

kajagoogoo "too shy" (midnight mix) -- already possessing the all time coolest intro of any song ever, the dreamy backwards guitar middle 8 gets extended, the italo bass synths and misty pads are accentuated and the reverb and subtly chorused snare are given more space to breathe. it's all about those intertwining guitar/piano flourishes during the first couple of minutes. nick rhodes must've been levitating behind the desk when they made this

best thing about these is that they can often be found for little under a couple of pounds in every charity shop/record exchange/boot sale across the land

bronski beat "smalltown boy" -- incredible beatless extended intro

and if anyone's interested i made a dj mix that collects some fav 12" synth pop mixes and stuff last year

http://fairtilizer.com/track/25762

1. bronski beat "infatuation"
2. paul haig "heaven sent"
3. new order "i don't care"
4. fleetwood mac "family party (bonus beats)"
5. a flock of seagulls "rosenmontag"
6. ryuichi sakamoto ft. thomas dolby "fieldwork"
7. ministry "over the shoulder"
8. depeche mode "(set me free) remotivate me (release mix)"
9. severed heads "propellor"
10. gabi delgado "victim"
11. pet shop boys "rent (francois k dub)"

the breakdown in that thomas dolby 12" mix of "fieldwork" is where sakamoto invents microhouse btw

feelin night shift 12". i recently really got into that 'everybody wants to rule the world' 12"

SEARCH

Prince - most of his 12" mixes, but especially "I Would Die 4 U" and "I Wish U Heaven", which are radically different from the album versions and all the much better. "America" and "Mountains" are also fun, though basically they just add some extended jamming to the album version (with "America" the jamming goes on for over 20 minutes).

DESTROY

Prince - "Paisley Park" and "Kiss". These 12" mixes just add some extra grooves to the beginning or end of the album version, but don't really change or improve the basic song in any way. "Kiss" is particularly bad, because the album version has a perfect ending, whereas the 12" mix just picks up from there and goes on for too long, ending with some goofy but pointless dialogue.

the 12" of 'never take the place of your man' is dumb too. and same w/ 'glamorous life.' its like he had no idea that when u make ppl wait and wait and wait for three-four minutes at the end of a jam u ... have to bring back the hook!! you dont just fade out. the first time i played the glam life 12" i hadnt listened in advance & just cleared by dancefloor by the end ... im like .. wait wheres the chorus?? man fukk u prince!!

the best prince extended mix is far and away the 10 minute version of "mountains", the beat just goes on and on whilst each band member takes a solo -- i especially love the bittersweet synth chords that come in towards the end. causes absolute mayhem on the dancefloor, more so than any other club mixes of his trax. just completely giddying and ecstatic

also mega classic for prince's echoed yelling at the start: "hey you! get out on this dancefloor!". so perfect for taking a party to the next level

The "Mountains" 12" suffers from the exact problem Deej mentions above - after the part heard on the album is over, it's just instrumental jamming for 5 more minutes, the chorus never returns. I agree with Deej that it's kinda dancefloor-unfriendly, plus "Mountains" has one of my favourite Prince choruses ever, I would've wanted to hear it at least once more.

glad to see this revived, I love this style of music and am particularly obsessed with instrumental versions.

some searches:

Bruce Springsteen - Cover Me (Arthur Baker remix)
Bangles - Walk Like An Egyptian instrumental B-side
Danielle Dax - Whistling For His Love (7" radio remix, but on the 12" like lots of them)
Brian Eno - Ali Click (Trance Mix - Long)
Janet Jackson - Black Cat (Funky 12" mix)
Shriekback - Mercy Dash extended
Rolling Stones - Miss You
Beck - Mixed Bizness (Cornelius remix)
Siouxsie - Kiss Them For Me 7" mix
Talking Heads - Television Man extended
XTC - Grass (cause of the clean end)

destroy:
Blondie - Heart Of Glass/Rapture, the same tacked-on endings folks mentioned above.
The The - Uncertain Smile (ditto)

what kind of fucking parties are you going to where "mountains" extended mix is considered dancefloor unfriendly???

yeah "uncertain smile" album mix >>>>> 12" mix

depeche mode "master & servant" (slavery mix) is pretty wild, elongates the schaffel outro of the 7" mix and ends with a blues acapella version of the chorus. depeche always have amazing 12" mixes of their singles

the 12" mix of "uncertain smile" doesn't really have a tacked-on ending, but it's a completely different mix to the album version. the drums sound completely different, the guitar riff is backgrounded and sounds more reverby and less chimy, it has synth-horns and a flute, a completely different vocal take, and replaces jools holland's insane piano solo at the end with a sax

new order "perfect kiss" -- has that amazing vocodered version of the chorus towards the end

alexander o'neal "the lovers" -- the only way to improve upon perfection is to make it last for longer! has those fucking awesome syncopated white noise solos

um not "perfect kiss", i meant "bizarre love triangle". i really should go to bed

drum programming on 12" mix of "perfect kiss" is insane