The REAL problem with single mixes....

[BigMacPhisto]

You can debate all you want about whether the new "Original Of The Species" is stronger than the album version, but isn't the real problem the fact that someone can hear the single mix on the radio, buy the album, and then end up with a totally different version of a song they wanted to own? It's false advertising if you ask me. I mean, the single mix of "All Because Of You" for example at least had a commercial single that people could buy over in Europe, yet this new "Original" is solely a release to help sell the album.......I know I'd be disappointed to buy an album and hear a radically different version of a song that I really liked.

 

[shart1780]

I never really thought of that. Good point.

 

[Azor]

Yes, good point.

 

[MrBrau1]

I don't think anyone who buys an album because they hear a "Single Mix" on the radio will notice the difference.

 

[Azor]

I don't think anyone who buys an album because they hear a "Single Mix" on the radio will notice the difference.

Well.... good point too

 

[corianderstem]

Remember Jewel's debut album? The singles I heard on the radio grew on me, and when I bought the CD, all of the singles sounded completely different on the CD. They sounded a lot worse, actually.

(Insert obvious joke here about Jewel's music not being able to sound worse.)

 

[Clawgrabber]

Well.... good point too

well, maybe for the most part, but there are some that are very different...

i have a friend who bought ATYCLB because they heard ELEVATION on the radio...

and that version is SOOO different from the album version, the minute they put it in they were like "wtf is this"

they were PISSED.

i later burned a copy of ATYCLB with the Single Mix of ELEVATION for them and they were happy...

but i wholeheartedly agree that the consumer would be upset/confused. i have always thought this about the single mixes....

versions like:
Please
Walk On
Who's Gonna Ride...

are very different.

Achtung was my first album. When I bought it in 1992 it was because i came across it in the record store and looked at the tracklist and realised that i already knew and liked 5 songs from the radio.

so i bought it.

I remember thinking that HORSES sounded different on the record than the temple bar mix on the single/radio (i didn't know then that it was the "temple bar mix")

luckily I liked the album version a whole lot more (and still do)

but i was confused for a while until i figured out what the deal was (i ended up getting the cassette single for the song just to hear the difference)

yup... that was before i had a cd player. U2 on cassette

 

[VicksSs]

interesting point...

Well, I'd be disappointed if I didn't like the mix on the album but, then again, singles are not only released to promote the album but to promote themselves, so if you like only one song, buy the single and that’s it

 

[Nate Dogg]

The radio stations here must be lazy, because they pretty much play the album versions all the time..(I heard ther single version of Last Night On Earth when it was released, that's the only exception). Satellite radio may change all of this, because they are pretty good at playing the single versions.

 

[Zoots]

I remember thinking that HORSES sounded different on the record than the temple bar mix on the single/radio (i didn't know then that it was the "temple bar mix")

luckily I liked the album version a whole lot more (and still do)

but i was confused for a while until i figured out what the deal was (i ended up getting the cassette single for the song just to hear the difference)

yup... that was before i had a cd player. U2 on cassette

Oh the memories!

Watching the Who's Gonna Ride video on MTV for the first time.. in 1992 and loving it from the first listen! When I first heard the album version (which didn't happen till 1997 I think ), it was like a WTF moment when the intro came on! But I still ended up digging it!

My AB and JT cassettes of yore...

 

[kosull]

To add to this debate, what about bands like Joy Division, and subsequently New Order, who hardly ever had their singles on albums, and if the same tracks were on the albums then they'd be a different version.

I think it's a nice idea to mess about with a song, and I'd generally agree with the idea that if you like a track off the radio, it won't make too much of a difference if you buy the album (as opposed to buying the single) because, in U2's case, it's rare that a track is radically altered for the single version. Mostly it's just a slight edit, structure change, etc.

 

[ClaudeF]

I think in the case of NO and JD, it was more a matter of presentation: By separating singles and albums, they were putting the music in a different context. Now, when they (or U2) do it, I think it's more of a matter of trying to perfect the mixes, of tinkering beyond the deadline imposed on them by the record companies. Consider U2's dissatisfaction with "Pop" and how much work was put into the singles. It could be that if you reconstructed "Pop," replacing the album tracks with the singles, you'd get closer to what the band would have wanted in the first place.

I think the most frustrating thing about single mixes is when they are promos, and thus hard to find and buy. Even "Real Thing," which is the same length and arrangement the album and single, got a remake: There's acoustic guitar added during the guitar solo, although it's so faint as to be virtually inaudible.

I'd love for U2 to do a REAL box set, perhaps as a placeholder to keep us happy until the release of the next album. Basically, cobble together all of the mixes from every nook and cranny of the discography, including the new ones, and get them out on CD. I'd also love for them to do some remastered versions of the albums.

 

[clifedge]

That is an interesting point. Yeah, same thing happened with Walk On. Hmmm...

 

[trevgreg]

eh... that's what happens, I guess. single mixes could be made avalible online these days, but singles are a rarity in the US here. and there's always the possiblity the person could like the album mix more than one they heard on the radio.

ah well... just one of those things you have to look out for, I guess.

 

[Nube Gris]

the single mix of WTSHNN is an insult. they even managed to put it in the best of 80-90!
How could they!
The most amazing intro in the history of music, became.... what?
The miss sarajevo single suffered some changes in the middle and do not like, Pavarotti appears to fast

 

[chickadee]

I don't buy singles as a rule so it doesn't bother me, lol. Some single mixes I really like, though, like Walk On, but that doesn't stop me liking the album ones either.

And yay for Jewel mention, I love her!