Single v Album Track

[TMSG]

On occaision, particularly in the seventies, some album tracks were released as singles with additiional instrumentation, in some cases changing the sound quite significantly.
Examples include
Law of The Land - Undisputed Truth with added synthesised whips in the bridge,
You Are The Sunshine Of My Life by Stevie Wonder with added brass throughout the track
Take A Look Around by the Temptations with additional horns on the intro.

Are there any other examples that you know about?

[Sotosound]

Also, don't forget those cases where the single track was a stripped down version of the full track.

Sometimes stuff would be almost entirely missing, e.g. Dennis Coffey's guitar in "War" by Edwin Starr and Stevie Wonder's drum overdubs in "Signed, Sealed, Delivered [[I'm Yours)".

Other times the orchestral backing and/or backing vocalists wouldn't be brought in until the second verse or the instrumental break or whatever, e.g. "My Whole World Ended" by David Ruffin, "Who's Lovin' You" by the Jackson 5, "Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing" by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell.

[theboyfromxtown]

I worked on the premise that any mono 45 would be different to its stereo counterpart. It served me well. So start from 1 January 1970 and look at all the mono 45's and work your way through.

As mentioned above, both "War" and "Signed Sealed Delivered" had more noticeable differences than others. In the UK, we even got the "wrong" version of "War" as a 45. "It's All In The Game" had a notable difference in the album stereo version being a different vocal take from the 45.

The flip side of "Up The Ladder To The Roof" called "Bill When Are You Coming Home" is another notable 45 which is different to the album version.

[rovereab]

The single mix of Papa Was A Rollin' Stone has [[what sounds like) bongos in the section leading to the first vocal verse. There is a guitar at track time 4:56 that is not present on the LP version and the vocal towards the end of the song "I heard Papa call himself a jack of all trades" has violins accompanying it whereas the LP doesn't have them.

[theboyfromxtown]

Eamonn...I'm surprised you didn't plump for "Simple Game"...I always think of you with that song

[rovereab]

LOL John, the UK single mix of Simple Game is superior to the US mix.

I was thinking of mentioning the removal of the [[abysmal) intro chorus to There's A Ghost In My House for the single and the removal of the [[awful) piano on Walk Away Renee for the single mix but that is the opposite to the basis of this thread.

[Sotosound]

"Its All In The Game" is an interesting one inasmuch as some of Levi's vocals are shared between the mono and stereo versions whereas others aren't. The vocal take after the break where Levi sings "And he'll kiss your lips, and caress your waiting fingertips" is the same on both versions. The single, however, gets an extra "Your heart, your heart's gonna fly away" after Levi stops singing.

And let's not forget "God Is Love" by Marvin Gaye.

The version on the B-side of "What's Going On" was an entirely different recording to the album track, being arranged as a ballad instead of an uptempo number.

Oh, and of course there's "Tears Of A Clown" by Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, wherein the US single release got new bass and drum tracks plus some kind of handclap [[wooden blocks?) along with being slightly slowed down over the original stereo album track. The stereo mix of the new version used the old bass track, had no handclap effect, and ran at the original, faster tempo. And ... the original mono album version had a different vocal track to all of the others above.

But then again, this track has been analysed to death both on this forum and on another less soulful but very Beatle-esque forum that I'm also a member of. Are we getting into ever-decreasing circles here?

[Sotosound]

By the way, it took me a long time to get my most recent post up. I ended up sending the text by email from my laptop to my PC so that I could post it using IE8. IE9 kept telling me that SDF wasn't responding and would then try unsuccessfully to recover the text.

A complete pile of poop as far as I'm concerned.

Has the world gone completely mad?

[theboyfromxtown]

Are we getting into ever-decreasing circles here?


I'd certainly say so. Not only in number but as "we" get older, our memories are not as sharp.

On "It's All In the Game"...it goes right to the very beginning...but it is most noticeable on Levi's vocal. As you know, Lawrence is the solo voice on the intro.

Compare the first solo lines from Levi.."you have words with him "

on the 45
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpru7...eature=related

now the stereo version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvD7RkEkH5A

For more, compare the strings.

[BayouMotownMan]

The mono version of But I Love You More is also a different mix with a sooner fade

[soulster]

Well, some that comes to mind is:

Shalamar - "The Second Time Around" - 1979.
The 45 was stripped down from the LP version and edited.

Chic - Everybody Dance - 1978
The 45 was a remix, with louder handclaps, drums, and and an extra guitar part before the breakdown. It was also, of course, edited.

Earth, Wind & Fire - That's The Way Of the World - 1975
The 45 was remixed and edited.

You And I - Rick James - 1978
The 45 was remixed and slowed down a tad.

[theboyfromxtown]

The mono version of But I Love You More is also a different mix with a sooner fade

So is the top side...Everybody's Got The Right To Love......not as blatant as some others but I could tell when the stereo version was being played on the radio.

[TMSG]

Just remembered to single versions of "Together We Can Make Such Sweet Music" US single by the Spinners and Marthas "Forget Me Not" that both had spoken parts in the bridge.

[Sotosound]

And let's not forget the remixed version of "Together we can Make Such Sweet Music" by The Spinners that was given a new drum track in a poor attempt to make the track sound like a Thom Bell-produced Philly track.

[platters81]

"My Weakness is You" by Edwin Starr is a different take/vocal [[with some changed lyrics) on the Soul Master LP than the 45 [[well it is on the UK releases)