The 12" single

[branny]

This is one thing about music that I really miss. Not just the 12" single but as a teen, music was one the most important things in life. The top 40 chart just doesn't seem to have the same relavence these days. When I was at school it was the yardstick by which your favourite band or artist was judged pretty much like the premier league decides who is the best football team. I remember countless classroom arguments between the Duranie and The Jam fan "Who's had the most number ones"? usually settled it one way or the other.

The way it was promoted is also vastly different. A "straight in at number 1" was as rare as Haley's comet. A record would be released. You'd then hear it on the radio. It'd creep into the top 40, make top of the pops and then climb steadily up the charts before steadily falling out again. Nowadays tracks appear on download before they are released as a single, enter the chart at a high position and then disappear or hang around for months on end.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for progress and technology. God knows if it had been around 20 years ago i'd have saved a fortune in money and space. The thing is I actually liked the process of buying records. Yes you'd hear the single but then buying the 12" was like entering your own musical lottery. Quite often i'd excitedly rush home with a bag of vinyl not knowing what was in store. If they got it right which more often than not the did, you'd have 7 minutes of heaven however sometimes they'd get it horribly wrong or crime of crimes, put the single version on the 12" and not tell you. I say a lottery because you could also end up with an ultra rare remix or limited edition sleeve without realising. I know you can get a lot of these remixes on download or cd but there's nothing like the original and besides cd's don't have that crackle that vinyl does.

Anyway enough rambling, here's some of my faves

Wings of a dove (blue train mix) - Madness
IOU (Megamix) - Freeez
Pretty in pink (Berlin mix) 0 Psychedelic Furs
Hammer to fall (Headbangers mix) - Queen
See that glow (NY remix) - This island earth
The Reflex (dance mix) - Duran Duran
People are people (On Usound remix) - Depeche Mode
Duel - Propaganda
We close our eyes (Total overhang club mix) - Go West
Always on my mind (Extended dance mix) - Pet shop boys.

[Marine Boy]

Re: The 12" single

Some of those are wonderful!

I had: Big in Japan, (Alphaville); Electric Dreams, (Moroder?), and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye, (Soft Cell).

I also had Tom Robinson's 'War Baby' that seemed to go on and on ...........................and on...

Loved it though.

[branny]

Re: The 12" single

Some of those are wonderful!

I had: Big in Japan, (Alphaville); Electric Dreams, (Moroder?), and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye, (Soft Cell).

I also had Tom Robinson's 'War Baby' that seemed to go on and on ...........................and on...

Loved it though.

Yep, still got this one. Giorgio Moroder with Phil Oakey from the film of the same name. This is one of my Wifes favourites although like the rest of my vinyl, it's been confined to the loft.

[culnara]

Re: The 12" single

just spent an age typing out a reply, and the feckin page crashed Gggrrr
Ill try an abreiviated version
Vynal is Far superior than CD, have about 300ish safely stored in my Attic, and usually when I have the time I will transfer vynal albums into pc then burn them onto disc ( I dont bother putting them through the audio cleaning software cause that takes away some of the quality, and anyways I have listened to them for years the way they are Pop's/crackles n all

never had a lot of pocket money to buy the 12" singles (usually got the normal ones) However, I do have a few kicking about

French Kiss - Lil Loui ??
Police Officer - cant remember, it's up in the attic
Simple Minds - I Travel
The Cult - She Sell's Sanctuary (Howling Mix)

erm...my minds gone Blank

I actually uploaded a Vynal track onto youtube tonight
YouTube - The Specials - stereotype (Live)

[scotchmist]

Re: The 12" single

I was a connosseur of the 12" single! I bloody loved them and bought an average of 2 a week and I've still got all of them! It was like being given a free admission to an exclusive club as you owned something that was rarely broadcast on the radio.

I was always in competition with my chums to get the latest mix before they got it and if they did I'd go out and get the US remix which was usually inferior!

It's true they were a bit of a lottery but sometimes it would just be the 7inch version but you would get a live track on the b-side. I'm all for technology and I love the sound of cd's but there is nothing like sticking a bit of plastic on yer platter and watch it going round and round with the tone-arm bopping along to the beats!

My Favourites:

Two-Tribes (Anhialation Mix)-Frankie Goes To Hollywood (still sends shivers down my spine!)

Gold- Spandau Ballet

Relax-Frankie Goes To Hollywood (Long Version)

Here Comes The Rain Again- The Eurythmics ( yes...I know it was the same as the 7inch but you got a live version of "This City Never Sleeps" on the b-side!)

Let's Dance - David Bowie

Dance Yourself Dizzy-Liquid Gold

West End Girls- The Pet Shop Boys (doesn't matter what mix they were all great)

Why-Bronski Beat

Money Changes Everything- Cyndi Lauper (live version of this song is on the b-side and is AMAZING- what a performer!)

[dannyboy]

Re: The 12" single

First one I ever bought was Tavares - Mighty Power of Love in 1976. I've still got thousands of 'em, and thanks to the likes of Ebay, I'm filling in the gaps. I've always been into the disco/80s boogie 12". They often didn't get any radio play, so the mix would be the one heard in the clubs. One 7 minute track, flipped by the instrumental version. Most of you seem to have been into the 80s pop/new wave/romantic stuff. I got some of them as well, but scotchmist is quite right in the "lottery" reference. You'd hear a track on radio and go out to get the 12" copy. Quite often, it bore no resemblance to the radio track at all. Later on, they twigged and put the radio version on side two, but not before I'd wasted a certain amount of cash! I've picked out a few good and bad ones from memory and limited it to pop stuff.

Bad.

"Eintein a go go - Landscape" - dubbed al over the place, had to go back and buy the 7"

"Fade to grey - Visage" - 3 minutes, just like the 7" but more expensive!

"Tears are not enough - ABC" - thought it was brill until I heard my mate's album in the car.

Good

"Gold - Spandau Ballet" - most of Spandau's 12s were top notch.

"Hands off she's mine - The Beat" - goes all reggae dub style second half of the song, but the first half is as radio.

"Favourite shirts - Haircut 100" - as above, but jazz funk instead of reggae.

Anybody out there into Prelude/West End/Rams Horn type stuff? I'd start another 12" thread if anyone likes the same stuff as me.

[branny]

Re: The 12" single

I was a connosseur of the 12" single! I bloody loved them and bought an average of 2 a week and I've still got all of them! It was like being given a free admission to an exclusive club as you owned something that was rarely broadcast on the radio.

I was always in competition with my chums to get the latest mix before they got it and if they did I'd go out and get the US remix which was usually inferior!

It's true they were a bit of a lottery but sometimes it would just be the 7inch version but you would get a live track on the b-side. I'm all for technology and I love the sound of cd's but there is nothing like sticking a bit of plastic on yer platter and watch it going round and round with the tone-arm bopping along to the beats!

My Favourites:

Two-Tribes (Anhialation Mix)-Frankie Goes To Hollywood (still sends shivers down my spine!)

Gold- Spandau Ballet

Relax-Frankie Goes To Hollywood (Long Version)

Here Comes The Rain Again- The Eurythmics ( yes...I know it was the same as the 7inch but you got a live version of "This City Never Sleeps" on the b-side!)

Let's Dance - David Bowie

Dance Yourself Dizzy-Liquid Gold

West End Girls- The Pet Shop Boys (doesn't matter what mix they were all great)

Why-Bronski Beat

Money Changes Everything- Cyndi Lauper (live version of this song is on the b-side and is AMAZING- what a performer!)

Some belters there. IMO the best mix of West end girls was the 10" mix. I've got an 80's playlist on my hard drive recorder of and all the bold ones are on it. I had a !2" of Relax that had a mix that was 13 minutes long but was nothing like the single so I gave it away. I believe it's quite rare these days.

[branny]

Re: The 12" single

First one I ever bought was Tavares - Mighty Power of Love in 1976. I've still got thousands of 'em, and thanks to the likes of Ebay, I'm filling in the gaps. I've always been into the disco/80s boogie 12". They often didn't get any radio play, so the mix would be the one heard in the clubs. One 7 minute track, flipped by the instrumental version. Most of you seem to have been into the 80s pop/new wave/romantic stuff. I got some of them as well, but scotchmist is quite right in the "lottery" reference. You'd hear a track on radio and go out to get the 12" copy. Quite often, it bore no resemblance to the radio track at all. Later on, they twigged and put the radio version on side two, but not before I'd wasted a certain amount of cash! I've picked out a few good and bad ones from memory and limited it to pop stuff.

Bad.

"Eintein a go go - Landscape" - dubbed al over the place, had to go back and buy the 7"

"Fade to grey - Visage" - 3 minutes, just like the 7" but more expensive!

"Tears are not enough - ABC" - thought it was brill until I heard my mate's album in the car.

Good

"Gold - Spandau Ballet" - most of Spandau's 12s were top notch.

"Hands off she's mine - The Beat" - goes all reggae dub style second half of the song, but the first half is as radio.

"Favourite shirts - Haircut 100" - as above, but jazz funk instead of reggae.

Anybody out there into Prelude/West End/Rams Horn type stuff? I'd start another 12" thread if anyone likes the same stuff as me.

It used to wind me up when they did that. There is an extended version though running at about 5 and a half minutes (pretty good as well). It was on one of the 12"/80s compilations.

Two of the worst remixes were the !2" versions of Dance hall days by Wang Chung and Safety dance by Men without hats. Great on 7" though.

[scotchmist]

Re: The 12" single

Some belters there. IMO the best mix of West end girls was the 10" mix. I've got an 80's playlist on my hard drive recorder of and all the bold ones are on it. I had a !2" of Relax that had a mix that was 13 minutes long but was nothing like the single so I gave it away. I believe it's quite rare these days.

I think you're referring to "Relax- the sex-mix", I was at a party once...where incidentaly they kept playing that bloody "Electric Dreams" record which I hated at the time!......anyway there was a guy at the party who had the 13 minute sex-mix and I remember thinking it's not very much like the 7inch and seemed to have a few other Frankie songs within the mix. Anyway i was in a junk-shop in Enfield 2 years ago and there was a copy of the 12" sex-mix of "Relax" in a vinyl bin so I bought it for a quid thinking I'd struck gold. When I got home and played it, it turned out to be the original 7 minute 12" long-version which played at 33 and was released with 7inch version and instrumental version on b-side however instead of the 7inch on the b-side there was "Ferry Cross The Mersey".....so I was a little disappointed but not surprised as FGTH really exploited their fans with their confusing remixes and 12" formats and picture disc formats...so much so that the music industry put a stop to it and single releases became more regulated.

[yelever]

Re: The 12" single

Had a 12" of A Tribe called Quest - Can I Kick It. Had the von trapp mix which used a sample from the sound of music. Been looking for that version for years but can never find it.

Had loads more but would be here all day listing them.

[Mulletino]

Re: The 12" single

I still have plenty of 12"s, incl Disco, Funk, Soul, Hip Hop.

I'm pretty sure I have the "Can I kick it" 12" with the Von Trap mix, it rings a bell and I'm pretty sure I can see the green cover with a red swirl or graphics in my head. I'll have a look later.

[yelever]

Re: The 12" single

I played that song to death lol