Most of the time when songs are edited, they lose a lot of their power. The worst example for me is “Beginnings” by Chicago. The original version is an 8 minute epic with some fantastic horn solos; the radio edit with just the first three minutes just sounds like another easy listening tune. (The edit on their Greatest Hits is much better; you just lose the cool but inessential percussion jam at the end.) What examples can you think of? And I couldn’t name any songs that were better in their radio/single edits; can you?
The Doors - “Break On Through (To the Other Side)” sounds better with the word “high” edited out, which is the way it was played on both the album and the single for decades. The rhythm and scansion are better with the word missing.
Silence by Delerium.
The original version from the Karma CD is a haunting song with expressive vocals.
The remix that got airplay is a cheesy pop/trance song. (My apologies to anyone who loved this version.) But it does have a cool video!
(The vocals are a bit muddy on both clips.)
The Black Crowes’ “Hard To Handle” has a version with overdubbed horns that I thought was kind of fun, a little different.
So, I was given an MP3 of The Misfits’ “Helena.” Later on I realized that it wasn’t the full version, since my copy was about a minute short. Turns out that the song is better with that minute in the middle stripped out.
I don’t agree about “Break on Through,” since it leaves you with the question hanging: “What does ‘She get’?”
Knowing it to be apostasy, however, I will say that the 45 edit of “Light My Fire” makes for a much more cohesive song qua song.
F*** Her Gently, by Tenacious D. If you’ve ever heard the song, you realize why a radio edit might be the worst thing that could possibly happen to it, but when I was in high school, they played this on 102.1 KDGE in Dallas with all of the inappropriate parts dubbed over with sound effects. The results were… hilarious. And still incredibly suggestive, given the choice of sound effects.
I have never been able to find this version anywhere online. The first time I heard the unedited version, it was actually kinda disappointing.
My Sharona by Knack was edited for radio sometimes by completely chopping out one of the kick-assiest guitar solos of the 80’s.
The single version of “Light My Fire” by the Doors is better than the unedited album version, because it cuts out Ray Manzarek’s horrendous organ solo.
OTOH, the version of “(I Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman” is far better in its unedited single version than in the edited album version.
The horn version drives me nuts. I’m not exactly sure what it is, but that song doesn’t sound right with all the horns. I don’t know if it’s the orchestration or the mix of the horns itself, but they sound like they were tacked on as an afterthought (which I suppose they were.)
I’m not a fan of the Doors, but, as someone who plays the keyboards, I much prefer the radio edit of “Light My Fire” to the one with the long, boring organ solo.
Agreed. Far better.
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It doesn’t matter. She just does.
I always thought it was brilliant, Morrison at his best where words are suggestive/evocative but meaningless; I was a little disappointed when I found out he never sang or intended it that way.
Luckily for us, we can each have it our own way.
Yep. I’d prefer a version with much shorter instrumental solos. The single is a little too brief for my taste, but it works far better than the interminable long version.
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The radio edit of “Who Are You?” cuts out the entire third verse.
The edit of “Money For Nothing” cuts out the verse about the “Little Faggot.” The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council has even handed down the opinion that the unedited version of the song is unacceptable for airplay, and it is missing from most Dire straits compilation albums, although it is still on the original Brothers In Arms album.
What-- you don’t rudimentary melodic fragments played in thirds?
Ray Manzarek is the most preposterously overrated keyboardist in pop-rock music. The quintessence of “all hat and no cattle.”
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I’m not entirely sure Ray Manazarek is much rated at all, at least not enough to be over-rated. But I have to give him some credit, even though I don’t like his repetitive, modal style and his phrasing. Like him or not, his keyboards really did majorly define the sound of the Doors, and it’s a sound that proved to be successful and it suited them well. I’m really having a hard time thinking of other rock bands where the keyboards was so central to the sound. For better or worse, nobody else sounded like Ray Manazarek.
I think Manzarek was fine when he played backup to the songs. He was important to the Doors sound, and generally was unobjectionable (and his introductory solo on “Light My Fire” was perfect for the song). But giving him a solo is a big mistake.
Speaking of keyboard solos, Prince’s When Doves Cry has a kick-ass solo near the end of the song that gets edited out for radio play. Makes me angry.
THIS. Is. The song. I opened the thread to post about. That really tasty percussion at the end (sounds like each band member put down their instrument and picked up an obscure third world drum of some sort) was the reason I bought the CD.
But on “Only The Beginning: Chicago’s Greatest”? A quick fade just as you’re getting ready for what was indeed Chicago’s greatest moment. And for no reason… what, run out of room on the CD? I doubt it…
Going back a bit - the radio edit for “Dawn” by The Four Seasons cuts the a capella intro and starts with the drums. The song misses something without the intro.
I hate when they take off the end of November Rain, the only reason to listen to the whole freakin song