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mjb50
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| Posted: 24 July 2023 at 8:15am | IP Logged
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Yeah, the 7:00 "Original 12-inch Mix" is a previously unreleased version. It's very similar to the 6:47 "Original Dance Mix" released on vinyl in 1985, but has a few very bad editing decisions, and the section at about 4:20 is completely different, missing quite a bit of percussion.
The Pettibone mix from '86 runs about 7:19 and has his sound all over it. It was never released on CD. DjPaulT's rip of the Canadian 12" from 2017 is as good as it gets. I have my own transfers of the UK & US 12"s but they're not as good and I'm not inclined to redo them anytime soon.
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crapfromthepast
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| Posted: 24 July 2023 at 11:12am | IP Logged
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Just one more data point (I can't tell if this was covered above):
EMI America B-8321 is the first-released version of the single, with credit "Produced by J.J. Jeczalik & Nicholas Froome", printed 3:44.
EMI America B-8330 is the second-released version of the single, with credit "Produced by Stephen Hague", printed 3:44.
Both seem to have the same matrix number (X502390). The matrix number of the B-8330 single has a crossed-out 8321 in it, so I strongly suspect that the two versions both play the same version of the song.
I suspect (but can't confirm) that the US single was rereleased because of the printing error of the producer.
There was a single released outside the US in 1985, which really was produced by J.J. Jeczalik & Nicholas Froome, but it wasn't released in the US. The US 45s were all released in 1986, and all (likely) included the Stephen Hague version, which appears on the Please album.
Edited by crapfromthepast on 24 July 2023 at 11:13am
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mjb50
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| Posted: 24 July 2023 at 5:19pm | IP Logged
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The producer credits were in flux on those early US releases. Inconsistencies happened with the B-side of "West End Girls" as well.
In the liner notes of Please/Further Listening, Neil explains that the first version of "Opportunities" was a demo recorded with Bobby Orlando. This was never officially released. The second, non-hit version was recorded with J.J. Jeczalik. The 1985 12" version was punched up by Ron Dean Miller. The album version with re-recorded vocals was done with Stephen Hague but retains some of the Jeczalik & Miller-produced material. The 1986 hit single is, as already mentioned in this thread, the album version. The Shep Pettibone 12" remixes were part of the '86 releases.
We always thought the song was sad, because it was about two losers. We re-recorded it first with J.J. Jeczalik from The Art Of Noise for our first EMI single. We chose him because he'd had a hit record with Tin Tin, 'Kiss Me', and we liked The Art Of Noise. He did it on the Fairlight, which we were very excited about. Before we even got to the studio he'd come up with this weird sound which sounds like scaffolding falling down, which became the basis of the rhythm track.
We spent three weeks making a single with him, in at least three locations. It cost about £40,000, and no one was ever very happy. We found it an intensely frustrating experience. They brought in a real bass player and it all seemed to take a lot of time.
... We also did our own twelve-inch version [CD2, track 4]. Around that time, we'd heard this record called 'Loveride' by Nuance featuring Vikki Love so we had the idea of finding the producer of that, Ron Dean Miller, and going to New York and doing the twelve-inch with him. Money was still being spent. It was a major remix and he put the big chorus drums all the way through.
Stephen Hague wanted to re-record 'Opportunities' completely but there wasn't time. The version on Please was based on the ['85] single version, but also used elements of Ron Dean Miller's mix and then Stephen Hague did some reprogramming and I re-sung the vocal as well. The vocal is much better on the album—on the first version the vocal is really weak.
We also faded out the album version before the final section 'all the love that we had and all the love that we hide/who will bury us when we die?' We decided it was too pretentious. I remember hearing the original version on Radio One. We were all in Tom Watkins' office, listening, and the guy on the radio took the piss out of it at the end and I thought, 'right, I'm not doing that again'. The album version was subsequently a hit, though even then not as big a hit as we'd hoped.
Edited by mjb50 on 24 July 2023 at 6:02pm
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NightAire
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| Posted: 03 April 2024 at 12:30am | IP Logged
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I've found a version from Now 7 UK that runs 4:37. It seems to match the original (non-hit) single in the opening; is this the original album version?
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mjb50
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| Posted: 03 April 2024 at 2:37am | IP Logged
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Per a comment/review on Discogs, the version on the Now 7 2020 CD is the "Full Length Original Seven-Inch" which debuted on the Please/Further Listening CD in 2001.
The contemporary CD reissues of the Now That's What I Call Music series seem to always have changes from the original editions.
Edited by mjb50 on 03 April 2024 at 2:40am
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NightAire
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| Posted: 08 April 2024 at 8:33pm | IP Logged
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I found four labels on Cat45.com that list the song length as 3:36. A typo? Probably, although with it showing up in four different countries makes me wonder if there was another, international, remix / edit.
Netherlands
New Zealand
France
Phillipines
Any thoughts on whether these are a shorter version, or a misprint? Does anybody own one of these with the "3:36" label?
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mjb50
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| Posted: 09 April 2024 at 1:35pm | IP Logged
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I found someone sharing their own rip of the NL 45 and it is the ~3:44 album version, no edits.
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Topic: "Opportunities..." - Pet Shop Boys
