bell biv devoe--word to the mutha

anyone know if there was a usa promo cd single issued for this song from 1991.......the only cd sgl i can find is a uk issue.......

Well, TM Century issued the song in two different versions on their HitDisc series for radio stations. The mixes they issued were "Radio Mentality with Rap" and "Radio Mentality Without Rap," which leads me to believe that there was a promo single.

You're right, TM could have pulled the songs from an import single; however, those HitDiscs were released on 7/26/1991 and 8/30/1991 respectively, which I'm assuming is before the song hit the charts (since TM usually always services songs to radio before they're commercially released and become radio hits). I'm only drawing my conclusion based on this evidence, but I have no proof that a promo single actually exists.

Edited by aaronk

aaronk wrote: Well, TM Century issued the song in two different versions on their HitDisc series for radio stations. The mixes they issued were "Radio Mentality with Rap" and "Radio Mentality Without Rap," which leads me to believe that there was a promo single.

If a song was never made available on a commercial single format, Whitburn will usually indicate in his Top Pop Singles book if a promo single was issued for that particular song. He doesn't specifically list one for "Word to the Mutha!", which is why I suspect one may not exist.

Edited by Todd Ireland

I was able to obtain a copy of the mixes from HitDisc to compare with the UK import CD single versions. The "Radio Mentality without Rap" (4:12) is identical to the same version on the import CD single that Ed mentions.

The "Radio Mentality WITH Rap" is a different version than what's on the import single, though. The HitDisc version runs (4:49), and it is not simply just a longer fade. This version has a different intro, too, when compared with the (3:50) import CD single version.

In doing some research, I found that a promo 12" exists containing the longer (4:50 listed) "with rap" version. I can say with 100% certainty that the version on HitDisc is NOT a vinyl dub. There is absolutely no trace of vinyl noise or noise reduction on their copy, and I have been able to spot even their best vinyl dubs.

While it is still a mystery where their versions come from, we can at least rule out that it isn't the UK import single; however, one of the other import singles (Japan, Germany) may contain the longer "with rap" mix.