Asia - Heat Of The Moment

And now I find myself in '82...

I revisited this song today, because I've had a question in the back of my mind. Why, in 1982, would the record label put the "Edit" *only* on the mono side of the promo 45? Just about every other promo 45 from this time period was either short/long (stereo both sides) or stereo/mono (same length on both sides). It was unusual that one side had the full-length version in stereo and the short version in mono. If we were talking about a hit from 1972, it would make more sense.

So, I compared a fold-down of the stereo to the mono, and I discovered that the mono side is actually a dedicated mix. The differences are subtle, but there are some obvious giveaways. For one, the vocal is louder on the fold-down. Two, during the instrumental breakdown/bridge, there is an electric guitar lick in between the keyboard melodies. On the fold-down, the guitar lick is quite buried in the mix, but on the mono mix it's brought forward.

Well, there ya have it. If you truly want the short promo version, it has to be dubbed from the promo 45. Otherwise, a stereo version matching the edit points of the mono side comes pretty close.

aaronk,

That mono short edit side on the promo was likely done for
AM airplay reasons, as AM Top 40 stations were still very
numerous in the USA. I agree the promo should have had
this edit too on the Stereo side, as there were many FM
Top 40 stations as well.