Paula Abdul "Straight Up" promo

balls!!!....it does....thanks for the heads up..

edtop40 wrote: the commercial 45 was NOT originally issued with a picture sleeve...

IIRC, this single was kind of rush-released, after "Straight Up" had begun to receive attention from some segment of the market, even in the absence of a commercially released single. This probably explains why "Straight Up" didn't have a picture sleeve in its 45 form. Given the time constraints, they threw together artwork for the by then commerically more important cassette single format, but not the 45.

Virgin's U.S. distributor, Atlantic/Warner Music, was definitely still making picture sleeves at the time. They would continue to do so until very late in 1989, even releasing a few scattered sleeves after that into 1990. I think every other single from Forever Your Girl came as a 45 with a picture sleeve. This includes those that weren't released until later than "Straight Up", as illustrated by Ed's other posts.       

At the time "Straight Up" was released, the album hadn't really broken big yet. The first single, "Knocked Out", had stalled just short of the Top 40, and the second, the recently-released "The Way That You Love Me" was down in the lower reaches of the Hot 100. Seeing an opportunity, Virgin quickly dropped "The Way That You Love Me" and issued "Straight Up" instead. The former song was of course reissued later, and would become a big hit in the end.

I have a US "Knocked Out" picture sleeve.

The database currently states the following for Paula Abdul's "Straight Up":

(dj copies of this 45 ran (3:50); commercial copies of this 45 run (4:10) and (4:57); the cassette single runs (4:10))

It should probably be clarified in the database that the 4:57 version is also known as the "Power Mix". However, to my knowledge, the "Power Mix" only appeared as the B-side on some commercial 45 and cassette single pressings. I don't believe there are any commercial single pressings where the "Power Mix" is the featured track.

Also, I notice a 6:54 version of "Straight Up" has surfaced on Abdul's Shut Up and Dance (The Remixes) CD (Virgin 91362 and 86163) and naturally contains a "remixed" comment. Can anyone confirm if this version is the same as the "12" Remix" featured on the commercial 12" single, which lists a printed run time of 6:52? If so, then it might be more accurate to have a "12" Version" or "12" Remix" comment listed next to the Shut Up and Dance disc.

Edited by Todd Ireland

Thanks, elcoleccionista. I'm not particularly concerned here about the 12" vinyl run time... I was just curious to know if it was the same as the remix appearing on the Shut up and Dance disc, which you've confirmed it is not.

By the way, does anyone recall hearing (or playing) the "Power Mix" of "Straight Up"? And has the "Power Mix" ever appeared on any CD in its entirety? (I know Brian mentioned he was at least able to re-create it by splicing two of the tracks on the import 3" CD single together.)