Duran Duran "Save A Prayer"
Printed From: Top 40 Music on CD
Category: Top 40 Music On Compact Disc
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URL: https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2477
Printed Date: 03 May 2025 at 8:33am
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Topic: Duran Duran "Save A Prayer"
Posted By: 995wlol
Subject: Duran Duran "Save A Prayer"
Date Posted: 20 September 2007 at 11:06am
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While I don't own this 45, I believe the promo included an edit of the live version (from the Arena album) on one side and a studio edit (from the Rio album) on the flip side.
My question is which version did most stations play during its chart run? I have a Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 show from '85, which uses the live Arena edit. I also have an old tape recorded off WLOL/Minneapolis sometime in early '86 that plays the full live version, but faded early (although this may have been recorded from a nationally syndicated show focusing on D.D. since the next song is "Hungry Like the Wolf"). Any ideas? |
Replies:
Posted By: torcan
Date Posted: 20 September 2007 at 2:37pm
I recall hearing the live version most often when that was a hit. I heard the studio version most of the time in its earlier release in 82-83 time frame, but unfortunately it didn't end up charting then. Too bad - I like the studio version better! |
995wlol wrote:Posted By: eriejwg
Date Posted: 20 September 2007 at 7:49pm
| Am presuming the version listed in the database is the studio 45 version from 1982 or so? That's the version that is on all the CD's listed, correct? Or, was the studio version re-released in 1985 when the 'arena' version became a hit. To be honest, I don't remember, and I worked in Top 40 radio then. OK, I'm old, lol. |
Posted By: jimct
Date Posted: 14 December 2007 at 10:23pm
| My promo 45 has the same, listed (3:59), actual (3:43) studio version that Pat notes in the database, for one side of it. The other side of my promo 45, however, has a listed (3:30); actual (3:34) "From The Arena" live version. I hear NO crowd noise, and except for a little extra guitar and energy, it sounds 98% like the studio version! Even though our station always played the studio version, I was under the impression that the "From The Arena" version was the "plug side", probably because "Arena" was their "then-current" LP. But I now see that the studio version was listed as "Side One" on the pic sleeve - man, you learn something new every day! What do other folks remember hearing on their Top 40 stations for this in 1985? |
Posted By: aaronk
Date Posted: 14 December 2007 at 10:57pm
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I had to pop in my Duran Duran Greatest CD for this one. According to the database, this CD has the 45 version, and it's certainly not live. Is the 3:43 version on your promo 45 live? If so, it appears you have unearthed TWO new DJ edits! The database does not mention, as you point out, the (3:34) studio edit that appears on your promo, nor does it mention the unique "live" edit running (3:43).
To sum it up, the stock 45 version is not live, correct? Only the promo 45 has the live version, and I agree with Jim, it should be noted in the database along with his shorter promo edit of the studio version. |
Posted By: jimct
Date Posted: 14 December 2007 at 11:26pm
| Aaron, thanks to you, I just re-listened to, carefully re-evaluated and edited my preceding "Save A Prayer" post. Turns out, my promo and stock 45s are exactly the same, with the longer studio version on one side, and the shorter, "live" (I guess) version on the other. |
Posted By: aaronk
Date Posted: 14 December 2007 at 11:45pm
| Jim, this could be a "Candle In The Wind" situation, where the crowd noise was removed for the 45. I'm not too familiar with the Arena LP, so I don't know if perhaps that version could be edited so you wouldn't hear any crowd noise. |
Posted By: cmmmbase
Date Posted: 14 December 2007 at 11:48pm
| to answer your question, Jim - I only ever heard the studio version on the top 40 stations in my area (Western Massachusetts, Vermont & Connecticut) |
Posted By: edtop40
Date Posted: 20 November 2008 at 10:51am
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my commercial 45 does not state a version or a run time on the labels face, but runs 3:44 and is identical to the cd version listed below...
(S) (3:44) Capitol 96239 Greatest (45 version) 
------------- edtop40 |
Posted By: crapfromthepast
Date Posted: 20 November 2008 at 11:49am
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I dug out my notes for this track; unfortunately I didn't keep as detailed notes for the early '80s tracks as I did for the early '90s tracks...
I have the album version on
I don't have the edit on an actual piece of vinyl, so I tried to find instructions how to create the Now 1982 edit from the album version on Decade. My notes are a little too crude to piece together exactly how much to remove with each edit, but once you're done... Your mixdown will have edits 1:12 and 2:37 and a 16-beat sinusoidal fade starting at 3:36. Not as helpful as most of my posts, I realize, but I'll revisit these edits if there's an overwhelming desire from you guys. |
Posted By: abagon
Date Posted: 11 May 2011 at 9:46am
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The actual running time of the American pressing "Rio" LP is "5:32" (Capitol AT-12211, the listed time "5:33")
This actual running time is the same as the Japan LP containing the UK LP version. The entry time of 2 "Rio" CDs on the database is :06 or :07 shorter than the US vinyl LP. --abagon |
Posted By: aaronk
Date Posted: 09 April 2015 at 6:33pm
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The "live" version on the B-side of the 45 can, in fact, be edited from the version on Arena. It's been several years since I created my edited version, but I seem to recall that nothing needed to be borrowed from the vinyl. ------------- Aaron Kannowski http://www.uptownsound.com" rel="nofollow - Uptown Sound http://www.919thepeak.com" rel="nofollow - 91.9 The Peak - Classic Hip Hop |
Posted By: Bill Cahill
Date Posted: 11 April 2015 at 8:29am
| I believe it depended on the market and station. I programmed KJ-103 in OKC at the time and we played the studio single version even though it was released primarily to support "Arena". |
Posted By: crapfromthepast
Date Posted: 27 April 2016 at 7:42pm
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Got a real answer, just eight years after the original post!
Casey Kasem answered your question in exactly 37 seconds on March 23, 1985 episode of American Top 40: "Now we're up to Duran Duran's hit single, 'Save A Prayer'. This isn't your usual single record with a different song on each side. This one has the same song, 'Save A Prayer', on both sides - different versions of it. The hit version that the majority of stations have been playing is Duran Duran's studio recording, released on the 1982 album, Rio. The B-side, which some radio stations are playing, is Duran Duran's live concert recording of 'Save A Prayer', from their latest album, Arena. For a change this week on AT40, we're gonna play that B-side - the live version. At number 16 this week, Duran Duran's 'Save A Prayer'." ------------- There's a lot of crap on the radio, but there's only one http://www.crapfromthepast.com" rel="nofollow - Crap From The Past . |
Posted By: aaronk
Date Posted: 27 April 2016 at 9:14pm
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Ron, I couldn't read that quote without hearing Casey's voice in my head! "And the countdown rolls on..." ------------- Aaron Kannowski http://www.uptownsound.com" rel="nofollow - Uptown Sound http://www.919thepeak.com" rel="nofollow - 91.9 The Peak - Classic Hip Hop |
Posted By: jimct
Date Posted: 27 April 2016 at 9:33pm
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I know that an ever-growing # of old issues of Billboard are now available
to be browsed online. Which is great. And while I haven't spent a ton of time browsing them to date, I do recall seeing many 80s weeks where specific MTV videos and their rotations were listed. And while I haven't confirmed this fact by browsing through old BB issues, it is forever burned into my mind that MTV was playing the video of the studio version of "Save A Prayer" a *ton* back in '83, despite it not being released back then as a 45. That fact always surprised me, as I thought it would've been a sure-fire Top 40 hit. But due to the crazy, multiple 45 releases/long road to Top 40 hit-dom for both "Hungry Like The Wolf" and "Rio" (both stories are well documented in their own threads), the entire marketing plan for that LP in the U.S. had to be basically scrapped by the label, I was told. I remember our local Capitol rep (Merv) also saying to us around 5/83 that his label had always thought "Save A Prayer" could be a hit single, hence them making a video for it in the first place. But the label had already delayed the planned U.S. release of the next "D-squared" 45 (Is There Something I Should Know, which had already been released in the UK back in March), due to the Top 40 U.S. resurgence of "Rio", which didn't end up peaking here until May. Merv said his label expected their next LP ("Seven And The Ragged Tiger") to be ready after this new 45 had peaked, so Capitol saw no remaining 1983 window to issue "Save A Prayer" as a single. But the folks at the label clearly never forgot about the track, its popularity as an MTV video, and its clear Top 40 hit potential, And, to their credit, they did eventually find the proper time/place/situation to finally release it as a U.S. single - the release of their live album. |
Posted By: Bill Cahill
Date Posted: 28 April 2016 at 3:22pm
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So, how many times did Capitol rep (Merv) stand on top
of YOUR desk and scream at the top of his large lungs that the new Moon Martin single was a Top 5 smash? : ) |
Posted By: AndrewChouffi
Date Posted: 29 April 2016 at 7:44am
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To Jim & Bill:
Merv Amols (RIP) was great! Who else would give me, an Albany club DJ, a promo 12" of Sheriff's "When I'm With You" (with tons of extra analog compression) 6 years before it peaks at #1? Hey, he told me in early 1983 "It's a hit!". Who else would give me a promo 12" of the band Billy Satellte's "I Wanna Go Back" 2 years before Eddie Money would have the hit with it on Columbia... Who else would give me a promo 12" of a future #1 "Abracadabra" in 'neither the 45 nor LP version'... Andy |
Posted By: David Pro
Date Posted: 11 October 2020 at 6:59am
The main difference between the LP (5:33) and the UK 45 (5:24) versions is the amount of times Simon repeats "Save a prayer 'til the morning after" at approximately 4:35 until fade out. In the LP version it is repeated 6 times, but 4 in the UK 45 version. |