Robbie Nevil - Dominoes (Radio Remix)

I have a really specific question about a version of this song that has proven really hard to find and validate in recent years, and I'm hoping that one of our resident DJs, programmers and/or pop music super-fans may be able to help.

For years, I had a version of this song in my digital library taken from vinyl, labeled "Radio Remix". It is a straight edit of the Arthur Baker "Extended Vocal Remix" found on the American 12" and UK CD single. It's a really great version and I'm hoping it got some airplay back in '86. I downloaded this file years ago (10+, definitely) from a blogger who was a club and former radio DJ. The original download included a scan of the promo 7" record label, which was, IIRC, a typical white-face EMI-Manhattan label but with the gold-and-black color scheme they often used on their dance singles instead of the red-white-and-blue color scheme you often saw on their commercial 45s. Unfortunately, after a whole lot of hard drive crashes and moves, I can no longer locate my original downloaded file, although I have the digital re-creation that I made from a higher quality source. I'm hoping someone out there may have knowledge of this version and be able to answer a couple of questions:

1- What is the catalog no. for this promo 45? It is not listed on Discogs. Years ago when I was first in possession of this file, it seems that there were scans of the label on the internet, but I can no longer locate.

2- Does the 45 promo remix edit run at a faster pitch than the full "Extended Vocal Remix" that it is edited from? The file I downloaded originally runs fast (making up about 7-8 seconds difference in length to get to the same end point), but I don't know if that is a legitimate "mix difference", or if the turntable that the 45 was ripped from was calibrated too fast. (I sometimes thought that the original ripper had their turntable speed a bit off on other downloads.) This may be hard to verify as it would require knowledge of the 12" remix instead of the LP Version/original single edit.

NOTE: There is a different edit of the "Extended Vocal Remix" found on Promo 12" SPRO-79000 / SPRO-79001. This is a totally different edit (it has more aggressive cuts, including the same "2nd verse scuttling" as the original 45 single edit), and does run at the same speed as the full 12" remix.

Thank you for any help or nudges in a proper direction!


Edited by EternalStatic

I'll also check to see what I have on promo 45.

Edited by aaronk

Instead of knowing what you're looking for, I know what it's not. I have the stock copy, Manhattan B-50053 with 'Neighbors' on the B-side. I also have the "Not For Sale" copy of Manhattan P-B-50053 with stereo/stereo and either side is no different than the stock copy. It must truly be a "remix". -Bill.

Thanks for the info on the promo 45 of the main single version (the LP
Version edit). Every bit of info helps. If not for the fact that I had kept
that file around in my library for years and even re-created it, thereby
really really familiarizing myself with it, then I would really be doubting
the accuracy of my memory right now. I think I still have an old internal
hard drive that I replaced years ago around somewhere. If I can
put my hands on it, I may have to go to the trouble of popping it in and
seeing if I’m lucky enough to find the old devil on there.

It wouldn’t surprise me if “Dominoes” was planned for release earlier
and then got bumped. There seem to be two distinct sets of remixes
for it, which seems uncommon for a not-dance-oriented song in 1986?

Hi Gene -

With as hard as it has been to validate anything at all about the remix, I think overall the "hit" version must have been the 45 RPM single version (straight edit of LP Version).

I still don't know what to make of the file I have labeled "Radio Remix" (the 4:20-ish version). In the months since the posts above, I haven't had success in tracing it back to any official source,
and believe me, it hasn't been for a lack of trying. The only "leads" I have found are a couple of Robbie Nevil (sometimes spelled "Neville") torrents listed on the internet that claim to include
the "Radio Remix" as part of the package, but they have all turned out to be linkrot. I have turned up no Discogs info, and no promo 45 has rolled across Ebay in the last year or so that hasn't been
the standard LP Edit issue. If I were to give into my skeptical nature, I would have to concede that perhaps the "Radio Remix" I have loved for years, and re-created my own digital edit of,
could have started out as someone's bootleg or "in-house" edit. The fact that it appears to come from vinyl could just mean that someone started with a vinyl rip of the long remix and then edited
their file down from there. I still think that would be an odd thing to find floating out on the internet for what is a largely forgotten song, but right now it is the easiest explanation. I still
hope to find out that I'm wrong on that!

It is, of course, possible that what I heard on the radio many years ago was actually the "Extended Vocal Remix Edit" that runs 3:47-ish on the promo 12" (and is a choppier edit of the "Extended
Vocal Remix" than the mystery 4:20 file), and that when I came across the "Radio Remix" file many years later, I just mistakenly assumed that it matched what my local station had played. At any
rate, I will be happy to send over copies of my re-creations of the "Extended Vocal Remix Edit" and the possibly unofficial 4:20 version in case you want to use them at some point. At least we know
the shorter edit is an official version.