Wondering, why an obsession about...

I think the styles of music we're talking about here are what lend
themselves to our tastes in song lengths. 80smusicfreak and myself
didn't grow up in the golden age of the single...we grew up in the golden
age of the MAXI single. While I totally agree that the long version of In
Gada is something I don't want to sit through (but still want to own along
with the 7" version for completist's sake), when i hear, let's say, "We Are
Family" by Sister Sledge, or any of the Donna Summer/Giorgio Moroder
synth masterpieces, I want to hear those full length album versions,
because the songs just start getting good at the point where the single
fades out! As 80s dance music took over 9and even "rock" music was
dance music at that point), the "extended remix" was pretty much
planned from the start and was usually the better version...For instance, I
listen to any Dead or Alive album version, and I feel totally cheated
because there is so much more going on in the extended remixes--the
singles are actually all out boring to me.

Songs of the 50s and 60s, most often, just don't lend themselves to
extended or long versions--although, I still get all giddy when I look in
the database under, say, The Supremes, and see "15 second longer fade
than any previously released version." The thought of hearing 15 more
seconds of ad-libbed fade by Diana and the girls never heard before---
AWESOME.

Did anyone comment on the details of the Three Dog Night, "Joy To The World?" I have to admit I only skimmed this thread.

What I remember about this song was that there was certainly a radio version that had a sweet guitar solo in the bridge that other versions didn't have.

I also had a more album oriented approach to collecting until I started doing DJ work. At that point, it was clear that folks didn't want to hear the album
cuts at parties as often as the single, or radio 45 versions. The 45 versions often were brighter and easier to keep a dancing group's attention with. So
I had to start re-collecting songs I already had.

Somewhere, I posted a comment about Chuck Mangione and the song, "Feels So Good." Though I'd never play it except maybe for a dinner selection, I still prefer
the whole album cut. Same with Inna-Gadda-Da-Vida. (To me), some songs just shouldn't have had a 45 version. If you were there you knew those songs in long play
because many FM stations were happy to play whole album sides. I had to put "To me" in parentheses, obviously others won't agree with that comment.

When "Oxygene" made it's debut on STL radio, I was there and waiting for the complete album experience. Later, "Part IV" became a hit from the album. I have no
idea if there was an actual 45 version or not. I'm sure I could go to the books and check that one.

Hey John!

Thanks for dropping in and giving me that mini-bio of how you got here. I find all that kind of stuff fascinating! I wonder, does the mod allow a single thread to have us describe ourselves?
It sure would be cool to hear a number of stories about all the in and ex-radio folks that still hang out just for the fun of it. Of course, I also know there are some who like to keep all the
radio and production stuff private too.

I never did actually make it on-air. Though I had a year and a half at the STLMO based "Broadcast Center." It was kind of like a trade school for on-air wanna bees. It also had a valuable format
of having local radio and TV folks to mind the students along with a fair amount of self study. I had plans to jump directly into the metropolitan market to bypass all the small station startups,
which wasn't really a smart way to start. I think the original guy who started the school was Gephardt. Later, his son I believe carried on the management. Geez! was that really forty years ago?

I did however meet a lot of folks in the industry. All with stories of stations and music. I guess that was plenty of value to me right there as it was.

There's a lot more to those stories but, I guess I have to jab about a single here to keep this post legit!

I have to re-check but, I think there is also another one that I sometimes hear in single form by the band Looking Glass. "Brandy You're a Fine Girl" has some instrument differences between single
and album versions too, if I'm not mistaken. I'll have to go figure it out or, more than likely it's been covered in an old thread.

I'm glad to have found this forum!

Wow! this thread is really up my alley, as I'm almost
finished compiling a complete digitisation of
Australia's entire Ktel Compilation run from 1974 to
2000.

This subject wasn't really relavent as for being a kid
in the late 70s and 80s, I would just tape much of the
stuff off radio, Sydney getting it's first FM stations
in April 1980, this was a real thrill.

But as much as I used my father's hi fi cassette deck
in combination with TDK AD and Maxell UD tapes to get
the best results, it kind of lacked something, and
just when I started buying my own music, CD came out,
so I was kind of straight into CD from the get go.

Finishing school and my part time jobs here and there,
I started earning better dollars and with that in 1988
and 1989 started buying many more CDs, and the very
first thing that really punched me in the stomach
harder then a kick up the behind was Paul Youngs "No
Parlez" CD; completely different from the record.
"Come back and Stay" was unrecognisable, "Love of the
common people" was stretched to insanity, and
"wherever I lay my hat" was just going on, and on, and
on, and on, and on, you get the idea. The next one
shortly after was Dead or Alive's "Youthquake".
"Lover come back" and "you spin me round" sounded
fine, but "In to deep" was what the hell? Whatever
happened to that big huge Synth intro, instead was
just a solo rhythm guitar, this album version really
really sucked.

1990 I started getting into community radio, and it
was at this time that the ducks started aligning, the
people at the record store I regularly visited, HMV
Mid CIty, started appreciating that I was a regular
customer, and gave me a few perks. One of which was
being able to return and swap CDs without the hassle
if I didn't have the docket. I guess some would have
used this opportunity to buy CDs, record them to a
good tape, and return the CD back, but this wasn't my
intention at all.

CDs were still very expensive back then, and it was
often a purchase of AU$25 to $30 for a disc, for
getting one or two songs. If these were the wrong
versions, I felt that I was shafted, and luckily with
this they were many albums I had to return and swap,
just because they DID NOT have the correct single
version.    

At the same time, they were suddenly an abundance of
greatest hits and best of compilations appearing under
budget labels, and 1990 and 1991 were the two years
that saw not just a huge boost to my CD collection,
but finally starting to get many correct single
versions and edits.

For the next several years I worked at various
community stations in Western Sydney, and then from
the late 90s established my own internet radio
station, hoping to get broadcast spectrum. With the
rise of automated playout systems and computers, I
digitised my entire CD collection. By 2010 I had
around 16,000 tracks, and it was at this point that
the penny dropped that compiling the entire Australian
Ktel series was a serious possibility.

In 2012 I researched some australian websites, and
eventually discogs and with the relavent info,
compiled quite a few hundred ktel comps. They were
still several tracks missing. This is where second
hand record fares, torrents, lossless streaming hosts
like deezer and tidal, and a few UK digital flac
stores came in very handy. One DJ service I would like
to recommend on this board, but don't know if it's
outside of the rules, specialised in hosting WAVs of
every UK charting hit from the 50s onwards.

But with me, I am a singles version maniac, but as my
era of music is the 70s, 80s, and 90s, the length of
an average single was around 3:30 to about 4:45, and
this is really the absolute attention span of me
enjoying a song, album versions do make me sleepy, as
I actually do drift off.

THey are a few album versions that do stand out as
being great:

Billy Ocean - When the going gets tough
Michael Jacksons - Thriller
Far Corporation - Stairway to heaven
Jon Bon Jovi - Blaze of glory
Elton John's - Chloe (full ten minute version)
Abba - Summer night city
Roxette - It mut have been love

But again, these are few and far between and with this
most importantly the one thing that was often
understated was that single edits had over dubs, extra
instruments, slightly different configurations in the
instrument mix that just made them sound more
appealing. I don't know about others on here, but
aside from finding the right single edit, I'm also
trying to find such versions without them being
dynamically smashed to pieces - many record labels
today seem to be hell bent on destroying every piece
of head room and nuance that's contained within a
track.

I can't seem to recall if David Craig spent any time on air here as "Smokey Burns." However, the name David Craig sure does sound familiar.

One guy I used to listen to back in the '60s I believe was Mort Crowley on KXOK-AM. I was surprised to find out that one of my classmates in grade school was actually his daughter. Though she almost
never spoke about it much. Later, I was watching a documentary on bands and stations in Chicago, and his name popped up there too. I'm guessing he and the old sports caster "Harry Carey" traded cities.
I ought to see if I can find some info online about him sometime.

The '70s were wild here for top-40 radio. It was a mixed bucket of just about everything pop or country. The big rock station KSHE seemed to cater to more of the Led Zepplin, Black Sabbath etc. Rock
stations didn't seem to have the "Single" in mind when they programmed the day, but they did stick to repetition on a lighter scale than the top-40 stations did.

I still remember a night when a friend and I got bored after work and called into the FM pop station, KSLQ. After talking to the DJ for a while, (This was late at night after we both got off work at
the local Steak n Shake), we got an invite to hang out with the guy on-air. It was a blast to sit in the booth as a teenager and see how stuff was actually done before automation came along. I have
no idea who the DJ was anymore, but it sure was a good way to spend an hour or so watching him work.

One thing that stuck with me from broadcasting school was the voice training. I was told numerous times that I ought to do parties in the late '80s, so I tried it out and was entrenched for two decades!
I also held down a regular 9-5 job at the same time. Times were pretty good for a guy who moonlighted as a Mobile DJ here. Also, I expanded my knowledge of music and genre while doing it. I hope to
read a number of stories here of folks in other cities who did likewise.