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eriejwg
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| Posted: 06 December 2007 at 4:12pm | IP Logged
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Using the version from Rhino-Hi-Five, think I was able to recreate the DJ 45 edit.
Ya know, Jim, since you mentioned it, back in 1972, WJET was the big station here, with WCCK emerging on the FM side. Once I heard the mono 45 DJ edit, THAT'S the version I heard on the radio too!
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Todd Ireland
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For database purposes, Jim informs me that the actual and printed commercial 45 run time of Harry Chapin's "Taxi" is 6:40. I only post this info because the song's database CD entries run from 6:36-6:42.
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Todd Ireland
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Revisiting "Taxi" once again, it's been well documented on this thread that a shorter edit running approximately 5:00 was reissued on the Elektra "Spun Gold" series and some here claim to have heard this edit on the radio back when the song was a hit. But was anyone ever able to find this shorter edit on an official promo 45 that was serviced to radio stations during the song's chart run in 1972?
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Hykker
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| Posted: 31 March 2011 at 6:28am | IP Logged
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Todd Ireland wrote:
| But was anyone ever able to find this shorter edit on an official promo 45 that was serviced to radio stations during the song's chart run in 1972? |
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If there was, it didn't get serviced to any station I ever worked at. Any promos I've ever seen had the full 6:40 version. This isn't to say that there wasn't a mis-labeled copy...I never actually timed any of them. Don't even think I ever heard the short version until several years after the song's chart run...I just assumed it was a station edit.
Edited by Hykker on 31 March 2011 at 6:29am
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Todd Ireland
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| Posted: 31 March 2011 at 3:48pm | IP Logged
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Thanks, Hykker. Hopefully, if anyone ever runs across an official promo single copy containing a shorter edit, they'll pass the info along to us.
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KentT
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| Posted: 24 May 2011 at 9:14am | IP Logged
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5 Spun Gold New Old Stock 45 singles showed up at my house, delivered to me by a co-worker. 3 of them have the DJ Short edits and EKM deadwax. All labels quote Stereo but the EKM Short Edits are in fact, Mono. And appear to be the 5:00 edited AM version. And they time out to 5:00. I wonder if Elektra serviced this short edit to AM radio stations? I'll have one of my colleagues dig our Promo 45 singles for "Taxi" out and see.
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KentT
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I received delivery of 4 White Label promos from our station archives, all of them are 6:40 and in mono. So, I think that someone at Elektra decided a short edit was needed for airplay, and the edit was done and made it to being nearly serviced to radio, at the last minute the decision was made to release the 6:40 version in mono. Of course, conjecture. But those 4 promos and promo singles of "Taxi" I have seen on ebay are all 6:40. So, when Elektra needed some new stampers for the Taxi single, the shelved edit stampers got used inadvertently.
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jimct
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| Posted: 26 May 2011 at 6:28am | IP Logged
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Kent, I really appreciate all your efforts in attempting to get to the bottom
of this 5:00, edited version "Taxi" situation. And I can currently dispute
none of your findings, as I have yet to find an official short promo 45,
either. But one key fact persists here. The song was a personal fave of
mine back in 1972, and was a huge hit in CT. The 5:00 edit was the ONLY
version I EVER heard on my AM radio in 1972. And John in Erie also has
the exact same memories for it, 8+ hours away from me. My local AM
station had "local, Mom-And-Pop" ownership then, and was therefore not
part of an ownership chain. And, as of this time, there was also no
"consultant" at my station (although that would soon change.)
Furthermore, I distinctly remember "Taxi" being played as an oldie, around
1975 (soon after "Cat's In The Cradle" hit #1), on that same AM station.
They played the full, 6:40 version! I can still remember the total shock
that came over me when I heard that high-voiced, vocal verse - the part
edited out of the version I heard 100+ times, back in 1972 . It was the
first time I'd EVER heard that full version. And while it's possible that what
John and I both heard in 1972 was an "in-house" edit, my gut says no.
Why? For both the Mom-And-Pop owners/no consultant status of my
local AM station at that time. Those two factors would've made "in-house,
custom version sharing" MUCH less likely (though not impossible, because
"old DJ buddies" were everywhere, and any two of them could've
sent/shared a tape between them.) But, instead, I believe one of two other
things happened: 1) Any/all Elektra 5:00 promos were issued in very
small quantities, compared to the 6:40 promo version. (There are several
other examples of a situation like this: Mungo Jerry's "In The
Summertime", Spinners "Ghetto Child", and Boney M's "Rivers Of Babylon".)
Or, 2) Possibly all 1972 Elektra Taxi promo 45s STATE a time of 6:40, but
perhaps some, in fact, actually feature the 5:00 edit version. It certainly
sounds like there was some "internal Elektra bickering" going on here at
the time. In 1972, what if you're a local record rep, and some of your
client stations are telling you that they won't add "Taxi" unless you send
them an promo edit for it? Record reps HATED hearing that! As a result,
those exact same words got a lot of labels to do a lot of things they'd not
originally planned for, back in the day. Wouldn't one way around this
problem, for everybody at Elektra, be to have one of their pressing plants
"by
mistake" press the 5:00 version onto some of their listed 6:40 copies?
And then (on the down-low), let any/all of the Elektra record reps who
needed a shorter version for radio know, "Pssst - here are some short
version 'Taxi' promos, pressed up 'in error', for those stations that insist
on one. And hey, I also put a magic marker "X" on those shorter copies, to
help you distinguish which promo copies are which."
Now, I'm normally not one to speculate. But I know what I heard in
1972. And although I was only in high school back then, I would be
working at this very station's Music Dept. in just a few years, where I
remained for a very long while. So I've seen/heard virtually every trick in
the book, when it comes to stuff like this. Remember when Geffen
promised Guns N' Roses they wouldn't edit their "November Rain?" So they
instead used the "Hitmakers" service, to include 5-6 individual, in-house
"station" edits, to get these versions out to radio. And Geffen still had the
"plausible deniability", that they didn't break their word to the band. Well,
20 years earlier, couldn't Elektra have gone back to Harry, when he heard
the edit on radio and complained, and say to him, "We have no idea where
radio got the edit from, Harry. We did prepare one, but, like we promised
you, we didn't service it to radio. And here are 25 promo copies of it in my
office, to prove it! (Those promos were without the "special magic marker
X", of course!) There. Everybody's happy. Radio got their short version.
Elektra can "prove" they didn't lie to Harry. And most importantly, Elektra
made the most money possible out of the whole thing. Never forget
record company rule #1 - Maximize Profit!!!!!! Can anybody say "grassy
knoll?" Now I just have to finally find one of these "disguised" promos....
Edited by jimct on 26 May 2011 at 6:35am
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KentT
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Yes, I think you're right. At WATO-AM 1290 in Oak Ridge, TN, when Taxi was in heavy rotation, the 5:00 edit was played most of the time and carted. I was allowed to play the full LP cut on weekends. I think what you have to say on the subject is correct. I think Elektra did an underhanded short edit for AM and pressed them and didn't put the real playing time on the label. I think the Spun Gold copies I have found emanate from that stamper. I think between us, that we have thoroughly gotten to the real Nitty Gritty on this matter. All other area AM Top 40 stations played the 5:00 version until it became an oldie. I have made arrangements to buy one of the promos on Ebay with the X in it, when it arrives, we likely have a 5:00 edit on it. And this trick has been done by various devious means, I have heard several of the 45 edits you have mentioned.
Edited by KentT on 26 May 2011 at 7:49am
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eriejwg
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My initial thought, when revisiting this thread, is that Harry Chapin himself complained about the 5:00 edit. After all, he was a storyteller, and the edit somewhat took away the vision he had for the song as a true storyteller. Although, I'm not sure how much of a force an artist had in regards to what their record company released.
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jimct
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| Posted: 26 May 2011 at 5:38pm | IP Logged
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Kent, one quick correction. I thought it was obvious in my most recent
post that I was simply "connecting the dots" here. I just "made up" the
part about there being a "magic marker X" on some "Taxi" promo copies,
simply to help me make my ultimate point here. Like I said, because I
wasn't yet in radio in 1972, I can't be sure exactly HOW or WHAT Elektra
did to get that 5:00 edit version into the hands of radio - I only know that
they DID do it somehow. I simply speculated about an "X" being added, as
a POSSIBLE way that Elektra may have gotten this done. But the ACTUAL
way Elektra chose to differentiate between the long & short promos
could've been "covertly reflected" in a number of other ways. For example,
they could state, "from the "Verities & Balderdash LP" on the 45 label for
the long, but not the short promo copies. Or vice versa. Or use a slightly
different label font for short/long promos. Or one of any number of other
such "subtleties". My "X"-planation was just an example of ONE way it
could be done. I'm not at all sure any "Taxi" promo 45s even contain an
"X". And if they do, I'd be surprised. Kent, I just used that as a "for
instance", and I certainly wouldn't recommend any sort of "hunt" for a
promo copy looking that way, as any sort of ultimate solution here. As for
me, I'm just gonna continue to check every 6:40 "Taxi" promo 45 I can
find, to see if it might actually run 5:00! My apologies for any apparent
confusion.
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Hykker
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| Posted: 27 May 2011 at 9:56am | IP Logged
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Another possibility not mentioned yet is that Elektra did do an edit, but only distributed it (perhaps on tape) to stations that specifically asked for it. As I mentioned earlier, the first time I heard an edit of the song was a couple years later...both WRKO and the small-market station I worked weekends at in '72 played the full version.
Dunno if Harry had any say as to whether the song could be edited...he was an unknown artist at the time and likely didn't have much clout.
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KentT
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On the promo I made ebay arrangements to buy, I looked for an example from a different pressing plant than the one who made the 6:40 known copies and had a different font. That made me get a different variant and see if that had the Short edit. I am supposed to get it in 4 days. SRC made the promos I examined with the 6:40 full version. SRC being Specialty Records Corporation in Olyphant, PA. All of the Promos I have seen had the normal flip side as on stock copies, the copy I am getting next week has Taxi on both sides. Or is said to be.
Edited by KentT on 27 May 2011 at 11:21am
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Paul Haney
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FWIW, my Goldmine Promo Record Guide lists "Taxi" (Elektra 45770) as a white promo label with long version on one side and short version on the other side (unfortunately, there's no photo). Maybe this is the one Kent is getting next week???
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KentT
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| Posted: 27 May 2011 at 4:07pm | IP Logged
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Paul,
It might just be that one. Look forward to seeing it and hope it gets here in nice shape.
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Yah Shure
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KentT wrote:
| All of the Promos I have seen had the normal flip side as on stock copies, the copy I am getting next week has Taxi on both sides. Or is said to be. |
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I have two DJ 45s, neither of which has the stock copy's B-side, "Empty", on the flip.
Both my Specialty Records pressing and Philips Recording Company pressing (designated "PH" in the deadwax) are the full-length 6:40/6:40 mono/stereo.
While the handwriting is different on the two deadwax markings, the primary matrix numbers are the same: EKM-45770 - [crossed out "C"] A. Likewise, the EKS-45770 stereo matrices also have the crossed-out "C" followed by an "A". Hmmmm...
Could this "C" have possibly been the original matrix number of the so-far elusive short DJ 45? The crossed-out nature makes me wonder if perhaps the short mono cut was the initially-planned DJ 45, scuttled in favor of the full-length 45, but not before a few copies were shipped to some radio stations.
And the mystery continues...
Edited by Yah Shure on 27 May 2011 at 7:33pm
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KentT
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| Posted: 27 May 2011 at 9:01pm | IP Logged
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My Spun Gold pressings with EKM-45770-C are indeed 5:00 short edit versions. My EKM-45770-A 45 singles stock and promos are 6:40 versions in mono. Thus far.
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KentT
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The 45 single with Taxi on both sides arrived in superb condition 3 days ago. It has the 6:40 full version on one side, the 5:00 short edit on the other. Both sides are mono. As Paul Haney described the one in Goldmine's price guide. Must have been the first promo pressing. I have seen most promos with the normal 6:40 and same flip side as stock copies. This pressing was made by Plastic Products in Memphis, Tennessee.
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jimct
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| Posted: 07 June 2011 at 10:42pm | IP Logged
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Kent, terrific work by you to both get to the bottom of/share your findings
for this long-time promo 45 mystery - many thanks!
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Gary
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Does anyone know the edit points for the promo 45 version that is 5:00?
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Top 40 Music on Compact Disc : Chat Board
Topic: Harry Chapin - Taxi
