Black Crowes - Hard To Handle

Two separate charts runs for this song, info from Billboard:

Def American 4-19668, debut on 10/27/1990, peaked at #45 on 12/15/1990, 15 weeks total on chart

Def American 4-19245, debut on 6/22/1991, peaked at #26 on 8/17/1991, 14 weeks total on chart

One or both of these is the drastic remix with horns, which really doesn't get any airplay nowadays. It didn't even get much airplay back then, if I remember correctly.

I've always considered the LP version to be the "hit", but I'll ask the experts:

Does anyone know what the story was with the remix? Were both singles released with the remix? Was one version considered a failure, so Def American released another?

I know that "Jealous Again" was the first single from the album, HTH was the second, "She Talks To Angels" was the third, and HTH was the fourth, but I've never gotten a good explanation of the whole horns remix thing...

Edited by crapfromthepast

Yes, 'edtop40', the promo CD is Def Americam PRO-CD-4896.

Track 1 is "album version", track 2 is labeled "remix" (both listed times 3:08).

Has any COMMERCIAL release, in any format, contained the aforementioned remix?

Andy

Here you go, Ed:

Black Crowes-"Hard To Handle" (PRO-CD-4896)
1-Album Version (listed & actual time 3:08)
2-Remix (listed 3:08; actual 3:07)

FYI, we happened to play the "Album Version" for this in 1991; we really weren't crazy about all the horns in the remix. To help refresh my memory, I pulled out our old 1991 station playlists. After "Hard To Handle" didn't really break through Top 40 in its initial release, Def American then released "She Talks To Angels" as the follow-up. We did add this song, on 4/19/91, and played it for five weeks. I remember that it didn't do all that well for us, and I see that it only peaked at #30 in Billboard. But, as is often the case, Def American thought they could now re-work "Hard To Handle" to Top 40, and this time meet with better success, based on their "She Talks To Angels" mini-breakthrough. As I recall, Def American always thought the Album Version was the stronger cut, but just to give Top 40 radio a fresh, second option, decided to include a "Remix", as Cut 2. We first added "Hard To Handle" on 6/21/91, played it for 10 weeks, and it peaked at #6 on our survey, on 8/9/91. Ron, I hope this information helped to answer your question here.

Someone who owns one or both of the cassette singles will have to chime in with more, but I do know about the 45 (7-inch) release.

The first version (19668) was not issued as a 7-inch single; the commercial release was a cassette only.

The second version (7-19245) is labeled as "(Album Version)" on the label with a listed time of 3:08. The flip side was "Waitin' Guilty," which I assume was a non-LP B-side because of the lack of album credits on that side.

Andy I have not seen the remix version of "Hard To Handle" show up anywhere on cd.