Madonna Edits

Hi guys, I was just reading Brian's list and I join the others on thanking him for sharing the info.

As a big remix nut, I have over the years researched a lot to find Madonna's edits and remix/edits on CD whenever possible.

A few things come to mind:

The japanese CD single collection was great news for me at the time it was released, I was very happy when I found about it because I knew that it probably had at least a few versions that would be otherwise unavailable on CD, and so it was.

After buying it though, I was quite disappointed with the crappy quality of the covers, the photos are grainy and a little washed out.

But most importantly, I realized the set was not 100% loyal to the original CD3 releases as it was supposed to be. This is true at least for one of the singles.

The "Like A Prayer" CD3 on the Jap box has the album version of the song, while the original Japan CD3 includes the 7" remix (without fade, clocking in at about 5:19).

Speaking of versions on 45's, I recalled an interesting pice of info on "Dress You Up".

If anybody's interested in it, the 7" promo vynil contains the LP version on side A (same as the commercial 45), but on side B it has an otherwise unavailable version called remix/edit, which is basically a radio friendly edit of "The 12" Formal Mix.

And for those who enjoy editing, if you want to own some of the old edits with digital quality, it is possible to do it using any editor like Sound Forge, extract the corresponding version from the CD and make it shorter.

I have done this with the two album edits from her debut album which are to date unavailable on CD: "Everybody" and "Lucky Star".

What I did is thoroughly compare the album version to the edit on the 7" vinyls, identified the edited parts, and there's our CD quality edit, no need to wait for a CD release : )

In the specific case of "Everybody", the 1982 edit was made using the extended version, not the album version. I realized this after having trouble to replicate the edit using the album version. I then checked the extended version, and there were the parts I was missing to do the edit.   

Of course it's not possible to do it with all edits because they may have been slightly remixed or restructured in a way that doesn't allow to copy the editing structure, but with those two above you can do it, and if you are a sound quality freak like me, you'll surely appreciate listening to them with CD quality over the horrible sound of most 7" vinyls.

Well, looks like I got carried away, so I'll stop now, hahaha.

Johann from Argentina

Hey Brian! You are right! After reading your response I popped the LAP 3" from the box and it does fade early. As you can see I never really listened to the single, still have hard feelings about the set : p

Regarding "Hung Up", a friend called me last week because he had seen the Hammel and Chus & Ceballos remix edits on a forum. I assumed they were home made but now that you mention the iTunes store, I guess they are official.

The only remix/edit I have seen released is the Tracy Young one. I have it on the Argentina cd single which has the exact same track listing as the UK and Aussie 3 track ones. I thought it was also released as an edit on the USA 6 track cd single? Is it the full length remix?

Brian, I have seen that CD-R with the full length mix of "Hung Up's" Tracy Young mix, and agree, who knows if it's official.

That was a very cool way to find out! I have the BA 3 track promo CD but only have a copy of that acetate.

I'll keep it in mind! I don't really collect inhouse CD-R's mainly for that reason, they can be easily faked, but your strategy was quite conclusive.

I've created custom edits for both of those songs, and they both have several edits. "Lucky Star" has an edit on the intro and cuts out the music after the "shine your heavenly body" bridge. There's also an earlier fade.

"Holiday" has even more edits, but I'd have to go back and compare the single with the LP to tell you where the exact edit points are. I generally don't keep written instructions for any of my edits, and unfortunately, my memory isn't good enough to remember where they occur.

Edited by aaronk

crapfromthepast wrote: In the final version, there are edits at 0:14, 2:04 and 3:09. I added a 32-beat sinusoidal fade at 3:34, then adjusted silence at intro from 1.0 sec to 0.2 sec, then added 2 sec of silence at end. Total run time of 3:51 for my edit.

That's exactly right. You'll need to edit out 8 seconds at 0:14, making your edit point on the bass drum. The next section removed is from 2:19 to 2:35 of the LP version; and the final edit is from 3:41 to 3:57 of the LP version, both on the bass drum & first beat of the measure. (Don't worry if they sound choppy; that's how the 45 sounds.) The fade does, indeed, start at 3:34 and goes to 3:51.

Edited by aaronk