Hopefully this will be of minor interest to some of the board members:
At the time Wang Chung's "Dance Hall Days" was becoming a hit (1984), 12" dance mixes were released in the USA, Australia, the UK, Europe, & The Netherlands.
The UK / Spain / Europe / Netherlands mix runs approximately eight minutes plus a couple of seconds (8:02 to 8:06, depending on whose turntable was used for the transfer). To my knowledge, this version is not available for sale in any digital format.
The U.S.A. / Australia mix runs approximately seven minutes, twenty seconds... and the database lists one CD containing this mix. Amazon lists it for sale by others for $125(!!!) new or $17+ used. I've contacted iTunes & asked them to add it, but I don't know if they'll be able to get it, of course.
Because the mixes sound similar at first listen, I assumed they were identical and perhaps the U.S.A. / Australia mix was simply faded earlier... but this is NOT the case.
The intros are slightly different, and about halfway through the 1st verse the two versions go completely different directions.
The basic premise of both is very similar, but the U.S.A. / Australia mix seems to leave more of the lyrics intact / in-order and provide a dry beat bed at the end for DJs to mix into the next song, while the European mix takes more liberties with the lyrical content, and come back around to the full-blown band before fading.
If you're looking for these remixes, BE WARNED: the song was remixed / remade in the late 80s, and several CDs contain the remixed late-80s version instead of the genuine original 12" mixes. The 7" single and the album version are the same, and the 12" mixes are as listed above (depending of course on which continent you're on).
The original 7" length vs. the remix 7" length vs. the remix 12" length vs. the original 12" lengths are all different enough that if you know the length of the song on any particular CD, you shouldn't have any problem identifying which is original & which is not.
-------------
Gene Savage
http://www.BlackLightRadio.com - http://www.BlackLightRadio.com
http://www.facebook.com/TulsaSavage - http://www.facebook.com/TulsaSavage
Tulsa, Oklahoma USA
|