Stevie Wonder "Isn’t She Lovely"

In answer to your question, yes there is an edited version available. It's on Song Review: A Greatest Hits Collection [Import Bonus Tracks] and is track 1 with a run time of 3:20.

eriejwg:

You're right... There is an edited version of "Isn't She Lovely" on a couple of Stevie Wonder CD compilations, but Gordon is wondering if an "official" radio edit was specifically serviced to radio stations back when the song was receiving heavy airplay in 1976, even though the song was never released as a commercial single. If the answer is yes, then is the edited version that has appeared on CD considered the "official" radio edit? These are good questions and hopefully one of our resident experts here on our great message forum can help provide the answer.

Todd Ireland wrote: Gordon is wondering if an "official" radio edit was specifically serviced to radio stations back when the song was receiving heavy airplay in 1976, even though the song was never released as a commercial single.

There was NEVER a U.S. promo 45 or a U.S. 12" promo-only single issued for "Isn't She Lovely" during its airplay heyday. Any edits heard on the radio back then were ALL either an in-house edit, which, as I've mentioned previously, sometimes got "shared", either to other stations within the same ownership group in other markets, or, by "an old DJ buddy calling an old DJ buddy, on the QT", and asking him to do an old friend a favor, and send him a reel-to-reel dub of the in-house edit that their station had already done. I can only speak about a possible 1976/1977 vinyl issue in the U.S. - what came out then for it, around the rest of the world, is anyone's guess.

I was surprised to find an edit on the TM Century library because I recall that song just being an album track that never had any kind of promotional release. I agree that some radio groups like RKO or others shared an in-house edit, and TM Century might have just made an edit to match one of those radio group edits.

EdisonLite wrote: Yes, Todd that's right. But in the meantime, I'd like to know: What are the US CDs with the edited version [of "Isn't She Lovely"?

Gordon:

I have not run across a U.S. CD release that contains an edited version of "Isn't She Lovely". I do have the Australian import 2-CD edition of Stevie Wonder's The Definitive Collection compilation (Universal International 66547), which contains a 3:19 edit of the song and is probably the same one that appears on the previously noted Song Review import disc. I do not know if this short edit was one created and played by radio stations, or if this is Universal's own homemade edit. If you'd like to hear it, feel free to e-mail me or send me a private message.

Edited by Todd Ireland