O/T: All At Once - Whitney Houston

Although not officially released as a single, Whitney Houston's "All At Once" received airplay on both pop and R&B stations across the United States.

99% of the releases around the world list the single as identical to the album length, 4:28-ish.

There's one exception: Germany, where the single's label claims it runs 4:08.

Does anybody have a copy of this 7" German single? Is it actually an early fade, or is the label incorrect?

I'm suspecting a misprint, but the completest in me has to know.

Arista president Clive Davis was notorious for shortening the times of
singles as they were printed on the 45 label, so more DJs would be willing
to play them. Not sure if he'd be
involved in a German release, but it wouldn't surprise me if 4:28 was
changed to 4:08 to make it seem like the song was shorter.

So your suspecting it is a misprint is probably correct. Also, "All at Once"
was a single in quite a few European territories as the 1st single from the
album IIRC (before or at the same time as "You Give Good Love"s release in
the USA.) So if there was an early fade for it, I'd think the other countries
would release the same shorter version.

BTW, All At Once is one of my favorite songs of all time, and my favorite
Whitney song. I read somewhere recently (maybe the Billboard Book of #1
AC hits) that Clive was considering "All At Once" as the 1st single in the US,
then ultimately went with "Good Love", and made "All At Once" as an early
B-side, just as he did with "Greatest Love of All" as a B-side as one of the
early singles.

We'll never know for sure but if he had released "All At Once" after
"Greatest Love", I think it would have gone to #1. But he probably didn't
want 2 similar-sounding Michael Masser singles in a row, especially knowing
"Didn't We Almost Had It All" (the third in that trilogy) would be coming
soon. That was my theory back in '86. And btw, "Saving All My Love..." was
a Masser-penned song, too - but a definitely different feel than the other 3
songs I mentioned (He also wrote Whitney's earlier single - "Hold Me" with
Teddy Pendergrass).

Edited by EdisonLite

AndrewChouffi wrote: He, of course, really performed it well - and I wouldn't be surprised if it was the most profitable work in his career. Andy

I read an interview with him where he said exactly that. He made more money
off "All At Once" than any song of his that HE recorded.

NightAire wrote: Although not officially released as a single, Whitney Houston's "All At Once" received airplay on both pop and R&B stations across the United States. 99% of the releases around the world list the single as identical to the album length, 4:28-ish. There's one exception: Germany, where the single's label claims it runs 4:08. Does anybody have a copy of this 7" German single? Is it actually an early fade, or is the label incorrect? I'm suspecting a misprint, but the completest in me has to know.

I have the German promo 7". My copy is a bit crackly, but I timed it at 4.17.

EdisonLite wrote: Marcelo, is your mp3 copy of All At Once also 4:17, like 75azabache's (Ben's)? And Ben, is your 4:17 version just an early fade of the full 4:28 version? And btw, up above when I said this is one of my favorite songs of all time - well I just realized I just mentioned the 4:28 timing not by looking at what's above, but just from memory. I can't say that for too many of my favorite songs.

Gene: My copy has a duration of 3:58, I did not do a
comparison with the LP version, to determine if it is an
early fade version or if it is the Edit version, I have
no problem sending you a copy so that you can compare and
give us more information.