Don't you hate it when you hear a great track, say a great funk jam, that is eight minutes of pure ass-shaking heaven. You go out and buy the album, only to find out that the version of the track included on the album is some lame-ass short version that clocks at two and a half minutes.
I know they used to save those extended jams for 12" singles back in the day, but just imagine how much better some albums would be had the extended versions been included on the actual albums.

The Brothers Johnson - Look Out For #1

After hearing the extended 12" version of 'Get The Funk Out Ma Face', the under three minute version on the album pales in comparison. Makes you wonder what went on in the peoples' minds who chose to put the short version on the album.

Lenny Williams - Rise Sleeping Beauty

Less than three minutes of 'Cause I Love You'. The full version lasts nearly eight minutes. Nuff said.

Instant Funk - Instant Funk

I have had the extended CD version of this album for a long time. It has a killer version of 'I Got My Mind Made Up' as the first track and includes two less than stellar disco or whatnot remixes as bonus cuts. Can you imagine my surprise after purchasing the album and finding out that one of these subpar disco remixes is the actual released album version of the aforementioned track.

Cameo - Secret Omen

The extended 12" version of 'I Just Want To Be'...

Commodores - Commodores

Brick House, album version = three minutes and fourty-seven seconds.
Brick House, 12" version = six minutes and eleven seconds.


What do y'all think?

FuNkeNsteiN said:

Oh yeah, so many cases of this happening, and it kills because many times it would have fit on the CD!! some other cases

Donna Summer "Love to Love You Baby" how can you edit this damn thing, the disco era was famous for long tracks, how do you cut this song down to 3 minutes?

KISS- Detroit Rock City, its crazy that this song always gets cut, the original Vinyl of this song features a car starting up and crashing, which leads to the infamous intro, its not even a long part, BUT it always gets cut.

lastdecember said:

Oh yea, I forgot about that one
Definitely a moment
[Edited 11/3/07 15:45pm]

This is indeed annoying. I almost always prefer the extended versions of songs. 1999 is my favorite album ever, and if those songs had been edited, I don't know if it would be. Edits should be used for singles and single compilations for the most part!

Like the extended and instrumental version of One Nation Under A Groove , is way better than the album version.

I also hated when you bought a 12 inch version a of tune and find out its the album version....


No mix or anything

When you said Brothers Johnson, I thought you were gonna mention the 12" version of "Ain't We Funkin' Now" (funkface)

'Sexy Dancer' .. the album version is a tease

Cinnie said:

That's off the chain the U.S. Special Extended Version with the drum breaks, there's a UK Disco Single Version about two minutes shorter than the U.S. 12", but i have yet to hear it.
[Edited 11/3/07 21:26pm]

edit
[Edited 11/3/07 21:27pm]

Don't forget:

Kool & The Gang - Get Down On It
The 12" Extended Version is a few minutes longer..and jammin!

Same with Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
The original 12" edit..is so AWESOME at the end. It is what Michael has been doing live for years...LOVE IT.

funkpill said:

Man, that's lame
The record companies just trying to steal yo money!

ACtually...Those are best saved for 12" 's they are better 4 DJ's too. Imagine mixing with a album cut that is 9 minutes and the sound is all scrunched together and dark on the vinyl (like on a slow song) just 2 fit the rest of the songs.

yeah i still get mad everytime i listen to "around the world in a day"
and think that he could have included those sublime extended versions
of "paisley park" and "raspberry beret" and "pop life".

i guess there simply wasn't enough space on albums back then, at least
if you wanted to keep it a single lp

Flowerz said:

I've never heard this cuts 12" Version, how long is it?

Rick James - Give It To Me Baby - Why they didn't just keep the full version for the Street Songs LP is beyond me.

Confunkshun - Ffun - I guess the Six Minute version was too heavy for the Secrets LP

Funkadelic - Get Off Your Ass And Jam - I have the Four Minute version on a 12"single but on the album it's only two and some change I think.


BTW, have any of you ever heard Prince's "I Feel For You" 12" version? I heard he get's raw with the lyrics on that version.
[Edited 11/4/07 22:51pm]

Abdul said:

Dig it.

ABC--Poison Arrow---after the slammin remix of the look of love, they come out with this kenny g trumpet horn shit--

patti labelle/prince--yo mister--i guess warner wasn't gonna let P on this release, it sucked, no prince and a whole new lame arrangement


prince--i would die 4 u--i guess i can appreciate the live version now, but with the slammin dance extended versions of the other singles, this came off as a hugfe disappointment (other than the long version of another lonely christmas, which got far more spins from me the iwd4u)

StarMon said:

! StarMon knows what's up.

Funkenstein, that's just one of the disadvantages you have because of your young age. You are hearing and buying the albums years after they have gone out of style so you really don't know which is the album or 12 Inch version until you buy them.

However, for us old timers who were around during the era that the music was popular, it was great. We usually heard the 45 version on the radio first. Then, a longer version might appear on the radio so we knew that was the album version. Then, after we thought it couldn't get any better, an even longer or remixed version would show up on the radio. Actually, the 12 Inch singles were originally for the clubs but people loved them so much they started appearing on the radio. I loved the way things went down exactly the way they happened. The different versions kept things interesting. Of course, I lived through the era so everything was happening in an order that was understandable.

I can definately understand your frustration though of buying an album and getting a shorter version than you expected. I would be pissed.

Abdul said



Get outta heah!!!


for real???


I knew there was more to that groove

I also hate the opposite. you buy a twelve inch of that jam and it is the damn three minute version. nothing but grooves and a little bit of music if you will. I do know that when you buy an lp, it is rare that a twelve inch or extended version is on there. maybe because it isn't remixed yet. At the same time there are those lp's that put a long version on them. but it sounds like in you all's cases you bought the 12 inch first, and then the lp. now that sucks.

vainandy said:

After I got my copy of 'Rise Sleeping Beauty' I took it out of the cover to spin 'Cause I Love You'. Needless to say, I was pretty pissed off when I put the needle to the wax and realized it was some shitty two minute version

Yea, it prolly made more sense back in the day. I kinda figured that the 12" versions were meant for DJs to spin in clubs but since they became commercially available, I wish they'd put them on the actual albums. Most of them are far better than their album counterparts

I hate when you buy a 12 Inch and it's the album version. I originally bought Prince's "Let's Pretend We're Married" on a 45 first to get the B Side, "Irresistable Bitch". Later, I saw the 12 Inch in the store and bought it. "Let's Pretned We're Married" was the album version and "Irresistable Bitch" was the 45 version. There was absolutely no purpose in releasing that 12 Inch.

Really? That was a slow song and I rarely saw slow songs on 12 Inches back in the day.



Also, like chewwsey said, most of the 12 Inch versions weren't even recorded when the album was released. I'm assuming that they waited to see if a song became a dancefloor hit before the remixed it and put it on a 12 Inch.

Another thing, some 12 Inch versions would have been too long to put on an album. The Gap Band's "You Dropped A Bomb On Me" 12 Inch is 13 minutes long. That would take up a lot of the album considering that albums were only 45 minutes back then.

vainandy said:

Not sure if it was released as a 12" but there is a longer version floating around. The Lenny Williams Anthology on CD for example features the nearly eight minute version. I've also seen it around on Youtube.

vainandy said:

Oops, I almost forgot. As I said earlier, 12 Inches were originally for clubs. If you notice, a lot of the 12 Inches have longer intros and breakdowns. These are so the DJs will have a longer stretch to mix and blend with another song.

funkpill said:

Yeah Pill, I said the same thing when I came across it back in 2000 at my record store, I bet there's an even longer version of this cut somewhere in The Funk Mob vaults.

FuNkeNsteiN said:

the 12" became availabe in 1976 when Double exposure released 10 percent, this was the 1st 12" commercially available to the public