This Corrosion single versions

[lsind]

Quiff Boy's generous cassette-single giveaway made me look up the two items on discogs.com and I realized that there were many more versions of This Corrosion that I thought there were.
Apart from the 12" single version and the even longer album version, there is a 4'24 version on the 7" single and the cassette-single features two other short versions - 3'59 and 5'16.
Has anybody here ever heard the three of them?
Are they significantly different?

[Pista]

I think the only difference is the length really.
The super long versions just appear to have bridges looped (or the shorter ones have had them chopped out), but in all other respects, they seem to be the same recording.

[Being645]

So all durations we have - according to discogs - are:

This Corrosion
7" Single (all countries, labels, versions, promos) - 4:24

12" Standard Single (all countries and labels) - 8:37
12" WEA Promo / Side A - 10:56
12" WEA Promo / Side B - 3:55
12" ELEKTRA Promo / Side A - 4:24
12" ELEKTRA Promo / Side B - 3:35

CD Single - 11:21
CD Elektra Promo - 4:24

Cassette Single / Side A - 3:59
Cassette Single / Side B - 5:16

Floodland Album Version - 10:55


Btw, what is that LIST= tag for? Does anybody know how it works ...

[mh]

That short version of Colours looks marginally more interesting though. Presumably it's just faded, but curious as to how the song works at the reduced length.

[Pista]

Btw, what is that LIST= tag for? Does anybody know how it works ...

Where's that then?

[Lord Emsworth]

Btw, what is that LIST= tag for? Does anybody know how it works ...

It is explained here:
http://www.myheartland.co.uk/faq.php?mode=bbcode#7

[stufarq]

The 3.59 version has a shorter intro, no guitar solo and an odd edit in the second verse, which ends with

"Somebody got a song for me
For giving away"

The 5.16 version has most of the intro (missing the final repeat of the choral section but adding the "hey hey hey a hey now now now now" section), the entire first verse, short guitar solo and another short "hey hey hey a hey now now now now" section then a longer second verse (but still missing the "dream wars" section. The outro's slightly different too.

Colours is just shorter. Considering the full version is just the same bits repeated over and over, you hardly notice.

From memory, isn't the 11.21 version of TC on Overbombing too?

[Pista]

From memory, isn't the 11.21 version of TC on Overbombing too?

Just checking the iProd & it's 10.18 on Overbombing

[Being645]

Btw, what is that LIST= tag for? Does anybody know how it works ...

It is explained here:
http://www.myheartland.co.uk/faq.php?mode=bbcode#7

Thanks ... ... far too long ago I looked up anything there ... ...

[lsind]

Thanks to you all for your replies. A collector's nightmare...
Wonder why they (Von, the labels,...?) felt the need to make so many different versions.

Never realized there was a shorter version of Colours though. Interesting.

[Pista]

Wonder why they (Von, the labels,...?) felt the need to make so many different versions.

$$

IIRC the Mish were putting out multiple versions of their singles on 12" releases.
Maybe this was just taking the p*ss

[lsind]

Wonder why they (Von, the labels,...?) felt the need to make so many different versions.

$$

Maybe, but I'm not sure about that. It was long before the days of the internet, so promotion was not what it is like nowadays and therefore it was - anyway for us French living in the middle of nowhere - always hard to know what was actually available. I was always quite content to only get the regular 12" versions, since I didn't even know there was anything else I could get. Like only seeing the tip of the iceberg and being convinced that it was all there was.
I remember getting into a store and seeing the 12" of This Corrosion and not being able to believe my eyes, since I did not even know that the "band" still existed. Last I had heard of them was when Gift was released. That's what it was for people who didn't have access to an at least semi-decent music press (NME, MM, Sounds...).
So you see, it took me 25 years to this day to realize there were more versions...

[stufarq]

From memory, isn't the 11.21 version of TC on Overbombing too?

Just checking the iProd & it's 10.18 on Overbombing

Really? My memory of listening to it for the first time was that the end section went on much longer then on the album. Haven't listened to it for ages though.

Wonder why they (Von, the labels,...?) felt the need to make so many different versions.

Chart positions. Releasing a single in multiple formats meant more sales and a higher chart placing (until the company that compiled the chart imposed restrictions in the early 90s because it was getting out of hand). Different formats sell better if they have different things to offer so various mixes became the order of the day.

[markfiend]

Exactly. I think that Frankie Goes To Hollywood were probably the first band to use the multi-format release technique; IIRC there were at least three seven-inch versions and maybe five 12-inch versions of each of their singles. Plus limited-edition picture-disks, cassette singles, blah blah blah. No wonder they had three consecutive number ones when anyone who bought any of the records probably bought two or three different versions.

[stufarq]

Exactly. I think that Frankie Goes To Hollywood were probably the first band to use the multi-format release technique; IIRC there were at least three seven-inch versions and maybe five 12-inch versions of each of their singles. Plus limited-edition picture-disks, cassette singles, blah blah blah. No wonder they had three consecutive number ones when anyone who bought any of the records probably bought two or three different versions.

They also pretty much invented the "cassingle" and were one of the first bands to release CD singles.

[Ozpat]

Thanks to you all for your replies. A collector's nightmare...

And there are the TC demo's by one or more Sisterhood members.

[Being645]

Btw, I've just noted these interesting details at Wikipedia concerning the release of the This Corrosion single:

The single was released on 18 September 1987. Each format (7 inch, 12 inch, CD and cassette) contained a different mix of the song, a fact that Eldritch explained this way: "Originally I only wanted the long version, for me the song had to be this way. But the record company vetoed that, so I spent a weekend at the mixing desk. I liked the three minute edit the best, then I thought I'd do another one at mid-length. The LP mix is the same as the 12 inch version, it just fades out a bit earlier. The cassette version is different again cos Jim insisted on doing an edit of his own. He's more into little bits and pieces."

[Ozpat]

Btw, I've just noted these interesting details at Wikipedia concerning the release of the This Corrosion single:

The single was released on 18 September 1987. Each format (7 inch, 12 inch, CD and cassette) contained a different mix of the song, a fact that Eldritch explained this way: "Originally I only wanted the long version, for me the song had to be this way. But the record company vetoed that, so I spent a weekend at the mixing desk. I liked the three minute edit the best, then I thought I'd do another one at mid-length. The LP mix is the same as the 12 inch version, it just fades out a bit earlier. The cassette version is different again cos Jim insisted on doing an edit of his own. He's more into little bits and pieces."

Not read before. Nice. Thans S. !

[Aazhyd]

As I recall, lyrics for the single version are totally mashed up. Like, separate lines taken out of the long version then put after each other. It doesn't even sound weird, single version was the first version I ever heard.