Heartland

Just wondering if anyone can account for the relative scarcity of Body & Soul, Walk Away and No Time To Cry as singles as oppose to 12"? Compared to the 82/83 Mericiful Release era 7" and certainly those of Floodland and beyond, the 84/85 seem both rarer and slightly more expensive.

I'm guessing this is to do with reissues of the MR singles and the quantity of pressing from the Top Of The Pops years, but while the FALAA didnt bother the upper reaches of the charts, was there ever any discussion that this was down to the lack of support both in promotion or volume that lead the to all stall before breaking the Top 40?

I think people forget just how niche The Sisters were, even in the early WEA days. Promotion budgets had certainly increased but maybe the appeal lagged. I'd suggest that the completist followers in those days probably tended towards the 12" single and that these folk were more likely to keep the single for onward sale in years to come.

Yes. And 12" Maxi Singles became so fashionable ... larger record shops would have a rather small 7" selection in the mid-1980s, if at all. Buying 7"s was like living behind the moon ... who would care for a short 4min. track with all that bombast psychedelic 2LP stuff (from the late 70s/early 80s) around, the world swaying in pastel-coloured disco and turning to techno raves from there ...

Simple - If you bought the 12" variant you'd have the 7" content and a bonus track or two. So why buy the 7" if it's just the music you were after.

All the other 7" releases had exclusive content (and some still do).

During the 80s, I would usually buy 12� singles rather than the 7�. They were often at a very similar price, and with the extra tracks that you couldn’t get elsewhere, the 12� was the preferred format.

NickB wrote:During the 80s, I would usually buy 12� singles rather than the 7�. They were often at a very similar price, and with the extra tracks that you couldn’t get elsewhere, the 12� was the preferred format.

This.

Although I bought Body & Soul 7" as my first Sisters purchase from the ex-chart bin in Boots for 49p.

NTTC has a slightly different version of the A side on the 7" so that one does have a reason to exist and be interesting to fans.

Otherwise the 7" was something I would have viewed as being targeted at the more casual listener who just wanted to buy a selection of their current favourite hits without too much of a financial outlay, whereas the 12" was for the fans of specific bands who wanted deeper cuts, collectable stuff, etc.