Singles which have changed a lot from the album version....

[Whitneyfan]

I was listening to Belinda Carlisle's classic 'Runaway Horses' album yesterday and I'd forgotten just how different the album version of this was:




and the single version, which had a totally different vibe, making it more radio friendly:





And then there's this one, of which I definitely prefer the more countrified original album version:



and the remixed single version:




Any more?

[meister]

Five Star's 1996 single was vastly different from the more chilled out album version. The chorus was totally rearranged. I actually prefer the album version much more.

[raliverpool]

I'll go for one of the most famous examples:

The original Alex Sadkin produced Seven & The Ragged Tiger album version:



& the vastly superior Nile Rodgers UK #1 & USA #1 single remake:

[Earl Purple]

I think they did that on purpose with The Reflex so people who already had the album would still buy the single.

It obviously worked.

Franz Ferdinand - Eleanor Put Your Boots On
I preferred the album version which is the version I always played.

This is the "single" version. A lot of comments say they prefer the other version too



For those who want to hear that, it has been posted:

[Shireblogger]

May 11, 2017 11:06:16 GMT 1 Earl Purple said:

I think they did that on purpose with The Reflex so people who already had the album would still buy the single.

And there was me thinking they'd accidentally released a remixed version, and only realised after it was too late.

[Earl Purple]

There must have been a lot of disappointed people though who went out to buy the Seven & The Ragged Tiger album after The Reflex went to #1 only to find out it had an inferior version of the song on it.

I wonder if any of them took it back, then bought only the single instead? In which case their policy backfired.

[Earl Purple]

Marillion's "Lavender" was a fair bit different single to album version, the latter of which was stuck in a medley of tracks and hard to separate out. In the end, for the single they added a few extra lines, and put the end of "Bitter Suite" on the end of that song (transposed from D to E major).

Kayleigh was the same other than the fact that the album track has a longer middle instrumental break and is far superior as a result of it.

(Heart of Lothian is exactly the same as on the album, although it's questionable where on the album "Heart of Lothian" actually begins and ends).

[raliverpool]

Taken from the soft pop duo's 1987 album "Everything":



But the record company decided that track had potential, but needed to do something to it, to make Radio 1 playlist it to "yo get down with da kidz".... and score a UK #10 & #1 in South Africa & The Netherlands.

"I know ya gonna dig this...."

[TheThorne]

Actually liked both versions they had their place sometimes you just wanted the album version

[SheriffFatman]

I've always found the single version of Common People by Pulp very disorienting - it seamlessly begins and ends in the same way but somehow has a third of the song missing from the middle.

Conversely, the single version of Disco 2000 is longer than the one on the album, with an extended instrumental break over which Jarvis mutters something which I can never quite make out.

[Earl Purple]

It annoys me to hear Common People without the "dog verse" (as I call it)

And that awful remix of a single that was Disco 2000 - that would have been my Christmas #1 had they just released the album version.