Music Intros That Didn't Make the Released Single...

I like that one better to, but most radio stations tend to go with the Capitol GH edit version (with or without "Threshold") because the longer Book Of Dreams version has that expletive in the middle of it.

That, and most radio stations don't have anything else by Steve Miller except the old Capitol GH comp.

 

"No More Lonely Nights" Paul McCartney - the opening bass riff

"Hummingbird" Seals & Crofts - not sure if the intro was actually omitted from the single or not but many AM radio stations would just cue up the part where the tempo kicks into the main rhythm of the song.

 

Did the single version of Deep Purple's "Hush" omit the wolf howling? Because I often hear the song played without it on radio.

Hell, once I even heard the local oldies station start the Beach Boys' "California Girls" right on Mike Love's Well, East Coast girls are hip..., completely omitting Brian's lovingly-composed intro. Seems to have been an isolated event so far, thank God.

 

The beginning of Jefferson Airplane's "It's No Secret" is shortened on the single.

 

Lots of corrections and clarifications to the above postings, then a few of my own:

The single version of "Hush" does have the wolf howling, although I think it might have two howls instead of three (or maybe it's the LP version that has two and the single has three).

I despise "Jet Airliner" to this day because of that pointless noise at the beginning called "Threshold." I hated it in 1977, I hate it in 2004. (Steve Miller was way too much in love with his synthesizers in that era.) And back in 1977, it was somewhat "hip" to play LP versions of singles on the Top 40 radio stations I listened to in Philadelphia, so I only ever heard the edit on my own 45 or on American Top 40.

"Hummingbird" by Seals and Crofts does have the "Oh hummingbird" intro in its entirety on the commercial single; the edit is on promo copies.

"Evil Woman": The single version was missing the opening "You made a fool of me" part. It does indeed start with the piano, plus the single has numerous other odd edits.

With "Signs," the original 45s on MGM and the first edition on Lionel, when it was still the B-side of "Hello Melinda Goodbye," featured the full intro. When the song became a hit, the single was re-released with most of the intro sliced off.

"Time Has Come Today" I'm pretty sure has the same intro between the hit 45 version and the LP version, though I haven't played my LP in a long time, so I could be wrong. Most of the slicing and dicing came in the middle and end of that song.

"I Love You" has a very long intro on the 45; I assume that it's the same as the LP version.

On "Your Move" by Yes: I have the 45, and I used to hear it on AM radio in late 1971. (I didn't know what it was called until years later.) It starts with the line "I've seen all good people turn their heads so satisfied I'm on my way"; this line is not repeated as on the LP. Then it contains the "Your Move" portion in its entirety, and ends with a held organ note at the spot where the LP kicks into the "I've seen all good people" coda.

Now, on to a few others:

The most famous one not yet mentioned is the Alan Parsons Project's "Eye in the Sky," which starts on the LP with that "Sirius" instrumental that is used by way too many sports teams as a grandiose introduction to their starting lineups. Another Parsons single with a truncated intro is "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You."

"Dream Weaver" by Gary Wright has a truncated intro on its single version; only about 10 seconds of the intro remains on the 45.

"Roundabout" by Yes got a major hatchet job for its 45 release (I know this is a minority opinion here, but as far as I'm concerned, the edit made it into a far more interesting and concise song), including removing all but about 10 seconds of the instrumental before the singing starts.

Speaking of Yes, the 45 version of "Love Will Find a Way" is missing the orchestral part of the intro -- one of the few long intros I genuinely miss.

 

Here Comes My Baby-The Tremeloes
Tighten Up-Archie Bell & The Drells
Tear The Roof Off The Sucker(Give Up The Funk)-Parliament
Listen To What The Man Said-Wings
The Joker-Steve Miller Band
Burn Rubber On Me-The Gap Band
Love Rollercoaster-Ohio Players
Careless Whisper-Wham!
Take Your Time(Do It Right)-S.O.S. Band
Holiday-Madonna


Another one that was drastically edited is

Feels So Good by Chuck Mangione


I always hated the hack job that A&M did with this 45. They took a song that originally ran over nine and a half minutes and chopped it down to just under three and a half minutes!!! Although they did sort of redeem themselves by issuing a longer edit on a promotional 12" that runs 4:40, restoring part of the intro starting at where the acoustic guitar comes in and lengthening the play out at the end.

 

The piano intro to Locomotive Breath is omitted on the radio. Was this cut issued as a single?

 

The last few times I've heard the Oasis song "Don't Look Back In Anger" on the radio, the intro has been cut off completely...yet it was always played back in the mid-90s when the single was out and I believe the single was released that way too.

For those who don't know it, this is an Oasis song with the blatant ripoff of John Lennon's "Imagine" piano motif, which forms the intro to this song...I seem to recall the band were threatened with legal action (or something similar) at the time.

Every time I've heard this song on the radio in the last few years the intro is completely absent, which suggests either radio stations have to cut the intro or (I'm guessing here!) a new single has been cut.

 

My favorite Styx song "Suite Madam Blue". I'm not sure if it was a single but I've always considered the prelude to be part of the song. It is missing on the Greatest Hits CD.

Tim

 

Wait a second. Oasis ripped off the Beatles? No way!!!!!

 

Styx - Mr. Roboto: The single version omits the long instrumental intro and starts with "domo arrigato..." a capella.

 

I think you'll find Oasis have built a whole career on it

 

Hope you'll pardon the digression, but it's only recently that I learned what that song was called, after years of hearing it on the radio, in shopping centers and doctors' offices, on elevators, etc. Many times I would try humming it for family, friends and coworkers (Dum da daaaaaa, DA da da dum...) in the hopes they could identify it for me, to no avail. What *really* "feels so good" is finally learning the title of a tune like that so it no longer drives you crazy.

 

Don't feel bad about that. I walked around in agony for about two weeks trying to get the title and artist name of that song when I first heard it back in early 1978. Even back then DJ's were bad about front and back announcing songs on the radio. KFRC in SF(the station I first heard "Feels So Good" on) would play it, usually top of the hour, the DJ wouldn't say anything until he was 3 songs into his set!! It wasn't until I heard it on an FM station a couple weeks later that I heard the full version of "Feels So Good" and learned that it was Chuck Mangione. After that, I went out and got the album, six bucks poorer but much happier.

 

1.The opening percussion is cut off the "Down On The Corner" 45,although someone told me they had a one with it intact.
2.On More Golden Grass "I'd Wait A Million Years" has a slow intro I've never heard anywhere else.

 

I only knew the long version of "Feels So Good" and never heard it on the radio. Until the mid 90's when $mooth Jazz radio started playing the highly butchered version. As long as that song is, it flows so well that it hardly feels like nine minutes.

Another shortened song: "Street Life" by The Crusaders (feat. Randy Crawford). IIRC, they may have trimmed off the vocal introduction. It was, I think, an eleven minute song.

There was also a four-bar intro to Earth Wind & Fire's "Getaway" that never made it to the album OR single. It's on the box set.

 

Here's a pic of my promo 12" of "Feels So Good". This longer edit does flow pretty nicely though like you I do prefer the LP version. Speaking of other special long edits, I recently discovered that MCA did issue a shorter version of "Street Life" on a 12" promo that runs 6:15 which I think trims off the slow intro and part of the instrumental break. That promo of "Getaway" to my knowledge does not have the intro that the box set version does. But it does run longer than that one, running 5:02.

 

The missing false start (sort of a half-assed intro) on The Beatles "I'm Looking Through You", missing from the Original UK version Still hear it when I listen to the UK version...

 

It always strikes me as funny, that "false start". I held onto a US mono Rubber Soul from '65 (ok - probably early '66) to the late 70's. Replaced it with an Odeon (German) stereo version back then. Bought the CD in '87. I NEVER HEARD A US STEREO COPY! I first heard that false start in the early 90's at a friends house (on an Orange Capitol lp).

I told him he had a rare pressing!

 

There is a single note (perhaps a synth?) missing from "Long Promised Road" by the Beach Boys, right at the beginning. And I may be wrong, but I don't recall "Back in Black" by AC/DC having the eight beat countoff (played on a high-hat) on the single. I believe the count-off is the first thing you hear on the LP, as "Back in Black" starts it off on Side One.

 

Deep Purple - "Smoke On The Water" (Live). This one hacks out the section between Ritchie's whammy dive and when the riff picks back up. I believe the solo and the ending got hatcheted quite well too IIRC.

I remember the local Top 40 station playing a massively hacked version of Guns And Roses "Sweet Child Of Mine". The begining was shortened, the instrumental breaks between the first and second verse as well as the second and chorus refrain were gone. The main solo, though, remained intact.

Hawkwind - "Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear In Smoke)". The begining is shortened a touch
- "You'd Better Believe it". The synth intro is gone and the solos are shortened.
I know the B-side version of "The Mirror Of Illusion" is edited down from a bit over 5 min to a shade under 3. I've just never run into that version yet. Any of the other resident Hawkfans heard this one?

 

Righteous Brothers "Soul & Inspiration" has an intro that never made it to the single.

 

That's a good one!

I remember thinking "What the..." the first time I heard that with the opening percussion, because I'd heard it open "cold" since the first time I heard it, perhaps as early as when it was first popular... I'd imagine all the original 45s on the green & red Fantasy label have no opening percussion. Maybe a 1980s blue label Fantasy 45 might have the complete version.

 

But isn't "Part Two" (the rest of the track) on the flipside?

 

Curtis Mayfield's "(Don't Worry) If there's A Hell Below We're All Going To Go" : as a 45 it lost its montage intro -- those booming bass notes, then the woman talking about Revelation, then Curtis' call to arms: "Sistas! Niggahs! Whiteys! Jews!" ...