This curious 12″ release is notable for featuring an edit that was never commercially released, and that unlike various other edits doing the rounds managed to truncate all of the tracks that make up the full version of the original album version ‘Trans-Europe Express’ / ‘Abzug’ / ‘Metal on Metal’ into one edit of 5’42” duration instead of the full 13’38” run time
This promo 12″ comes with the full album version on one side and the edit on the flip side. The edit, as you might well imagine, whoever made this edit back in 1977, likely had to get quite busy with the razor blade and tape to make this edit – long, long before the ease of Pro-Tools edits – as it tends to shrink down each passage so it passes by at speed. Where portions might leisurely spread out to four or eight bars on the original, they are condensed to two, for example, on this edit.
The ‘Long Version’ is of course the album mix – which in the UK comprised two titles on the original album release tracks, ‘Trans-Europe Express’ and ‘Metal on Metal’. But the German language ‘Trans-Europa Express’ version contains the same music barring the language variation but comprises three titles, ‘Trans-Europa Express’ / ‘Metall Auf Metall’ / ‘Abzug’. I’ve never quite known why there should be this variation in titling, but there we go. And curiously, over the years, those titles shift about. B y 1991 and ‘The Mix’ album, the tracks titles across other territories as well as Germany had changed to become ‘Trans-Europe Express’ / ‘Abzug’ / ‘Metal On Metal’. But by 2005’s ‘Minimum-Maximum’ it shifts back to the 1977 titling variations, with ‘Abzug’ only used on the German language variations and nowhere to be found on the English language editions. Moving on to 2017’s ‘3-D (Der Katalog)’, it standardises across territories with ‘Trans-Europe Express’ / ‘Metal On Metal’ / ‘Abzug’. So, the mystery is not only that ‘Abzug’ comes and goes depending on the release, but also that it seemingly swaps places with ‘Metal On Metal’ at times too!
Meantime, all is present and correct here though in edited form and also condensed into the one overall title of ‘Trans-Europe Express’ for the titling. This same promo-only mix is also available on another promo 12″ release under an arguably more famous re-titling of ‘Trans-Metal Express’ (Capitol Records SPRO-8651 / SPRO-8652) – view entry on discogs.com.
Your mileage may vary on how tolerant you are of edits. Compared to the extremely brief 7″ edit that comes in at just under four minutes, you get an arguably greater overall picture of the album mix in not much under six minutes here and even goes to the end with the squeal of train brakes pulling into the station as per the album mix as opposed to a fade-out!
I was just thinking this week about that US 7″ of “TEE” that I remember seeing at the record sections of my local K-Mart discount store and I never ever heard it played on my local radio at the time. As I had loved “Autobahn” three years earlier, I often thought at the time that I should just buy it, but I was wary of spending a precious dollar on a single I had not heard on the radio first at that tender age. In 1990, I bought the Capitol Gold Cuts CD single [C2-15620] with the 3:55 US 7″ edit, so I was covered there, but this unknown edit has just gone on the infinite want list. Though at a high two figures, this is not destined for the Record Cell…unless I get very luck.y Which has happened on occasion!
It was a nice release that 1990 ‘Gold Cuts’ CD EP. As for the promo edit of ‘TEE’, I doubt that will ever surface digitally, much more likely you’ll score it lucky and come across a copy of the 12” vinyl at an agreeable price someday.