The ‘Beat’ album by King Crimson was my entry point to the band in 1982 – somewhat taken by the fusing of art rock and the Talking Heads connections, buying that album was something of an educated guess but one that paid off. ‘Beat’ was the middle album of a trio from the early 1980s and this ‘Sleepless’ single featured here was the lead-off single from the third part of that trio, 1984’s ‘Three of a Perfect Pair’. By this stage of the game, the band clearly had some ambitions to have something of a go at single chart success and ‘Sleepless’ took aim with a smoothed-out, funked up, sleek-lined rhythmic juggernaut of a sound that was fashioned into different mixes across the parent album as well as 7″ and 12″ releases, aided and abetted by celebrity mixers of the day, Bob Clearmountain and the more dance-groove focussed François Kevorkian – and in so doing, leaving us with some vinyl-only version craziness some 41 years on from its original release.
Featured here is the West German 12″ ‘Special Maxi Version’ release that I came by on my travels many years later on in the day. I have a regular UK 7″ copy that has a single edit of ‘Sleepless’ on the A side and the album cut ‘Nuages (That Which Passes, Passes Like Clouds)’ on the flip side, unaltered from its album version. (Note: The UK 7″ label states it has a 4’15” duration – that is wrong, it is the same 4’45” duration as the album on the record itself.) It gets proper interesting on the 12″ format though…
Tracklist:
Side One:
- ‘Sleepless’ (Dance Mix) 7’18”
Mixed by François Kevorkian
Side Two:
- ‘Sleepless’ (Instrumental Mix) 6’15”
Mixed by François Kevorkian - ‘Sleepless’ 3’45”
Mixed by Bob Clearmountain
So, all is not quite what it seems here when you compare it to latter day CD releases that feature mixes of the song – and I’m thinking here primarily of the 2001 ’30th Anniversary Edition’ release of ‘Three of a Perfect Pair’ that includes amongst its bonus tracks ‘Sleepless’ (Tony Levin Mix) [7’26”], ‘Sleepless’ (Bob Clearmountain Mix) [5’24”] and ‘Sleepless’ (Dance Mix – F. Kevorkian) [6’17”].
On closer listening and comparison, what becomes clear is the following;
- The ‘Dance Mix’ from the 12″ is absolutely not the ‘Dance Mix – F. Kevorkian’ version.
- The ‘Instrumental Mix’ is absolutely not instrumental – it is actually the ‘Dance Mix – F. Kevorkian’ version.
- The Bob Clearmountain single mix is not simply an early fade-out of the Bob Clearmountain mix as found on the 2001 CD but is structured quiet differently.
So, its version craziness all round! To add to this, perusing discogs.com I can see some other discrepancies, for example, the US 12″ release comes with a 5’45” duration listed for the ‘Instrumental Mix’ – so that has me intrigued now too as to what may be going on with it – is it once again the ‘Dance Mix – F. Kevorkian’ version but faded out earlier? Or is the timing a misprint? Or something else altogether?
What is clear though is that the A side ‘Dance Mix’ and the shorter Bob Clearmountain mix have never re-surfaced on or digital since their original vinyl single releases, as far as I can find. Some may well think that’s no bad thing, the ‘Dance Mix’ does take some liberties and tricksy production chops to fit the song into some perhaps ill-fitting fashions of the day. To my ears though, that Bob Clearmountain single edit does a nice job of concisely telling its tale without outstaying its welcome.
So, there we have it for now – not as straightforward a release as you might imagine and not the last time we’ll be investigating this fine band, I dare say.