VersionCrazy

With this post I’m going to look at the various releases on CD of ‘Seventh Dream Of Teenage Heaven’, the debut album by Love and Rockets, released in Late 1985 and a particular favourite of mine through the years – and specifically digging about at the various different mixes of some of its tracks and bonus tracks which were added to the numerous CD issues. This updated post adds a few additional points that have become known since the original post, mostly thanks to the wonderful comments left by well-informed readers of this blog – thank you! In short, these are a slight edit to ‘The Game’ on the US version of the album and the US 12″ promo version of ‘Dog End of a Day Gone By’ being a unique mix that is not simply an edit of the US album remix.

^ Original UK CD (front)

Winding back to 1985, the album was preceded by two related releases ahead of its won release: firstly, the fabulous (IMHO) single, ‘If There’s A Heaven Above’, which in the UK came in 7″ and 12″ versions, the 12″ including an extended version of the A side, which remains one of my all time favourite songs and, in particular, 12″ mixes – at least, the actual mix that was on the original UK 12″, because the version labelled as such on the 1999 UK CD re-issue is not the same. The B side on both 7″ and 12″ was ‘God and Mr Smith’ (4 mins 47 secs), a rearrangement of the A side stripping out the main vocals and including copious samples, largely of an eastern bent.

^ Original UK CD (rear case)

The other release that previewed one of the album’s tracks was the Beggars Banquet compilation sampler album ‘One Pound Ninety Nine (A Music Sampler Of The State Of Things’ (Beggars Banquet, BBB1) – this included ‘Haunted When The Minutes Drag’, same version as found on the album. (A note for fellow Bauhaus solo project spin-off fans – the version of Peter Murphy’s ‘The Light Pours Out Of Me’ is unique to this album, and is noticeably different to the version that appeared half a year later on his debut solo album, ‘Should The World Fail To Fall Apart’.)

^ Original UK CD (rear of insert and CD label)

When the ‘Seventh Dream Of Teenage Heaven’ album came out in the UK (October 1985) the version of ‘If There’s A Heaven Above’ clocked in at the 4 minute 50 odd seconds mark, so it was different from the mixes on both the 7″ (shorter, at 4 mins 10 secs, approx.) and 12″ (longer, at 6 mins 30 secs, approx) singles. The complete tracklisting for the original UK album (Beggars Banquet, BEGA 66) and cassette (Beggars Banquet, BEGC 66) releases was;

Side One:

1. ‘If There’s A Heaven Above’
2. ‘A Private Future’
3. ‘The Dog End Of A Day Gone By’
4. ‘The Game’

Side Two:

1. ‘Seventh Dream Of Teenage Heaven’
2. ‘Haunted When The Minutes Drag’
3. ‘Saudade’

The UK CD version (Beggars Banquet, BEGA66CD) came later however – in 1986 – and had changes in the shape of a different mix of ‘If There’s A Heaven Above’ (Canada Mix) and a few extra tracks from the earlier singles added – ‘Ball Of Confusion’ (USA Mix), ‘God And Mr Smith’ (Mars Mix) – note, despite being labelled the Mars Mix, this version of ‘God and Mr Smith’ is the same as the 7″ and 12″ single releases.

^ Original UK CD (insert centrefold)

The tracklisting for the original UK CD release is:

1. ‘If There’s A Heaven Above’ (Canada Mix) *
2. ‘A Private Future’
3. ‘The Dog End Of A Day Gone By’
4. ‘The Game’
5. ‘Ball Of Confusion’ (USA Mix) **
6. ‘Seventh Dream Of Teenage Heaven’
7. ‘Haunted When The Minutes Drag’
8. ‘Saudade’
9. ‘God And Mr Smith’ (Mars Mix)

* Note: This is the mix that appeared on the A side of the Canadian 12″ issue of ‘If There’s A Heaven Above’ (Vertigo/Beggars Banquet, SOVX 2363 )

** Note: This is the mix from the A side of the second UK 12″ release of the ‘Ball Of Confusion’ single.

^ First UK \’Lowdown\’ series CD re-issue (front)

The UK album (vinyl/cassette/CD) was re-released at a later date as part of Beggars Banquet budget-price ‘Lowdown’ series – no major changes, but altered catalogue numbers and a ‘Lowdown’ logo added to the front covers.

^ First UK \’Lowdown\’ series CD re-issue (rear case)

America

The American release of the album had a different tracklisting on both vinyl and CD in comparison to the UK releases from day one, with an altered running order featuring two of the earlier single B sides added (‘God and Mr Smith’, ‘Inside The Outside’) and notably a remixed version of ‘Dog End Of A Day Gone By’ included instead. The version of ‘If There’s A Heaven Above’ was the same as the UK album mix though. Inexplicably, there is also a slight difference with ‘The Game’ – the intro on the US version edits out one repeat of the opening guitar refrain (which repeats only three times as opposed to the four times on the original UK issue.) This American version also appeared on CD (Beggars Banquet/RCA, 8507-2-R).

^ USA CD (front) – note the thicker rim to the circular logo

^ USA CD (rear case)

Tracklisting for the US CD is:

1. God And Mr Smith
2. A Private Future
3. Dog-End Of A Day Gone By (Remix) *
4. The Game
5. If There’s A Heaven Above **
6. Inside The Outside
7. Seventh Dream Of Teenage Heaven
8. Haunted When The Minutes Drag
9. Saudade

* It’s also worth noting that ‘Dog-End Of A Day Gone By’ was also released as a 12″ promo single (b/w David Lanfair a – unique interview with the band) (RCA/Beggars Banquet, 8758-1-RDAB) – and guess what… it is yet another version – seemingly an edit of the remixed version that appeared on the US LP version but is more than that. A very useful comment from Dave K, left after the original post:

“The promo version of “Dog-End of a Day Gone By” is not just an edit of the US mix, it’s also a remix! I got a hold of the 12″ and figured I’d edit the CD version down to match it. One detail is that the 12″ edits out the long synthesizer break that’s on the CD. But on the CD, the synthesizer is still playing when the lyrics, “Well, the drunk outside the Wendy’s is becoming less than friendly” come in (around 3:19). In the edited version, there’s no synthesizer at the start of that verse (around 2:52). I had to insert a few seconds from the vinyl version to remedy the problem. So the edited version was definitely also remixed so that the synthesizer part was no longer present at the beginning of the verse. That’s really the only difference that I noticed, and I know it’s a trifle, but it does establish that the 12″ promo is both an edit *and* a remix, however slight, of the US version.”

** Note: This version is the same as on the original album, i.e. the 4 mins 55 secs version.

^ USA CD (insert rear and CD label)

^ USA CD (insert)

^ USA CD (insert centrefold – note that it is black and white!)

Back in the UK…

The third major CD version is the UK remaster from 1999 (Beggars Banquet BBL 2025CD), this time with a new cover design and significantly altered tracklisting – to restore the original album versions and running order followed  by an attempt to include as many of the various tracks and mixes (though falling short, as will be noted…). The tracklisting is;

1. If There’s A Heaven Above (4:55)
2. A Private Future (5:06)
3. The Dog-End Of A Day Gone By (7:38)
4. The Game (5:09)
5. Seventh Dream Of A Teenage Heaven (6:37)
6. Haunted When The Minutes Drag (8:03)
7. Saudade (5:00)
8. Ball Of Confusion (12″ UK Mix) (7:20) *
9. Inside The Outside (4:22)
10. If There’s A Heaven Above (12″ UK Mix) (6.58) **
11. God And Mr. Smith (4:47)
12. Haunted When The Minutes Drag (USA Mix) (4:30) ***
13. If There’s A Heaven Above (Canada Mix) (4:26)

Notes:

* This is the mix from the A side of the first UK 12″ release of the ‘Ball Of Confusion’ single.

** Although it is labelled as the UK12″ mix, it is not in fact the same – it is yet another mix of this song! It certainly is very similar, but a couple of easy to spot key differences are that a) it doesn’t fade out and b) there is no reverb on the guitar at the start of the song. There are other differences too in the mix, this is definitely not the original UK 12″ mix as it appeared on vinyl.

*** This edit of the song hails from the soundtrack album to the movie ‘She’s Having A Baby’

‘If There’s A Heaven Above’ versions

(For those that are interested…)

• The original UK 7″ version (4 mins 10 secs, approx)
• The original UK 12″ version (6 mins 30 secs)
• The original album mix (4 mins 55 secs)
• The ‘Canada Mix’ (4 mins 26 secs)
• The UK 12″ version on the 1999 re-issue CD of ‘Seventh Dream Of Teenage Heaven’ (6 mins 58 secs)

‘Life In The Manscape’ turned out to be the one and only single release from Wire’s fan-testing ‘Manscape’ album, a period where the band’s insistence on devotion to process (in this case MIDI/computer-based recording and editing) dragged them well out of shape from the nominal ‘beat combo’ of the preceding Mute releases. (And even those releases had already had their fair share of playing second fiddle to the technology…) The album was viewed by Wire as their ‘1990’ album, a deliberate change in direction and methodology. I personally have a lot of time for it, but the band themselves have long since distanced themselves from it and many’s the fan who have either joined them in that view or would hope for some 21st century remix of it to sort it out.

^ Wire – Life in the Manscape US CD front insert design

Some while back, I covered the original West German release of Xmal Deutschland’s second single, ‘Incubus Succubus’ – read more here. Easily one of their most vital pieces, having signed to 4AD records the band saw fit to re-record it in 1983 and release a new version, this time produced by 4AD label head Ivo along with John Fryer. Released in the UK on 7″ and 12″ pressings, the version was not radically different from the first take, but even so it somehow managed to acquire a unique number to differentiate it. Something of an archetypal Xmal gothic, lupine howl, it appealed a great deal and was my initial entry into all things Xmal in the autumn of 1983. The bass-propelled, tomtom-heavy ‘Vito’ on the flip side was equally exciting – and fighting above the jagged guitars, the gothic organ tones of the Casio MT30 keyboard – small but deadly!

^ Xmal Deutschland: ‘Incubus Succubus 2’ Japanese 12 inch EP