Album Tracks As Singles?

[newvillefan]

This thread of favourite hit singles paired with favourite album tracks gave me a further idea. What track would you choose from each album as a single, that wasn’t released as one originally? And what track would you choose as its B-side from the same album?

@John Tkacik picked a great one:

Side A: Happy
Side B: (I’m Caught Between) Goodbye And I Love You

A couple of mine (from Now & Then and Lovelines):

Side A: This Masquerade
Side B: I Can’t Make Music

Side A: Kiss Me The Way You Did Last Night
Side B: The Uninvited Guest

 

[Kyle Thomas]

Side A: Let Me Be The One
Side B: One Love

Side A: This Masquerade
Side B: I Can't Make Music

Side A: Happy
Side B: Desperado

Side A: Kiss Me the Way You Did Last Night
Side B: Where Do I Go from Here?

 

[GDBY2LV]

A. Help
B. Crescent Noon
A. Let Me Be The One
B. One Love
A. This Masquerade
B. Our Day Will Come/One Fine Day
A A Song For You
B Bless The Beasts and Children original version
A You
B Breaking Up Is Hard To Do
A. B’wana She No Home
B. I Just Fall In Love Again. ( Possible flip sides on this one.)

 

[newvillefan]

A. B’wana She No Home
B. I Just Fall In Love Again.

I nearly posted this as an A-side, coupled with ‘Two Sides’.

 

[Nemily]

A. This Masquerade (cry foul this wasn't released lol)
B. Heather

 

[GDBY2LV]

Officially This Masquerade and Happy were released as singles, but they were on the B sides of the commercial releases for sale, not the singles sent to radio stations with stereo/ mono mixes on them. The artists/ record labels preferred possible radio hit. So the commercial B. sides were seldom heard by music, and radio programmers unless they were big fans of the artists.
The 2 cuts should have possibly had their own A side releases, and PMP, OY could have received a different B side for commercial release.

 

[Nemily]

@GDBY2LV thank you for this insight! Not being familiar with how releases to the radio stations were different from commercial releases before now, I have a couple of questions and I am not second guessing I just truly don't understand what is meant that This Masquerade and Happy were released as singles.

Did the singles that were sent to the radio stations have a bonus song on them at all or they did and just had the superior mono mix?

Second question-When you say that all commercial B sides were considered released as singles do you mean released as a single mix version on a B side? I always thought that B sides were promoted as bonus songs with no marketable intention of getting radio play unless they were both marked as Double Side A or AA, therefore unlikely to chart.

 

[GDBY2LV]

The commercial 2 song singles are the versions you could purchase to play on your turntable, or stereo system with a record player up until about 1992?
The promo or promotional singles usually only had 1 song on them. Stereo on one side and mono on the other. In the earlier years it was usually 2 mono cuts of the same song. There were exceptions of course. They sent out Gloria Gaynor’s Substitute as the A side and I Will Survive as the B side. The English group Clout was getting airplay with Substitute already, and some dj’s flipped the single over and played I Will Survive instead. Lucky Gloria.
As Harry has stated, the mono side was usually a stereo fold down that sounded better on mono broadcasting AM stations. Hence the same, and only song on the promos sent to radio stations. Promos are quite collectible for that reason, and there are usually far fewer of them available to collectors. B sides are usually just an album cut. Carpenters were smart to put a cut that Richard usually wrote, for more music royalties.

 

[Harry]

I think I actually did THIS assignment in the OTHER thread! I picked two album cuts and put them as a- and b- sides of a single. And I picked "Let Me Be The One" and "A Song For You."

Playing with the idea today on my computer, I decided to attempt just what might have happened with these songs in the mastering process. As we found out from an article in a sound magazine, Richard liked to use the HAECO-CSG system to make acceptable mono mixes without actually doing a remix for mono. So since I have that Phasebug tool for Audacity, I went ahead and ran the stereo album track for each of the two tracks and tilted the phase 90° apart. Then, by collapsing the two altered stereo channel to mono, I got to hear what a possible mono mix might sound like.

Instead of a fold-down mono which would have boosted the center vocal more than it should be, I got a more balanced mono mix. Then, just for fun, I ran a compression algorithm on each one as might have happened on a mono single.

While it was an interesting time-filler, the results weren't exactly remarkable, so I didn't bother saving any of it. Just having fun in retirement!

 

[John Tkacik]

The commercial 2 song singles are the versions you could purchase to play on your turntable, or stereo system with a record player up until about 1992?
The promo or promotional singles usually only had 1 song on them. Stereo on one side and mono on the other. In the earlier years it was usually 2 mono cuts of the same song. There were exceptions of course. They sent out Gloria Gaynor’s Substitute as the A side and I Will Survive as the B side. The English group Clout was getting airplay with Substitute already, and some dj’s flipped the single over and played I Will Survive instead. Lucky Gloria.
As Harry has stated, the mono side was usually a stereo fold down that sounded better on mono broadcasting AM stations. Hence the same, and only song on the promos sent to radio stations. Promos are quite collectible for that reason, and there are usually far fewer of them available to collectors. B sides are usually just an album cut. Carpenters were smart to put a cut that Richard usually wrote, for more music royalties.

Interestingly, in the case of Carpenters singles, the WLP version of (They Long To Be) Close To You had the mono version of I Kept On Loving You included on side B.

 

[Lynda]

A: Desperado
B: Solitaire

A: Baby It's You
B: Help

A: Don't Be Afraid
B: Turn Away

 

[A&M Retro]

A. Eve
B. Get Together

A. Baby It's You
B. Love Is Surrender

A. Let Me Be The One
B. Bacharach/David Medley

A. A Song For You
B. Piano Picker

A. This Masquerade
B. Our Day Will Come

A. Happy
B. Good Friends Are For Keeps

A. You
B. Ordinary Fool

A. Two Sides
B. B'Wana She No Home

A. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
B. Do You Hear What I Hear?

A. My Body Keeps Changing My Mind
B. All Because Of You

A. Strength Of A Woman
B. The Uninvited Guest

A. Two Lives
B. You're Enough

A. Time
B. I'm Still Not Over You

A. Trying To Get The Feeling Again
B. From This Moment On

A. The Rainbow Connection
B. Karen/Ella Medley

I was trying to think a little 'outside the box'. Like using tracks that weren't yet released at the time for B-sides. And releasing 'Trying To Get The Feeling Again' as a single in the U.S.