Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, here we reflect on well-known albums of the past and the reissues they could someday see. Today's post might be out of touch, but we remind fans that Sony's not out of time to release a collection of remixes for one of their greatest acts of the 1980s.
There are so many artists who have a lot of great 12" mixes that are either out of print on compact disc or entirely unavailable on the format. Oddly, some of the brightest stars of the MTV era suffer from such a condition - Prince and Michael Jackson have had welcome if not thorough compilations of remixes, and Madonna is amazingly still M.I.A. on that front. One other perfect example of a dance-pop artist with a lot of mostly unavailable remixes are Daryl Hall & John Oates - at least, that's the case depending on what territory you call home.
As Hall & Oates' stock rose from the early 1970s (where they were a Philly-soul duo with pop leanings on Atlantic Records) to the latter part of the decade and the '80s (where they jumped to RCA and released increasingly soul-oriented pop/dance music), the label began commissioning extended versions and remixes to earn club play. Beginning with 1980's Voices and culminating with 1984's Big Bam Boom, Hall & Oates were a danceable force to be reckoned with, garnering three chart-toppers on Billboard's Dance chart ("I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)," "Say It Isn't So" and "Out of Touch"). While they still had some hip-shaking hits in the late '80s, having moved from RCA to Arista, the first half of the decade boasted their best cuts for the dance floor.
In 2004, when BMG reissued most of the RCA albums on CD, they included some of those remixes as bonus tracks. Yet despite a good handful of themed compilations from BMG and later Legacy (which has the luck to have the RCA and Arista albums in their collective catalogue), there's never been one devoted to those remixes. Granted, H&O fans should rejoice for what is out there, as it's often made with a lot of love (from 2009's box set to the rarity-packed Playlist disc) - but a remix collection would be welcome.
At least, it would be welcome on American shores. A year before the BMG reissue campaign, the label's Japanese Funhouse arm released not one but two Hall & Oates remix collections, spanning all the major A-sides of the '80s, a few modern-day remixes and both (somewhat rare) sides of the "Jingle Bell Rock" single (each side bearing a different vocal for the song, one by Daryl and one by John). Perhaps one day a similar set will come to light in the U.S.; until then, though, let's take a look at that set, Reissue Theory-style, after the jump.
- Out of Touch (Extended Version) (12" A-side - RCA PW-13917, 1984) *
- Say It Isn't So (Special Extended Dance Mix) (12" A-side - RCA PW-13679, 1983)
- Possession Obsession (Special Mix) (12" A-side - RCA PW-14099, 1984) *
- Family Man (Extended Dance Mix) (12" A-side - RCA PD-13508, 1982) *
- Private Eyes (U.K. Mix) (12" promotional A-side - RCA RCAT-134 (U.K.), 1982)
- Dance on Your Knees (Extended Version) (12" B-side - RCA PW-14099, 1984) *
- One on One (Club Mix) (12" A-side - RCA PD-13428, 1982) *
- Everything Your Heart Desires (54th Street Extended Remix) (12" A-side - Arista AD1-9685, 1988)
- Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid (Special New Mix) (12" A-side - RCA PW-14036, 1985)
- Everytime You Go Away (Remixed Version) (12" B-side - RCA PW-14099, 1984)
- I Can't Go for That (No Can Do) (Hoax Remix) (from RCA/BMG CD single 74321 89092-2 (U.K.), 2001)
- Maneater (Extended Club Mix) (12" A-side - RCA cat. # unknown, 1982) *
- I Can't Go for That (No Can Do) (Extended Club Mix) (12" A-side - RCA PD-12358, 1981) *
- Kiss on My List (Previously Unreleased Mix)
- Adult Education (Special Extended Mix) (12" A-side - RCA PC-60134 (U.K.), 1984)
- Your Imagination (Disco Remix) (12" A-side - RCA PD-13253, 1981) *
- Method of Modern Love (Extended Mix) (12" A-side - RCA PW-13791, 1984) *
- Out of Touch (Dub) (12" B-side - RCA PW-13917, 1984)
- Missed Opportunity (Unlimited Mix) (12" A-side - Arista AD1-9728, 1988)
- Downtown Life (Downtown Remix) (12" promotional A-side - Arista AD1-9768, 1988)
- I Can't Go for That (No Can Do) (Ben Liebrand Mix) (12" promotional A-side - Arista HNO-1 (U.K.), 1991)
- Jingle Bell Rock (from Daryl) (7" B-side - RCA JB-14259, 1983)
- Jingle Bell Rock (from John) (7" A-side - RCA JB-14259, 1983)
* denotes bonus tracks included on 2004 BMG reissues
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It has never been explained to my satisfaction as to WHY it is SO DIFFICULT to get 12 inch remixes reissued on CD. I've always wanted the discs described above, but the price point has always been an issue (they're going for 30 or 40 bucks each, and that just seems silly). It would seem some entrepreneur would start a reissue label that simply either compiled such things as done above, or just duplicated the original 12" singles as compact disc reissue, selling them for 6 or 8 bucks each. There is no real excuse for BMG or UMD not having these things at LEAST available as digital downloads.
There seem to be two types of music collectors in the world--those who collect these remixes, and those who pretend they don't exist. Some of the most completist collectors out there refuse to even acknowledge them.
The BMG reissue of "Voices" did NOT include any remixes as bonus tracks (at least not in the US, although I think the Japanese version did). My question is WHY??? The other US BMG reissues did have bonus tracks. I can't figure out why H&O's biggest album didn't get bonus tracks for the reissue.
Money is the answer. What is the impetus for anyone in the U.S. that has internet access (most of us) to purchase a CD when it's on a server or file shared for free. Bonus tracks issued at a later date in Japan will ensure a small but large number of die-hard fans pay double to get what they want. The Kiss on my list remix was the bonus track on Voices and was temporarily only available in Japan, but now it's all over the internet.
I must be one of those "crazy completists" who DOES want to get his hands on those 12" mixes. If there's an artist that I like, I'll go looking for their 12" mixes. So I'll try to get the Hall & Oates comp's for their great selection of tracks. The record companies who RELEASED them the first time don't seem to get why a fan would still want that mix 25+ years later. At least to someone who danced to that version! True, the non- clubbers don't care about having those mixes...the pre-disco era music fans (I know a few) don't seem to know what a 12" mix is! And some artists (Springsteen, for example) don't seem or want to acknowledge the existence of such mixes. Hall & Oates, however, have built up such a varied fan base, a lot of that thanks to club play. Isn't it rare when an artist gets a #1 hit (I Can't Go For That) on pop, A/C, R & B AND dance charts? Way to go, guys!