Hey. I'm sure one of you many knowledgeable NO fans can help me out here.

Does anyone know what the minute, and more noticeable differences are, in the various versions of Perfect Kiss? (Not including remixes) Namely what edits were made in the sections. But if you know what sounds were cut or boosted that be greatly appreciated!

There's like a million different versions of a Perfect Kiss...can any of them be called definitive? The 12" not even the Substance remix is just about the only version of the song that sounds absolutely complete to me, but I imagine there was some indecision as to how to shorten the song when it came time to given the many versions.

I have 4 versions (album version, 12", Substance Edit, version that appeared on Singles which is curiously not the 7") And I'm going to try to find a good quality version of the UK 7" (promo I think??) and the US 7"

Thanks for your help!

Bonus Q: Did NO always make this many versions for their singles? Somehow only A Perfect Kiss stands out to me. I guess because the 12" inch and album version changes are so drastic.

Kiss of Death and Kiss of Death edit as well.

I've always consider TPK as the song they never fucked with after its single release and the rape of it for Low=Life. Time edits really, nothing drastic.

There are two 7" mixes; the Ivan Ivan edit on the UK/Factory pressing and a longer 4 and a half minute one on the US/Qwest pressing. "Total" features the latter I believe. I think the general consensus is the album version was a bit of a hatchet job next to the full 12" but I do quite like that Qwest 7" mix; definitely an unexpected bonus when they decided to put it out on CD in 2011.

The 12" version on the fixed bonus disc from 2009 sounds really stunning; the full song finally got the attention it deserved.

£50 Note's Recycle blog has a pretty decent entry for TPK here.

Edited by user 11 August 2014 07:58:16(UTC)  | Reason: Tidy up

I think you might be in a minority on this one Mals.


Yep, and I would agree with £50 Note where he says

That's why I call the lp version a rape. But as far as not fucking with the song, the edits of it do not compare to the reworks of Tempation, True faith, Blue Monday and most other singles. Same track just cut and pasted without adding to it. except the stero beginning on the lp version, that is kewl but not enough to justify the butchering.

Besides the above mentioned 2cd reissue of Low Life?

Well there's the vinyl version of Substance which wasn't edited like the CD.
Or you could buy the original 12" for a couple of quid from Discogs.
Or

Oh, just played the Substance vinyl version of the 12" and it seems it is indeed the full 12" ? My mistake, sorry. Somehow i'd had got it in my head for years that it was the edited CD version.Wow, that's a revelation.Slightly gobsmacked to realise that after all these years. Around 47 seconds was chopped off for the Substance CD? So it's the same with the Substance vinyl version of Sub Culture and Shellshock too? Really quite confusing.

Edited by user 13 August 2014 07:29:24(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

There is also the 'edit' of the live rehearsal - which may, or may not, be the same performance as the video - that was on the Qwest promo 12"

Also, the Kiss Of Death is an alternate mix of the track.

I've been reworking some of the old tracks for my own amusement - taking them apart and rebuilding them using elements of the various mixes released at the time -, and TPK is - alongside TLU - the 1980's A side with the least variations and versions around. I've also done the same with Blue Monday, Confusion 1983, Bizarre Love Triangle, True Faith, Touched, Confusion 1987, Fine Time, Round & Round, Regret, Spooky, and am polishing off a version of World at the moment. I might give Shellshock, Subculture, and Thieves Like Us a try later.

For example, combining the 7" A+B, 12" A+B, the LP mix, of TPK/TKOD in some kind of coherent whole could sound like this :

http://www.mixcloud.com/...t-x-full-length-re-edit/

Other mixes *may* be on mixcloud.

Edited by user 14 August 2014 12:56:22(UTC)  | Reason: Forgot something!

They are different takes, after close listening.

The Retro version has an echo on the fourth drum beat of the intro (around 1.11)

The US promo 12" does not have this echo on, and the section is not edited out. I cannot tell for sure as my promo 12" listening was from a home made MP3, however it is highly likely they are different performances, and very possibly on different dates as the acoustics seem different.

I can't say for definite that someone has, whilst editing the US 12", or preparing Retro, added or removed an echo to the drum, but it seems a waste of time and highly unlikely, tbh, especially given the slapdash nature of parts of Retro and the 2008 reissues.

They would tend to mix 7" mixes separately to 12" ones, so there wouldn't be a full length album version as such. That might also explain slight differences between them. Sometimes a master might have been originally in three parts later edited together rather than any one single take.

As for The Perfect Kiss video shoot, there were loads of different takes and partial takes, so it's very likely that the promo 12" would differ from the Retro one.

Any chance you could make this mix downloadable?

May be of interest to some,Peter Hook talked a bit about the writing and recording of Perfect Kiss in his interview on the Radcliffe And Maconie show on BBC 6Music the other day.It apparently took 9 months to write, record,produce etc which i think i've read before somewhere but thought it was 9 weeks.9 weeks is relatively short really and 9 months is probably nearer the mark.I remember reading in Melody Maker (long defunct UK music mag/paper) in September 1984 that they had finally finished it. So they spent from January 1984 to September 1984 working on it i guess?


Go to 1 hour 35 minutes in for start of interview

Edited by user 05 September 2014 10:14:43(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified