Madonna
Burning Up (Japanese 7″ Mix)
Physical Attraction (Japanese 7″ Mix)
This is really why I moved to Japan. Okay, not really, but I’d be lying if “finding Japanese only remixes” wasn’t in my top ten.
Of all Madonna’s early singles, “Burning Up” has the most convoluted release history. The song was originally released in the states as a 12″ single in March of 1983. That version is a 12″ remix, about six minutes long. The album came out a few month later, and featured a 4:48 version that is similar to the 12″ remix. But at some point, there was a switch, and the album version was replaced with a different version that’s 3:45 long and sounds drastically different, with different synthesizer and guitar parts.
But in addition to those versions, there’s also at least one 7″ single version. While America never got a 7″ single for “Burning Up,” other countries did. It’s nearly the same length as the replacement album version, and is actually an edited version of the 12″ single version.
I don’t know how many different 7″ edits/versions there are. According to some, the Japanese single is different than the European one. I have no idea one way or the other, as the Japanese version is the only one I have. I would hazard to say that if there are any differences between the Japanese version and 7″ versions found elsewhere, they’re probably minor.
The story of “Physical Attraction” is a lot more simple. It served as a B-side to the original US 12″ single, but that version was just the album version with no changes. This version is a 7″ version that was exclusive to 7″ singles. Neither of these versions have been made widely available since, save for a massive 40 CD singles collection that came out in Japan a few years back. So finding this single for less than ten bucks was a pretty good score for me.
I almost went an entire calendar year without posting a Madonna remix! Thank god we were able to avoid that.
THANK YOU FOR THIS! Just… thank you.
I can’t tell you what bliss it is to me to be reminded of these two songs. I LOVE them. I was on holiday recently and listening to local (Spanish) radio and all the music I was hearing was club music. Like – one thing. Not bad for what it was – but it sure sounded like crap on a little car stereo.
But this – this is what I love. There feels like there’s so much space inside it. Room to dance. And I love Madonna’s voice at the start of the career. It’s just the ideal pop voice. Not too good. She sounds desperate – but I think it helps to sell the songs. “…I’m not the others, I’ll do anything, I’m not the same, I have no shame, I’m on FIRE!” She sounds hungry. But also vulnerable – not homogenised or processed. I love it. It’s perfect for what it is. It’s what it needs to be.
Everything happened so fast then. in the space of a few years I went from being a total Prince fan (Purple Rain came out when I was 12 and I went back and bought the earlier albums… Dirty Mind is still my favourite!) to being into The Smiths and The Cure and stuff when I was 15 and then Pixies and acid house by the time I was 17-18.
But then I made a friend who had been into Madonna since day one. And he made me love her. Getting to my early twenties and having this idea that it was OK (to be gay) and like The Smiths AND Madonna was SUCH a revelation. You don’t have to be into ONE thing.
My loving of Michael Jackson though is limited. My boyfriend puts on Off The Wall every New Year’s Eve. And there’s something about Human Nature that gives me the “special feeling”. But something about his vocal stylings always pushes me away a bit. Too much going on in the vocal but not enough in the actual song maybe? (“Annie are you OK”? It makes me think of stupid Oasis and “Sally can wait”. I’m not sure how I’m supposed to get into that.)
I hear what you’re saying about Earth Song, though. And I am hating myself for being so cynical. But that sounds to me like a song from a musical that’s had a dance makeover.
Just to qualify, I do love loads of pop music today… I don’t want to live only in the past. Just that I feel like I tend to like more marginal bands like Shannon and the Clams or The Lovely Eggs and follow them around and buy all their records… rather being into big pop stars that even your Mum has heard of.
And, yes, I miss Prince. And yes I was also really getting into him again… Black Muse… TicTacToe… Baltimore… “If there ain’t no justice then their ain’t no peace…” June… “Somebody famous had a birthday today, all I saw was another fool…”
And is it OK to say I like the Batman album more than I did the film? I don’t really get Tim Burton. But Arms Of Orion? Scandalous? Man, I used to make out to those songs with my (then) girlfriend!
THANK YOU again for posting. You made me happy!