Super B-Boys Nerds needed!

[bigdan2276]

Hello party people (once again)

My name is Big Dan and I am putting together a complete list of every single official Beastie track along with a matching playlist of mp3 files. This is the second post and there will be more...

After much research, I believe there are eight specific tracks in the discography with different names, but they're actually the same exact track -- and there isn't any notation of this on beastiemania.com

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but here's what I have found:

1. She's On It (Video Mix) = She's On It (Extended Mix)

2. The New Style (standard album cut) = The New Style (Extended Version)

3. Get It Together (A.B.A. Remix) = Get It Together (Beastie Boys Remix)

4. Sure Shot (European B-Boy Mix) = Sure Shot (Prunes Mix)

5. The Negotiation Limerick File (The 41 Small Star Remix) = The Negotiation Limerick File (Adam H. Remix)

6. Putting Shame in Your Game (Prunes Remix) = Putting Shame in Your Game (Prunes RMX 2)

7. Intergalactic (Prisoners of Technology Remix) = Intergalactic (Prisoners of Technology / TMS 1 Re-mix)

8. An Open Letter to NYC (Radio Edit) = An Open Letter to NYC (Andy Wallace Mix Radio Edit)

I too am a super B-Boys nerd, so please do not take offense of my subject line!

[Sir SkratchaLot]

Originally Posted by bigdan2276

Hello party people (once again)

My name is Big Dan and I am putting together a complete list of every single official Beastie track along with a matching playlist of mp3 files. This is the second post and there will be more...

After much research, I believe there are eight specific tracks in the discography with different names, but they're actually the same exact track -- and there isn't any notation of this on beastiemania.com

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but here's what I have found:

1. She's On It (Video Mix) = She's On It (Extended Mix)

2. The New Style (standard album cut) = The New Style (Extended Version)

3. Get It Together (A.B.A. Remix) = Get It Together (Beastie Boys Remix)

4. Sure Shot (European B-Boy Mix) = Sure Shot (Prunes Mix)

5. The Negotiation Limerick File (The 41 Small Star Remix) = The Negotiation Limerick File (Adam H. Remix)

6. Putting Shame in Your Game (Prunes Remix) = Putting Shame in Your Game (Prunes RMX 2)

7. Intergalactic (Prisoners of Technology Remix) = Intergalactic (Prisoners of Technology / TMS 1 Re-mix)

8. An Open Letter to NYC (Radio Edit) = An Open Letter to NYC (Andy Wallace Mix Radio Edit)

I too am a super B-Boys nerd, so please do not take offense of my subject line!

This is one of the areas of Beastiemania that could use some more data. There are also cases where the track names are the same, but the actual track is different. For example, the single version of Paul Revere has a slightly different ending than the album version.

Or, if you buy the CD single for Get it Together (DPRO 79359), there is a censored version of the track that's different than all of the other censored versions (instead of just silencing/reversing the cussing, it has sound effects added in the silenced spots)

[dirtydan11]

I think I have all of those and I'll give them a listen when I get the chance. What was the total number of tracks you came up with anyway? Are you counting non-song tracks as well?

[bigfatlove06]

Originally Posted by Sir SkratchaLot

This is one of the areas of Beastiemania that could use some more data. There are also cases where the track names are the same, but the actual track is different. For example, the single version of Paul Revere has a slightly different ending than the album version.

Or, if you buy the CD single for Get it Together (DPRO 79359), there is a censored version of the track that's different than all of the other censored versions (instead of just silencing/reversing the cussing, it has sound effects added in the silenced spots)

Sir SkratchaLot has made an excellent point!

In an attempt to resolve some of the questions in this thread I’ve started to research the tracks mentioned. The attempts to answer those questions are really just that… attempts. My approach when I first started trying to catalog every official recording started with the way tracks were listed on beastiemania. I would go to the song spotlight, click on the main track and then scroll down to “Released Versions” in the bottom left hand corner of the screen. For example, if the root track was Get It Together, I would find it in the song spotlight, and then begin researching all released versions. Again, following the previous example, clicking on Get It Together Clean Version led me to all recordings that had a track listed on beastiemania as Get It Together Clean. From that point I would pull each of those recordings from my collection and look at the how the track was named on the actual vinyl/cd. If the title on the actual physical copy was different I would record the track using the song title which was actually on the vinyl/cd. In this example, the first release listed on the site with the title as Get It Together Clean version happened to be a promo US 12”. On the actual 12” itself the track is listed as Get It Together (LP Version Clean) so I would record it and catalog it as such. I would then proceed to doing the same for each of the other 13 releases listed. I don’t collect cassettes, so I couldn’t get recordings from 2 of the 13 releases.
This is the best approach I could think of toward tackling such a massive amount of information. As the tracks were recorded I kept each of the tracks recorded organized by original song title and source to eliminate confusion in the future about which recording came from what release. Although I did not compare each individual track to every other individual track and then take notes on which tracks were identical, I DID organize them is such a way as to be able to pull them up at a later date and compare them with one another.
So to your point, beastiemania could definitely use more data in this regard (although I kindly submit that renaming, relinking, and overhauling the site to do so is beyond impractical for a nonprofit information site), but I think that progress can still be made. I know that I have been extremely thorough in cataloging tracks with different names. In some cases I’ve actually listened to every track such as in the case of the GIT clean version because there have been questions, but only in rare instances. The next task would be to attack actual recordings with the same name, but different audio. I’m open to any way of approaching this systematically. Unfortunately, considering there are a couple of thousand releases, comparing each version from each release where the track has the same title is not a task I would be willing to undertake. Anyone who attempts to do so has my full support and cooperation.
That is why I love this thread so much. The only way to continue to identify these differences for me is by posing, and subsequently answering these questions one by one.
So for anyone still interested….
The US promo 12” with the track listed as Get It Together (LP Version Clean) on the vinyl label has the cursing deleted.
The US In Store Play Clean CD with the track listed as Get It Together has the original curses reversed or otherwise switched up with the original vocal. Interesting side note here is that the edits included censoring the words “but”, “dust”, “funky”, “bonin” and “crack”, while missing words like “Jism” , “shit” and “n****r”.
The US Promo CD listed as Clean Version has sound effects in place of the curses. Moan, Cuckoo Clock, Growl, Moan, Cow, Bowling Pins, Cuckoo Clock, Laugh, Cow, Moan, Man saying Oh Boy, Man saying Oh Boy, Record Scratch, Moan, Bird Call.

To the best of my knowledge that is the complete breakdown of unique Get It Together Clean Versions.

I'll try to address the other questions as they come up. I'm particularly interested in the singles versus album versions, and the In Sound differences.

[Sir SkratchaLot]

I love this stuff.

I agree that you wouldn't want to recatororize anything. Aside from the work, it would probably be confusing to most people.

My thought would be to have the album version be the "definitive version" (unless, the album version differs depending on the Country in which case there would be multiple definitive versions). Or you could have the U.S. album version be considered the "definitive" since its the Beastie's home Country.

To the extent a single/EP/compilation/video version is different than the album version, it could be listed in the notes under that particular single/EP/compilation/video, with an explanation as to how it differs.

I don't know about others, but the main reason I started buying singles back in the early 90s was to get the stuff that wasn't on the album. Many of the singles that don't offer anything new, I skipped over. So, I've primarily looked for new audio content instead of trying to track down every release, regardless of whether it has new audio content or not.

When I started DJing in 1995 or so I began picking up singles a different reason. They have instrumentals and superior sound and tracking (less skipping while rocking doubles) vs the album version. It was at that time that I started noticing the beginings and ends of tracks are sometimes different on the singles. You might not notice the wind overlap from Johnny Ryall bleeding into the end of Shake your Rump when you listen to the album, but when you're mixing you want those intros and outros to be clean, and the records are made specifcially for that. So you might get a little bit cleaner intro or outro, or a little bit longer on the single (sometimes substantially longer although I can't think of any example a Beasties single doing that).

Anyway, since I'm always looking for any little tidbit that's not on the album, some type of asterix to say "hey buy this becuase it's got something new (as far as audio is concerned)" is what I'd be looking for.

[bigfatlove06]

Very cogent. I agree with 100% of what you are saying. It's exactly how I would approach the problem of noting the differences on the site. I don't want to Hijack Big Dan's thread. I'm honestly less concerned with that than doing the research needed to discover the differences in the first place. That's why I love the fact that Dan is going through all this with a fine toothed comb.

So with the ISFWO and singles you mentioned do you have any advice as to how I should start comparing tracks? On the ISFWO, I have a test press, the original yellow, the original black and all subsequent reissues.

[Sir SkratchaLot]

The shure shot way to do it, after listending for obvious differences, is to get wave recordings of the different tracks and line them up in a multi-track.

My hunch is the that the original yellow-vinyl In Sound matches the album/single tracks exactly. To the extent there are differences, they would likely be in the intros and outros. My guess is that they record these songs, have them all in individual form, and then when they go to master the album there's some mixing on some tracks so that the songs transition nicely on the album. When they go to make the compilations, they may go back to the original song forms. That original, yellow-vinyl insound was more of a side-project-thing though and they may have taken the tracks directly off the album mix without much thought about it.

When they officially put the In Sound out a year or so later it seems like they put more effort into it. They removed vocals which means that they almost certainly went back to the original song mixes for at least some of the tracks.

I highly doubt you'll find much in the way of differences in reissues. I guess its possible, but it seems like most times there is a difference, it's a single, or a video version, or a compliation version instead of a reiusse.

The easy way to handle it might be to start a thread and have people chime in when they notice something. Maybe not as throrough as a systematic review but it would definitely be less work!

[bigdan2276]

I'm at 332 official songs and that doesn't include any instrumentals, acapellas, clean versions or side projects (well that's not entirely true - I couldn't skip over "Drum Machine" and there's two instrumentals from "In Sound").

I would love to compare notes and or lists!

[bigfatlove06]

Hi Dan. I've been working on this same type project for about 15 years. I started out the same way you did with MP3 files and later switched to WAV files. I am in the process of moving now, so I don't have the information at my fingertips, but I have what I believe to be the most complete list in existence. If you want to discuss, the pitfalls to look out for / how to keep your files organised / how to research / etc... PM me.

[brooklyndust]

I noticed the 45 promo of Hey Ladies is a bit different then the other versions I've listed to.

[tuc70021]

I noticed this too on a CD single of Hey Ladies/So What'cha Want (the "Single Servings" CD single). There's literally one "hey" added between the lines "Took of her moccasins, put on a bib /HEY!/ Wheelin and dealin'..."

Also, I'm assuming you've already got the two "B-Boys Makin with the Freak Freak" versions (the "normal" one and the one from the 33 with the French answering machine message opening.)

Sorry if this is all redundant. I know you're looking for songs with different names that are in fact the same, not songs with the same name that are different. This level of Beastie Boys specificity just suddenly brought back lots of memories of finding all these weird little quirks in the music when I was a kid.

[Bernard Goetz]

Originally Posted by tuc70021

I noticed this too on a CD single of Hey Ladies/So What'cha Want (the "Single Servings" CD single). There's literally one "hey" added between the lines "Took of her moccasins, put on a bib /HEY!/ Wheelin and dealin'..."

Ha, that's the version used in the video. Never heard it anywhere else.

[bigfatlove06]

Originally Posted by bigdan2276

Hello party people (once again)

My name is Big Dan and I am putting together a complete list of every single official Beastie track along with a matching playlist of mp3 files. This is the second post and there will be more...

After much research, I believe there are eight specific tracks in the discography with different names, but they're actually the same exact track -- and there isn't any notation of this on beastiemania.com

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but here's what I have found:

1. She's On It (Video Mix) = She's On It (Extended Mix)

2. The New Style (standard album cut) = The New Style (Extended Version)

3. Get It Together (A.B.A. Remix) = Get It Together (Beastie Boys Remix)

4. Sure Shot (European B-Boy Mix) = Sure Shot (Prunes Mix)

5. The Negotiation Limerick File (The 41 Small Star Remix) = The Negotiation Limerick File (Adam H. Remix)

6. Putting Shame in Your Game (Prunes Remix) = Putting Shame in Your Game (Prunes RMX 2)

7. Intergalactic (Prisoners of Technology Remix) = Intergalactic (Prisoners of Technology / TMS 1 Re-mix)

8. An Open Letter to NYC (Radio Edit) = An Open Letter to NYC (Andy Wallace Mix Radio Edit)

I too am a super B-Boys nerd, so please do not take offense of my subject line!

You are correct on all counts with the possible exception of #6. When syncing the two tracks one is slightly longer than the other, but that could be because I recorded off of vinyl. If there is any difference it may be that the ending is slightly longer.

[bigfatlove06]

You are correct on the Prunes track as well...
Prunes Remix 2 from the custom anthology
Prunes Remix from the NLF Australia CD5
Prunes RMX 2 from the Blow Up Factor Vol. 1 12"

are all the same track.

[bigfatlove06]

Correction on #7. The Prisoners Of Technology Remix from the Japan CD has over a full minute more audio at the end than the Prisoners Of Technology TMS-1 Re-mix found on the US Intergalactic acetate.

[bigfatlove06]

And on a side note for #8 there is a 3rd version of this with another name "Radio A. Walace Mix" from the AOLTNYC UK CD which is also the same.