Peter Gabriel: Previously unheard “Sledgehammer” remix on CD

Don’t know whether to laugh or cry over this one….

Remember I told you about the three-CD Extended 80s compilation earlier this week? I think we were all quite excited that John ‘Tokes’ Potoker’s ‘Dance Mix’ of Peter Gabriel‘s Sledgehammer was finally getting a mainstream CD release. Well, SDE reader Daneil Hunt got in touch via Facebook to point out that if you take a listen to the iTunes preview it is clear that this mix is NOT the actual Dance Mix from the original remix twelve-inch (PGS113) but it appears to be a previously unreleased remix that no one has ever heard!!

The running time is 5.08, which is just 19 seconds longer than the seven-inch version of the classic 1986 single and well short of the Dance Mix which was over seven minutes long. The iTunes preview plays vocal elements not heard on any previous version including the standard Extended Mix.

So not only did we get no Sledgehammer remixes on the now infamous So deluxe box, but rare, unheard mixes are getting put out via cheap remix compilations!

I decide to skip through the rest of the tracks and also spotted that the so-called ‘N.A.D. Mix’ of Swing Out Sister‘s Breakout is actually the ‘A New Rockin’ Version’ – although to be fair that has been mislabelled for 25 years and was only properly corrected on the anniversary edition of It’s Better To Travel. Oh, and Alison Moyet‘s All Cried Out is the same version everyone has owned on the Alf CD for the last 30 years. Hooray!

So what’s your view on this? Delighted that a unheard Gabriel remix is slipping out, or annoyed that you STILL don’t have Mr Potoker’s excellent version on CD? Leave a comment and let me know?

Extended 80s is released on 19 May 2014.

• • UK Pre-order: Extended 80s

Track listing

Disc: 1

• 1. Relax (12inch New York Mix) – Frankie Goes to Hollywood
• 2. Situation (Extended Version) – Yazoo
• 3. Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go (Extended Version) – Soft Cell
• 4. Girls On Film (Night Version) – Duran Duran
• 5. Everything She Wants (12inch Remix) – Wham!
• 6. Don’t You Want Me (Oliver Lieb Extended Remix) – Human League
• 7. Atomic (Diddy’s 12inch Mix) – Blondie
• 8. Sledgehammer (Dance Mix) – Peter Gabriel
• 9. It’s My Life (US Mix) – Talk Talk
• 10. (Feels Like) Heaven (Extended Version) – Fiction Factory
• 11. Absolute (Gary Langan Version) – Scritti Politti
• 12. Shout (US Dub Version) – Tears For Fears

Disc: 2

• 1. Lullaby (Extended Mix) – The Cure
• 2. Spellbound (12inch Mix) – Siouxsie and the Banshees
• 3. Pretty In Pink (Berlin Mix) – The Psychedelic Furs
• 4. Never Stop (Discotheque Mix) – Echo & The Bunnymen
• 5. Quiet Life (12inch Mix) – Japan
• 6. Fade To Grey (Extended Version) – Visage
• 7. Close To the Edit (Closely Closely, Enough’s Enough) – Art Of Noise
• 8. You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) (Murder Mix) – Dead or Alive
• 9. Welcome to the Pleasuredome (Escape Act Video Mix) – Frankie Goes To Hollywood
• 10. Diggin Your Scene (Long Version) – The Blow Monkeys
• 11. Poison Arrow (US Remix) – ABC
• 12. Really Saying Something (Extended Mix) – Bananarama feat Fun Boy Three
• 13. Our House (12inch Extended Version) – Madness

Disc: 3

• 1. Chant No.1 (12 inch Version) – Spandau Ballet
• 2. Pull Up To The Bumper (12inch Remixed Version) – Grace Jones
• 3. Sometimes (12inch Mix) – Erasure
• 4. I Won’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me (Extended Mix) – Nik Kershaw
• 5. Love Of the Common People (Extended Version) – Paul Young
• 6. Breakout (N.A.D Mix) – Swing Out Sister
• 7. A New England (12inch) – Kirsty MacColl
• 8. All Cried Out (Extended Version) – Alison Moyet
• 9. Duel (Bitter-Sweet MIx) – Propaganda
• 10. Genetic Engineering (Extended Mix) – Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
• 11. All Stood Still (12inch Version) – Ultravox
• 12. Pacific State (Origin Mix) – 808 State
• 13. Sign Of The Times (Extended 12inch Version) – The Belle Stars