BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1989
“Friends” was the second single from Jody Watley’s second album, Larger Than Life. “Friends” like her previous single “Real Love” became a multi-format top 10 smash, reaching the top ten of the pop, R&B and dance charts, as well as being her biggest single in the UK since her debut “Looking for a New Love”.
“Friends” appeared in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, the week of July 8, 1989, ascending 54-40. Seven weeks later, the single peaked at #9 for one week.
This is the US 12″ Promo which like the prvious UK “Unity” Remix 12″ also contains some vinyl only remixes, “Dub” and “Acapella”. I have also included as a bonus the non-album b-side track “Private Life” from the standard US 12″.
SIDE A:
Friends (Extended Version) 8:05
SIDE B:
Friends (Radio Edit) 5:10
Friends (Instrumental) 5:31
Friends (Dub) 4:32
Friends (Acappella) 2:31
*BONUS
Private Life 4:50
Written-By – Andre Cymone* & Jody Watley
VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
CHARTS:
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Friends | U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | #9 |
| 1989 | Friends | U.S. Billboard Black Singles | #3 |
| 1989 | Friends | U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play | #7 |
| 1989 | Friends | U.S. Billboard Hot Black Singles Year End Chart | #65 |
RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: MCA Records – L33-17883
Format: Vinyl, 12″, Promo, 33 RPM
Country: US
Released: 1989
Genre: Electronic, Funk / Soul, Hip Hop
Style: RnB/Swing
Credits: Producer – Andre Cymone*
Remix – Eric Sadler, Hank Shocklee, Paul Shabazz
Written-By – Andre Cymone*, Eric Barrier, Jody Watley, William Griffin
NOTES:
Original Version Appears On The MCA LP MCA-6276 “Larger Than Life”
Promotional Only – Not For Sale
Find The 12″ On DISCOGS
EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut III
Cartridge: Ortofon Super
Stylus: Ortofon OM Stylus 30
Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Soundcard: ESI Juli@
VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Brother MFC-6490CW Professional Series Scanner
SOFTWARE USED:
Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Adobe Photoshop CS5
ClickRepair
dBpoweramp
Playlist Creator
RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
Downsampled to 24bit/96kHz and16bit /44kHz using iZotope RX Advanced 2
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi
Jody Watley is one of my fave artists.
Thanks for the original mixes 🙂
Thanks Paul. This wasn’t a big hit in OZ. By the way Paul I have a 12″ that is credited to Jody Watley from about 1984. The song is called I Wanna be Where The Boys Are and it was co-written by Jody and Bruce Woolley (who was one half of the Buggles with Trevor Horn). For some reason it is never listed in her discographies. It’s a great song.
Thanx for these! AMAZING stuff!
I actually think that the Radio Edit is exclusive to this promo too since it’s an edited version of the extended version.
That was quite common back then, an edited version of the extended version, often longer than the actual album version. I guess the name “Radio Edit” was a bit missleading in combination with the fact that they usual were about 5 minutes in lenght and regular radio versions or edits were almost never over 5 minutes long.
Names that come to mind are Pebbles, Sheena Easton & Bobby Brown.
Thanks Paul! Any chance you will renew the download links on the two older Jody Watley postings? All the links on them are now dead 🙁
Hi Ianbuck I am working on getting those retored it’s just going to a some time 🙂
Thank you!
You’re welcome Johan 🙂
Sweet. Now bring on “Don’t You Want Me” and my favorite “Still A Thrill” 😉 Begging aside, thank you!
check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqK5oJosA7I
starting at 0:41 is one of the coolest that scratches I still love today. I have this rare 12″ single…maybe someday Paul can post a bunch of C&C 12″s. 🙂
Thanks for this great rip! I am hoping to see other Jody Watley 12″ rips in the near (fingers croseed) future! 🙂
-Fred
You’re welcome Fred. You will definately be seeing more of Ms. Watley she is one of my favorites 🙂
I really like this original version over the “Unity” mix…..having both when released and Djing at the time the original always did better on the floor….it’s great to have a alternate version but i fealt then as now…..thanx again DJP for your premire work on these great 12″….:)
By “original” i mean this Eric Sadler, Hank Shocklee, Paul Shabazz remix….the “Unity” mix was harder to find
IMaggi my favorites are the “Unity” Remix and the “Dub” 🙂
…and a friend is a friend forever… any Michael W Smith 12″ers coming soon? 😛
Thanks for another Watley post!
you’re welcom Woz. Sorry I don’t have any Michael W Smith at the moment.