BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1988
“Kiss” is a song written by Prince and originally recorded by Prince and The Revolution in 1986.
In 1988, British synthpop group Art of Noise released a cover of the song, featuring British singer Tom Jones on vocals. The song became the band’s biggest hit to that point, reaching number eighteen on the US dance chart and number five on the UK Singles Chart, higher than the original in that country. The guitar and horns break in the middle of this cover musically references the themes to Dragnet and Peter Gunn (two songs the Art of Noise covered with much commercial success) as well as their own breakthrough hit, “Close (to the Edit)” and “Paranoimia”, their 1986 collaboration with Max Headroom. This cover was later included as part of an episode of the series Listed on MuchMoreMusic, which was on the Top 20 cover songs. It can also be heard during the main title sequence of the movie My Stepmother Is an Alien. Tom Jones later recorded a version of the song for his 2003 Reloaded: Greatest Hits album.
TOP SIDE:
Kiss (Art Of Noise Mix) 8:10
Vocals [Featuring] – Tom Jones
FLIP SIDE:
Kiss (Battery Mix) 8:17
Mixed By – Nigel Green
Vocals [Featuring] – Tom Jones
Kiss (7″ Version) 3:30
Vocals [Featuring] – Tom Jones
VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
U.S. CHART HISTORY:
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Kiss | U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | #31 |
| 1988 | Kiss | U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks | #14 |
| 1988 | Kiss | U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play | #18 |
RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: China Records – 871 039-1
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 33 ⅓ RPM, Single
Country: US
Released: 1988
Genre: Electronic
Style: Synth-pop
CREDITS:
Arranged By, Producer – The Art Of Noise
Design – Ryan Art
Photography [B/w] – Anna Hodgson
Photography [Colour] – Paul Wakefiled
Written-By – Prince
NOTES:
Special Thanks to David Kershenbaum without whom…
Tom Jones appears courtesy of Jive Records
Kiss, featuring Tom Jones, taken from the forthcoming China/Polydor album “Best Of The Art Of Noise”, to be released in November.
Printed in U.S.A.
Find the 12″ on DISCOGS
EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut Carbon (DC)
Cartridge: Ortofon 2M
Stylus: Ortofon OM Stylus 30
Platter: Pro-Ject Acryl-It platter
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck
Phono Pre-amp: Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Tube: Tung-Sol 12AX7ECC803-S Gold Electron Tube
Soundcard: ESI Juli@
Record Cleaning: VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Artwork Scans: Brother MFC-6490CW Professional Series Scanner
SOFTWARE USED:
Recording/Editing: Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Down Sampling: iZotope RX Advanced 2
Artwork Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Click Removal: Manual
FLAC/MP3 Conversion: dBpoweramp
M3U Playlist: Playlist Creator
RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi
TYVM
Thank you very much Paul.
I wonder if Tom was thinking about a Supreme, when recording it 🙂
Prince didn’t like this nor O’Connor’s versions. Prince I’m sure respected Tom Jones, but Prince was more angry at Warner Bros. Records for taking his songs and doing what they wanted with little input from Prince or a total disregard for what Prince might want. Hence, the record company fight.
Compulsory licence means that in most countries (certainly the US and Australia for instance) you can’t actually stop someone from covering your song once there’s been a release of it.
Great choice Paul. Noticed you guys got a slighly different release to the UK. For us the AoN mix was on a seperate 12″ with a pink cover, I guess to try and sell twice as many.
Was Tom Jones well known in the US at this point? Not sure how big he was as to us he was some ‘has been’, someone your parents liked. Until this came out and rebooted his career.
Was also gonna ask if you knew the Age Of Chance version? It’s a
bit out there. 😀
Hi Jermajesty Tom Jones was sort of the same way in the U.S. he di make a bit of a comeback with this single. He also did a couple of other dance singles in the 90s along with some film roles “Vegas Vacation” and “Mars Attacks”. I will be posting Age Of Chance soon.
Worth noting this owes more than a little to the earlier Age Of Chance deconstruction of “Kiss”, which was an indie and club hit in the day. Do you have that one to hand?
I just polished up the Age of Chance section in the Wikipedia article for the song 😀
That’s great David I am planning to post Age Of Chance soon 🙂
Thanks Paul. Love AON.
You’re welcome Omar 🙂
I absolutely HATE Tom Jones covering this track. It’s awful. Terrible. I loathe it!
The only positive is that Kiss was re-released in 1988 on the back of this being a hit which gave us another item for our Prince collections!
Think I better dance NOW!!! Oh Paul, you are fabulous for bringing this up to start the week off right!! I love this cover of Prince’s “Kiss” so much. Karen, actually, prefers this version ahead of Prince’s. I’m really pumped-up over the “Battery Mix” too as I haven’t heard that mix since I had a turntable to play it on. You are so phenomenal Paul. I love how you take care of us so very, very much. You forever rock my friend.
Jeff
I prefer this version too it’s so campy and fun. Good to see you back I was kinda worried 🙂
Hey Paulito 🙂
Error 404 – Not Found
It’s working now Song And Dance 🙂
Yes, it does. Thank you, Paul.
Btw, there is an easy way to make an interesting remix of the seven-inch version: the left track mainly contains the drum pattern, the right track mainly contains the percussion. Copy the left track to the right track and you have something like a “stripped down” version. It´s fun!
k.
[7:06pm over here]
Links aren’t working.
Working now.