Rarity of the Month: Issue 3

Welcome to issue 3 of Rarity of the Month. This month we’re going right back to 1990. A period where the Lightning Seeds were on a major label in the US whilst being on an independent label in the UK and the rest of Europe. MCA Records seemed to be taking the Lightning Seeds fairly seriously, possibly more so than Ian himself and a rich selection of releases and extra tracks can be found.

Singled Out
Like the UK, Joy was the follow up single to Pure. Pure was a surprise hit in the US and if you read Ian’s autobiography you’ll find some interesting anecdotes about that. MCA released Joy as the second single, but not without some changes first. The first, most obvious difference is the packaging and artwork. While here in the UK we had what was essentially a carbon copy of the Pure artwork in a card sleeve, MCA Records decided the ‘5″ CD Maxi Single’ should be in a Digipak case and the public needed to see who the Lightning Seeds were and what they looked like. Or, more accurately what HE looked like.

The next difference is the track listing, which includes the first inclusion of Ian’s cover of Hang On To A Dream. Frenzy is included, as per the UK release, but Frenzy also appears on the US compact disc release of Cloudcuckooland. What’s best about this release, though, is the remixed version of Joy. The record company presumably wanted Joy to sound a bit more commercial and as such Ian remixed it, it lost the Phil Collins-y drums at the start and it’s a lot slicker. Mat and I chatted about it on the Cloudcuckooland episode of the podcast, and it remains both mine and Mat’s favourite studio version of the song. Mat uploaded the remixed version to the fan channel, you can listen below.

The CD single also includes Joy (Bonus Mix) which is essentially an instrumental version of the remix.

Tracklisting:
1. Joy (Remix)
2. Joy (Bonus Mix)
3. Hang On To A Dream*
4. Frenzy

Nerdy bits
Title: Joy
Running Time: 14.31
Release date: 1990
Highest UK chart position: n/a
Weeks on chart: n/a
Label: MCA Records
Catalogue number: MCADS-53972
Formats: CD single, cassette single
Produced by: Ian Broudie
Written by: Ian Broudie, except * written by Tim Hardin