BLUE LIGHT (PROMO 12" SINGLE)

This is a promotional release featuring an extended remix of David Gilmour's Blue Light, a single that was released from his second solo album, About Face in 1984. Side B featured an instrumental version of this song. As far as I know, neither of these versions of Blue Light have ever been released other than on this promotional 12" single.

Musically, Blue Light was far from being the best song on About Face, but it's driving beat, Gilmour's signature guitar delay effects, and horns made it a more decent single than most of the other crap blasting out of the radio in 1984. The extended version of Blue Light has the bass and drums brought more forward in the mix, like what was typically popular of 12" singles of the time. Although I can't imagine this being played on the dance floors in the 1980's, it was probably intended for this audience. This can be heard more clearly near the end of the song when a distinct clap (from a drum machine I presume) is laid over the snare drum. If you recall, Yes and Genesis were doing a similar thing at the time. Although I would find this sort of thing very embarrassing if I were a musician, somehow Blue Light's remix isn't that bad, except for the dumb clap enhancements to the snare drum.

The instrumental version is mixed differently than the extended vocal mix. The drums, percussion, and bass are brought more forward in the mix, again making the song much more danceable than the original. Again, they lay drum machine-style claps over the snare drum. Although this gives the song a more moving beat, it just seems really cheesy, especially the section where the horns are brought out and echoed. The only thing saving this song is that they kept Gilmour's original guitar solo intact. But it just sounds like Gilmour playing for a funk band with Jamaican percussionists.

I suspect this promo single is quite rare nowadays, but the music on it isn't worth your effort unless you are a completionist or a collector of rare singles of prog or prog related musicians.

During the 1980s, nearly every group or artist who released a single also released one of these 12-inch extended mix versions. Apparently David Gilmour was not immune to such things, alas we have a promotional 12-inch version of his Blue Light from the About Face album. Like other extended versions of the time, the original song gets warped into a disastrous dance floor number. And that's just what they did here. The A-side is the version with vocals, the B-side is all instrumental. Basically, they made the bass and drums louder in the mix and added claps to the same beat position as the snare drum.

Blue Light wasn't that good of a song, though it was better than most of the other nonsense released in 1984. Taking a mediocre track and making it worst apparently was a sign of those times. No matter how many times we might roll our eyes about it, this is just what they did back then. This is truly not worth your time unless you are a collector or completionist. I don't believe this is available anywhere else and it probably shouldn't be. It wouldn't surprise me if it turns up in a box set someday. Two stars, collectors only.