I think you have to take each song on a song by song basis.  I've been going through my favorites folder and trying to replace any tracks that are over 4 minutes with shorter versions, when it makes sense.  Sometimes when a long song has a single edit, the single edit is very chopped up or has abrupt starts/stops, etc.

So far in the 7 minute + range, these are the cases I found where I preferred the longer version of the song to the shorter single edit:


Who - Won't Get Fooled Again  - there's some butchered Greatest Hits versions I believe floating about
Don McLean - American Pie - shorter versions exist than the 8 minute album version, but they sacrifice lyrics
Joe Walsh - Life's Been Good - 4 minute version lacks the guitar solo in the middle
Barry White - Never, Never Gonna Give Ya Up - 8 minute version is better than 4,  the 4 has the intro cut and fades out too early.
Curtis Mayfield – (Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below We're All Going to Go - Missing the spoken intro, abrupt start
Chicago - I'm a Man - rough intro, too short for 3:33 cut, 5:47 length cut is a "new edit"
Grandmaster Flash - Message - short version loses a ton of rap at the end about superman


Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Blinded By The Light - NOT SURE... this one I'm stuck on.  I think there's some lines cut, but they lyrics are kinda nonsensical anyways, so I have to listen with the lyrics in hand to see..

The Doors' "Light My Fire"... I much preferred the short (under 3 minute) mono single edit over the 7 minute opus that made it onto all the CD versions.  The stereo separation is distracting, much like other 60s stereo vs mono singles.  That's another discussion entirely though.

Chicago (or rather whoever was in charge of the razor blades at Columbia records) were experts at this, as almost every one of their early single releases was 'chopped' to satisfy radio stations in some way...

I gather The Eagles had a few of their songs 'snipped' too...most notably, 'Lyin' Eyes' which had a big chunk taken out of the middle, thereby spoiling the flow of the song...

Diana Ross's first big solo hit 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' was originally issued as a six minute tour de force LP track...

Sadly, Motown saw fit to 'lose' half of it when issued as a single, wiping out a lot of its power...

Not so much the long ones, but one that springs to mind is 'The Reflex' by Duran Duran.  the single edit has the fade in with the cowbell.  The album version does not

And speaking of Duran Duran, the album version (on the original Harvest US release) of 'Hungry Like the Wolf' is the Night Version, and completely blows the single version away.

The single edit of 'Chance' by Big Country is longer than the album version, and much better.

The single version of 'Bizarre Love Triangle' is the Extended dance mix.  The shorter album version is bland

In most cases, I prefer the album version; I don't like edits because often times they cut out a good part of the song.

Strictly speaking, not an album version that was edited - just a hatchet job on a single...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jAD2oe1nTM

Done simply because US radio-programmers got very skittish when anything dared go over three minutes! Some labels simply bluffed it - 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'' by the Righteous Brothers is (and always will be) uncut, nearly four minutes in length, but the label claimed it was 3:05...

I think you have to take each song on a song by song basis.  I've been going through my favorites folder and trying to replace any tracks that are over 4 minutes with shorter versions, when it makes sense.  Sometimes when a long song has a single edit, the single edit is very chopped up or has abrupt starts/stops, etc.

The scenario that starts at 4:00-7:25 in a song from 1973 is still a regular occurrence. The only thing that's changed in 42 years is you don't even have to be found guilty anymore. Stevie Wonder wasn't as blind as one might think.

So far in the 7 minute + range, these are the cases I found where I preferred the longer version of the song to the shorter single edit:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfbvm52G8fE

Stevie Wonder, Livin' For the City. The 7-minute version gets interesting at 3:45. As in, "Oh, instrumental break?" "Yeah, instrumental break." "So they do a verse without lyrics?" "Well, wait, what's happening at 4:00-4:15?" "Oh, right, that's when the DJ faded out of the track when I was a kid and I only had the last bit up to 4:30...  WTF? AAW HELL NAW. Is that the sample from Public Enemy's 'Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos?' (yes it is!) AND THERE'S A WHOLE VERSE THAT NEVER MADE IT TO RADIO?! TWO VERSES?!?!?"

His hair is long, his feet are hard and gritty,
He spends his life walking the streets of New York City,
He's almost dead, from breathing in air pollution,
He tried to vote, but to him there's no solution.1

Living just enough,
Just enough,
For the city.

I hope you hear, inside my voice of sorrow,
And that it motivates you to make a better tomorrow,
This place is cruel, nowhere could be much colder,
If we don't change, the world will soon be over...2

Living just enough,
Stop giving just enough,3
For the city.

1 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/10/opinion/rikers-island-and-the-death-of-kalief-browder.html
2 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/magazine/the-bail-trap.html
3 https://www.splcenter.org/news/2015/08/16/weve-lost-champion4
4 Hell of a coincidence, huh?

Not so much the long ones, but one that springs to mind is 'The Reflex' by Duran Duran.  the single edit has the fade in with the cowbell.  The album version does not

In most cases, I've heard the intro as "Dah nah nah nah, the reflex" (repeated a couple times before "The re-flex, fl-fl-fl-fl-flex!"). I think I've heard at least one station cut that part out and replace it with something like a drum intro. That must be a modification or something.



And speaking of Duran Duran, the album version (on the original Harvest US release) of 'Hungry Like the Wolf' is the Night Version, and completely blows the single version away.

In this one, I have noticed that a "longer" version has a longer instrumental break after the second chorus, particularly with an extra guitar strum, followed by two whispered instances of the title. I guess this must be the 'Night' Version.

"Autobahn" by Kraftwerk (1974)

Single: 3:27 https://youtu.be/iukUMRlaBBE

Album: 22:43 https://youtu.be/x-G28iyPtz0

The album version is far superior!

I prefer listening to the whole album.

An interesting phenomenon about songs from the 60s and 70s that were hits in  edited versions is that the edited versions are often forgotten today. Songs like Ten Years After's "I'd Love To Change The World", Aerosmith's "Dream On" and the Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" were big hits in edited versions, but if one hears them today on classic hits or oldies radio it is invariably the full version. Likewise "Layla" by Derek and the Dominoes. Interestingly, this song was a hit in 1972, two years after it's original release in 1970, and the hit single version completely omitted the long piano coda, an integral part of the song. But one never hears that version now, and indeed few even remember it. Likewise with the Moody Blues' "Nights In White Satin" (released in 1967, but again, a hit in 1972). The hit single version omits the long spoken word conclusion to the song. Frequently the only time the edited versions are remembered now is if they show up as bonus tracks on CD reissues or on greatest hits compilations or box sets of the artist.