Whatever Happened to the Original Version?

Haven't blogged in awhile, for a couple of reasons. 1. Been under the weather. 2. Nothing has pissed me off lately, politically speaking. 3. Been busy. What I have been doing this evening, however, is listening to, repeatedly, something that a friend of mine found somewhere out there on the internet: the orginal version of "Fool (If You Think It's Over)" by Chris Rea. I've read that Rea wasn't happy with the original version of this and other songs on his debut album, Whatever Happened to Benny Santini?, and he subsequently re-recorded this song on his first greatest hits album, giving it a much blusier feel. But to people like me, who did much of their growing up in the 1970s and hearing this song on stations like WLS-AM in Chicago, this is the ultimate version, and finding it is like discovering Eldorado. I did find on YouTube a video clip of Rea doing this version from what looks like a late '70s British TV show, but they don't have the full version. Think I'll listen to it a couple of more times this evening.

Wally Phillips, 1926-2008

Just got around to reading Saturday's paper and, while I normally skip over the obituary pages, something in that day's paper caught my eye. Longtime Chicago radio host Wally Phillips died last Thursday after suffering from Alzheimer's. For those of you who never heard of Wally Phillips, he was the king of morning radio in Chicago from 1966 through 1986. When I was a kid, I spent many nights at my grandparents' house in Valpo, and every following morning I would hear Phillip's rich voice coming through their radios on WGN. Phillips was perhaps the most dominant local radio personality in US history; at his peak, he had local listenership of 1.5 million--that was half the population of Chicago! His mix of drop-ins, humor, and local news (plus an occasional song or two) made me want to get into radio when I was a kid. He will be missed.

The Internet: A Wondrous Thing

It's amazing what one can find on the 'net. Today I am at home, enjoying a day off (well, considering it's snowy and cold outside, I am making do inside), with XM Radio on, listening to some "classical" (read symphonic) music. On comes Rachmaninoff's Symphony #2 in E Minor--3rd Movement. Normally, it would just be background noise to me...but, wait....what do I hear? Is that Eric Carmen's "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again"? It can't be! But wait, wait...there it is again!

Wow...I wonder if anyone else has noticed that? Since I know almost nothing about music, other than what I like and don't like, I figure somebody somewhere has picked up on this. So I do a search on the phrase "Rachmaninoff and Eric Carmen" and get the website Songfacts. I don't get the one I was listening to, but I did get to a page linking Carmen's "All By Myself" with Rachmaninoff's 2nd piano concerto, even quoting Carmen how he used parts of that piece in his song (he wrongly assumed it was in the public domain). Following the link More songs that use parts of Classical compositions, it turns out that there are at least 46 (yes, 46) songs that Songfacts has identified fitting this description. And on that list, sure enough, is the pair that sent me on this chase.

Speaking of music that sounds similar, have you ever listened to "Do Ya" by ELO, "What Is Life?" by George Harrison, and "I'll Supply the Love" by Toto back-to-back-to-back? Tell me if those guitar riffs aren't eerily similar?

Sectionals = Snow

OK, I haven't done any historical research on this, but there is a legend in Indiana that it always snows around here when the boys high school basketball sectionals begin. And guess what starts tonight?