In 1984 Prince and the Revolution debuted not only an album but a full motion picutre experience — none other than ‘Purple Rain’. That album and the title cut of the same name went on to earn Prince a Gold Record and become one of his signature numbers. Our chart for ‘Purple Rain’ follows Prince’s tradition of killer live re-arrangements of his classic numbers. We’ve taken the best bits of his live cuts and put them together into this power packed Rock Ballad opus!
Archives: Arrangements
Arrangement set encompassing one or more Engravings
David Gates originally wrote ‘Everything I Own’ for Bread’s hit 1972 album ‘Baby, I’m A Want You’. The original Adult-Contemporary cut reached #5 on the Billboard 100. The song has since had numerous covers from artists ranging from Shirley Bassey to N*SYNC, but the easy, Reggae grooves of Ken Booth — and later Boy George are among the most popular tributes. Boy George’s version reached #1 on the UK singles charts for two weeks in March 1987.
Marcia Griffiths recorded this Rocksteady classic for the 2009 documentary ‘Rocksteady: The Roots Of Reggae’. Her cover was definitely not the first and certainly not the last — past versions include covers from UB40, Blondie, Atomic Kitten and more. This Paragons hit was originally released in 1967 and featured song writer and lead singer John Holt.
This composition by Bobby Boyd, Marcus Hummon and Jeff Hana was first recorded by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1994. The song also had mild chart success with a 1998 cover by Melodie Crittenden on her self-titled debut album. It wasn’t until Country vocal superstars Rascal Flatts took on ‘Bless The Broken Road’ that it hit the top of the charts — hitting #1 on the Country charts and peaking at #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US. The song also saw crossover success — reaching #20 on the Adult Contemporary charts and being heralded worldwide.
Les Reed and Gordon Mills originally wrote ‘It’s Not Unusual’ for English songstress Sandie Shaw. They called in an unknown Welshman, Tom Jones to record the demo and upon hearing it Sandie turned down the song and insisted that Jones release it on his own. The rest is history as Sir Tom Jones went on to become one of the greatest UK sensations of all time and a legendary recording artist and performer.
Elvis apparently had the inspiration for this one after hearing Tommy Martin’s version of ‘There’s No Tomorrow’ and passed the idea on to producer Freddy Beinstock who put the wheels in motion. With a melody based on the Italian classic ‘O Sole Mio’ and words from Aaron Schroeder and Wally Gold the rest was history. ‘It’s Now Or Never’ reached #1 in 1960 and sold millions of records for Presley.
This theme song to the 15th Bond installment was a perfect tribute to it’s times — the New Wave 80’s! The theme was co-written by Pal Waaktaar of the 80’s group ‘A-Ha’ and Bond score guru John Barry. The combo of the group’s pop stylings and Barry’s string and horn arrangements created an opening presentation that fit the mold of the new, modern Bond.
Mark James wrote and originally released ‘Suspicious Minds’ on his own recording, but the song failed to catch much notice. It was passed on to Elvis by producer Chips Moman and the rest was history. ‘Suspicious Minds’ rocketed to become the #1 song of 1969 and heralded the return of the King to chart success.
This 1930 Hoagy Charmichael and Stuart Gorrell number was locked into popular memory with the 1960 cover by none other than Ray Charles. ‘Georgia On My Mind’ was not necessarily originally written about the State — there’s conjecture that it may have been inspired by Carmichael’s sister Georgia. None the less it has been adopted by the State of Georgia and popular music lovers throughout the years as a Standard favoirte. This chart has received an original treatment from Shaun Evans to give a fresh spin on an old favourite.
Although ‘Crazy’ is most notably attributed to the beautiful voice of Patsy Cline, it is sometimes overlooked that it was composed by another country legend – Willie Nelson. Nelson penned this ballad while still a young song-writer in 1961. He originally pitched the song to Billy Walker, who turned it down. Regardless, ‘Crazy’ ended up leading to Willie’s successful career as both a song-writer and solo artist.