Well, there is, but I don’t have it in me. So I will be providing you with my blast of nostalgia from this week, and I don’t care who hates it:
I’d like someone to explain to me how the piano ends up making guitar sounds in After the Fire’s version. Also, please send your compare-contrast essays directly to me. I know I have my opinions.
Falco! Yes!
The production on the After the Fire version of this song is so much better. Or it’s better to my American ears. Maybe the airless drums and flatter guitar appeals more to European sensibilities. If I were remaking this song, I would have made many of the same decisions that After the Fire’s producer made, including the acoustic guitars in the middle which serve to make the song less machine-like and foreign. It’s already so foreign in subject matter that it’s a wonder they thought this song could ever be a US hit. That said, Falco deserves all the credit and he is rightly the one people will remember.
Oddly, the After the Fire version is the one I remember, I think because the Hard Rock Cafe played this video occasionally. Hearing it, I’m sure I’ve heard the After the Fire version a lot more. For sure I’ve seen the video many times. I’ve never seen that Falco video.
Agreed as far as your production notes go. I would add that the keyboards are a lot better on the ATF version.
Well, the After the Fire version was the one that was a hit here. Most everyone would remember that one. I actually remember both because I can’t imagine how I could ever forget that video, but the ATF one definitely got way more play. Rock Me Amadeus was the big Falco hit in the states.
I’ve only experienced it as an oldie. Although I was a big MTV watcher in the early 80s, I don’t remember hearing either version when they were current.
Don’t exactly know how the piano is making guitar sounds, but probably the same way Mike Rathke’s guitar makes piano sounds on that Lou Reed double live album that came out awhile back. I don’t remember the name of it, but it’s the most recent live album he’s released I think. Anyway, I guess it’s a MIDI thing or something, but it freaked me out how GOOD it sounded. Not perfect, but really good, such that I thought it was a digital piano or something, like most people use when playing piano on tour (or in any live venue that doesn’t have a piano of its own), but then Lou makes some comment about how it’s a guitar that sounds like a piano (for the benefit presumably of those of us who are only listening to the recordings, not actually at the show and can see), and indeed, Rathke’s only credited with guitar in the liner notes. Freaky, that.