Which song was written first... for all of the 16 albums

Do you mean the proper shops that went bust because they could not compete with those making the most of a loophole by shipping from tax havens?

They'd have gone either way, it was the convenience of online retail that killed them, plus their product was way overpriced in those days, over 20 euro for new releases. Add to the fact that kids these days rent access to music and you can see that Play.com played a very small role. I do know that I'd be buying a lot more albums these days if I could still get a cd for 6 euro on play.
 
Do you have any info on the version of Drifter that appeared on the original uk 7 inch? See this thread

Why is there a different version on the later 12 inches than what was on the original 7 inch? Paul says wankers in the original version but that doesn't explain the edit as the same section is on both tracks they just dubbed over wankers on the 12 inch. The 7 inch is missing a verse and the 12 inch is missing the slow bluesy solo so neither of them are the full version of the track either.
This is the info I have:

The Dutch 12 Single and the UK SMC versions have the Live Mix 2 versions. I have not checked the 2014 singles yet...
The First Ten Years Part I have the Live Mix 2 versions, the same as the Dutch 12 Single so the Live Mix 1 versions have never been released on CD so far. Also the live versions from Marquee Club, London UK 1980.04.03 may be fake and recorded live in Morgan or Shepperton Studios 1980.04.24 or just Paul’s voice was re-recorded and this can explain why there are two different mixes of Drifter - Live and I've Got the Fire – Live.
The source that they went into the studio and record Drifter is from Loopys book page 89 and I also have another source for this but that one says that only the voice was re-recorded. Ive got the fire is also different if you listen carefully to the vocals...

Maybe they were not satisfied with the first mix and did another that later appeared on the 12" single that was released sometime in August/September 1980 (The tour date on the back is for the gig 5th of October 1980 when they were support band to Kiss so the release date for the 12" must have been around that time)
 
Wasn't The Alchemist written one of the last songs they wrote for The Final Frontier? I seem to remember seeing mentioned that it was one of the tracks they finished writing at Compass Point Studios.

Janick had the music (parts of it), Steve added the melody and Bruce wrote the lyrics in the sessions. This is one example of what do you consider to be first written... However, if you consider first written a full song. The Alchemist would be the last because Janick re did his solo the last day of the studio
 
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Do you have any info on the version of Drifter that appeared on the original uk 7 inch? See this thread

Why is there a different version on the later 12 inches than what was on the original 7 inch? Paul says wankers in the original version but that doesn't explain the edit as the same section is on both tracks they just dubbed over wankers on the 12 inch. The 7 inch is missing a verse and the 12 inch is missing the slow bluesy solo so neither of them are the full version of the track either.

According to my source the reason why they did the edit was to make the version more "Internationally" accepted. The word "wanker" only had some "meaning" in the UK.
 
This is the info I have:

The Dutch 12 Single and the UK SMC versions have the Live Mix 2 versions. I have not checked the 2014 singles yet...
The First Ten Years Part I have the Live Mix 2 versions, the same as the Dutch 12 Single so the Live Mix 1 versions have never been released on CD so far. Also the live versions from Marquee Club, London UK 1980.04.03 may be fake and recorded live in Morgan or Shepperton Studios 1980.04.24 or just Paul’s voice was re-recorded and this can explain why there are two different mixes of Drifter - Live and I've Got the Fire – Live.
The source that they went into the studio and record Drifter is from Loopys book page 89 and I also have another source for this but that one says that only the voice was re-recorded. Ive got the fire is also different if you listen carefully to the vocals...

Maybe they were not satisfied with the first mix and did another that later appeared on the 12" single that was released sometime in August/September 1980 (The tour date on the back is for the gig 5th of October 1980 when they were support band to Kiss so the release date for the 12" must have been around that time)

If they did make a remix it was only Paul's voice and small parts but I have compared the tracks side by side and there's absolutely no difference in the wording besides what they used to cover the "load of wankers".
 
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So, I have gone thru some of the material I have used for the work and so far this is what I can tell. However, once again I must point out that almost all the songs after 1983 come in parts (music written, then lyrics added or parts of the lyrics completed, music to be written)

Virtual XI - I would say Don't Look To The Eyes Of The Stranger (Steve says he had the idea of the song for quite a while) & When Two Worlds Collide (Dave had the musical ideas for a while). Clansman & The Educated fool could also be considered because some musical parts and or lyrics where already written.

Dance Of Death - Wildest Dreams & Montsegur (The music was finished, lyrics were added in album sessions). Close contenders according to the info I have Rainmaker (They had the chords & riffs) & Dance Of Death (The music was almost ready)

AMOLAD - Different World & it could be either The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg or The Legacy.

TFF - Satellite 15 (Adrian had the demo that was used and the lyrics came fast), El Dorado (they had the music already) & The Alchemist

Thanks for the info again.

The last songs to be written for TFF album were WTWWB, TMWWBK and The Alchemist. When they went to the studio to record the album, they had more or less 7 songs finished. The other 3^ were done in the studio....(but if WTWWB comes from a Steve demo from the 90's then it will be the first one). I think I've read somewhere that Isle Of Avalon was the first one written, but can't find where. But maybe it is El Dorado.

About AMOLAD, I think the first one is Different World - because Adrian says: ''the first song we worked on'' (AMOLAD documentary), but I've read somewhere that Lord Of Light was written first, but again I can't find where.

Wildest Dreams was played before the album tour, so it has a chance to be the first written for DOD.

About VXI, look what this comment says (click here) - it says that Blaze penned the lyrics for Como Estais Amigos in South America 1996.... I asked for a source, but still no answer.
 
This is the info I have:

The Dutch 12 Single and the UK SMC versions have the Live Mix 2 versions. I have not checked the 2014 singles yet...

2014 is live mix 2 as well.

I have a cassette single version that's from the states released in the mid 80's and that's the live mix 2 version as well.

I've never known I've got the fire was different as well!
 
About VXI, look what this comment says (click here) - it says that Blaze penned the lyrics for Como Estais Amigos in South America 1996.... I asked for a source, but still no answer.

The unofficial Facebook fanpage, Eddie The Head Fan Club has cited the following:

"When we were in Buenos Aires the fans showed us so much endurance and so much strength ... I loved Argentina, the shows were fantastic and the truth is that we had a great time ... And I saw the monument of the soldiers fallen in the Falklands war and I thought it was a tragedy so big that such wonderful people ... I mean, we should never have had that war, it's so sad ... I wrote a poem about it, but I never expected it to become a song, of years until I sat down to do something with the guitar and I thought this letter can fit in, always thinking of all those wonderful people we lost ... I think the Falkland Islands issue is one of the most sad and humane things that we live. "
Madhouse Magazine Nº88 - Year 1998."


I also remember Blaze mentioning it several times during his solo career... not quite sure where excatly and when, but I have a vague idea that the Como Estais Amigos story has been brought up every now and then in his interviews and other talks.

Another source that comes into my mind is from a Finnish music magazine Soundi; they interviewed Nicko in 1998 about Virtual XI and Nicko said the following (loose, not too great translation):

"When Davey and Blaze were doing The X-Factor promo tour, it was Blaze's first time in Argentina and there was a Falkland War Memorial outside their hotel. When you're visiting a country that has had a skirmish, this fucking war, you're from the opposing side and then you meet those people and they're absolutely lovely. So amazing people. Then you wonder why on Earth you're waging a war against such people - like not too long ago when it happened. Blaze was touched by it and he wrote a poem about it and showed it to Dave. Dave said that why don't you make a melody for it. And when Janick came up with his riffs and ideas, Blaze threw in the lyrics and the song was getting ready."
 
Just listening to the youtube clips of I've got the Fire:

This version which is from the original 7 inch:

And this version which doesn't state where it's from, but presumably is the more familiar version from the 12 inch and later releases:

I've had a good listen comparing line by line and the vocals sound slightly different but not hugely. However in the ad lib part in the outro, he definitely says "ooh, I got the fire" on the original one (9.01 on the video) and only says "I got the fire" in the second one (2.44)
 
If they did make a remix it was only Paul's voice and small parts but I have compared the tracks side by side and there's absolutely no difference in the wording besides what they used to cover the "load of wankers".
But I've got the fire has a different vocal part: "I've got the fire baby" on Mix 1 at 2.47 then only "I've got the fire" one time only on Mix 2
 
2014 is live mix 2 as well.

I have a cassette single version that's from the states released in the mid 80's and that's the live mix 2 version as well.

I've never known I've got the fire was different as well!
One more thing is that Drifter from the Greece Live!!+One has the Mix 2 and it is an edit version that fades out
 
I always wondered why they didn't use the version of Drifter from the Japanese Live +One on the Greek Live + One.
 
But I've got the fire has a different vocal part: "I've got the fire baby" on Mix 1 at 2.47 then only "I've got the fire" one time only on Mix 2

That's totally right. Besides you can hear Paul saying at one part "I've Got The Fire, babe!"
 
T
The unofficial Facebook fanpage, Eddie The Head Fan Club has cited the following:

"When we were in Buenos Aires the fans showed us so much endurance and so much strength ... I loved Argentina, the shows were fantastic and the truth is that we had a great time ... And I saw the monument of the soldiers fallen in the Falklands war and I thought it was a tragedy so big that such wonderful people ... I mean, we should never have had that war, it's so sad ... I wrote a poem about it, but I never expected it to become a song, of years until I sat down to do something with the guitar and I thought this letter can fit in, always thinking of all those wonderful people we lost ... I think the Falkland Islands issue is one of the most sad and humane things that we live. "
Madhouse Magazine Nº88 - Year 1998."


I also remember Blaze mentioning it several times during his solo career... not quite sure where excatly and when, but I have a vague idea that the Como Estais Amigos story has been brought up every now and then in his interviews and other talks.

Another source that comes into my mind is from a Finnish music magazine Soundi; they interviewed Nicko in 1998 about Virtual XI and Nicko said the following (loose, not too great translation):

"When Davey and Blaze were doing The X-Factor promo tour, it was Blaze's first time in Argentina and there was a Falkland War Memorial outside their hotel. When you're visiting a country that has had a skirmish, this fucking war, you're from the opposing side and then you meet those people and they're absolutely lovely. So amazing people. Then you wonder why on Earth you're waging a war against such people - like not too long ago when it happened. Blaze was touched by it and he wrote a poem about it and showed it to Dave. Dave said that why don't you make a melody for it. And when Janick came up with his riffs and ideas, Blaze threw in the lyrics and the song was getting ready."

Thanks for sharing this mate!
 
If there wasn't a Jersey back in England, then New Jersey would have just been Jersey.

For reference, there is a Hampshire, York, and Mexico outside of the US too!
An American comic (Colin Quinn, I think) has a routine on this... New York is our best city, while York is barely in your top 5. Meanwhile, London is by far your best city & New London, CT is a piece of shit. If ANY place should be New London, it's New York.

Also: If Running Free was written on the toilet while touring the US, I'm guessing the directly-preceding meal was TexMex.
 
An American comic (Colin Quinn, I think) has a routine on this... New York is our best city, while York is barely in your top 5. Meanwhile, London is by far your best city & New London, CT is a piece of shit. If ANY place should be New London, it's New York.

Also: If Running Free was written on the toilet while touring the US, I'm guessing the directly-preceding meal was TexMex.

Icarus, not RF...

Edit: Ah, read it again... Never mind...
 
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