Great song luke. From 1975's Feeling The Magic!
I assume Johnny write this for himself and then Diana performed it a couple of years later?
Yes, written, produced and sung by Johnny!
I didn’t know Diana had recorded this song, but now I see she did it live at the Ahmanson Theatre in 1976! Nice performance. I guess she must have liked this song!
Last edited by TomatoTom123; 04-26-2022 at 08:37 PM. Reason: Incorrect place of live recording!
I love this song and they play it quite often on the Dutch radio station I'm listening to, surprisingly as, as far as I know, the song was never released on single. It would have been a good fit on the 1976 album, perhaps in a slightly disco-fied way as Coke Escovedo did.
I really like Johnny's version. Didn't know his was the original. This is the first time I'm hearing it. I have the Hang On In There, Cream, and Strangers albums, but not Magic.
Really nice to hear.
Diana's live versions of course I love. Makes me wonder if there might be a studio version waiting to be released/found.
Coke Escovedo's version is also quite nice. I think I prefer it to Johnny's.
I also never realized that Johnny Bristol did the original version. I remember when I got the album and saw that the other song in the medley was Here I Am and that Dionne Warwick did the original on that. I never researched the Johnny Bristol credit. Shame on me!
What was great about this opening medley was that during Wouldn't Change Diana stretched-out her arms to expand her dress while the mimes pulled-out more fabric to create a movie screen which projected her images while she was singing. It was exciting.
Here is a clip from Japan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8V9ou4bYYQ
The dutch musical singer Simone Kleinsma used the Diana Ross medley of "I Wouldn't Change A Thing / Here I Am" as opening of her own show -- clearly a flashy musical version though, yet still very close to the Diana version.
the Barry White imitation continues. I'm liking this.
I used to really like HANG ON IN THERE, thought it was a great extension of BW's sound .
But my sensibilities have become more discerning and I now find it a bit vulgar. This makes for a nice substitute
Curious that Diana Ross would do someone else's non-hit at a concert that has nothing to do with her if she has no intention of recording it .... especially including it as part of a live LP representing her repertoire ...
Hey Ran! I think all of Johnny's 70s albums are top-notch. My favourites from Feeling The Magic are probably the title cut, "Love Takes Tears", "I Wouldn't Change A Thing" and "Leave My World".
Here's "Love Takes Tears"…
… also recorded by The Real Thing several years later, despite only being a very minor US R&B hit.
John I never paid attention to the writing credit. It was years before I even knew Dionne did "Here I Am", and I think I read that somewhere. Never noticed Johnny having a credit on "Change". Would've piqued my interest into researching further if I had because I do love Johnny's work and may have found his version much sooner.
Here's my Johnny Bristol favourite. He wrote it together with Jerry Butler, James Dean and John Glover. Jerry released it first, and after Johnny there were Tom Jones, Johnny Mathis and many others, but nobody really got a hit with it - for some strange reason -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi-qHVs867M
Best regards
Heikki
I'm really enjoying this one again, thanks heikki. And, I’m revisiting the Hang On In There Baby album, which is all fantastic!
Another one of my favourites, "Love Me For A Reason", later to be a hit for The Osmonds.
I’d never really paid attention to the classical- style string intro here, quite similar to The Supremes' "Someday We'll Be Together".
Last edited by TomatoTom123; 04-30-2022 at 08:27 PM.
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