CD SHOWCASE MEMORIES
REQUESTS:
Please advise if…
…you are a member of a singing group or band & would like to be featured
…you would like me to feature a favorite song of yours not played on the radio
Ending today by listening to a pair of same name songs, Barry Manilow’s “Even Now” & Exile’s “Even Now” (which have an intriguing “degree of separation” connection), while checking under the hood of this Ford coupe (photographed by OC,SHer SAMUEL E W at the Knoepfler Chevrolet Car Show, Sioux City IA, 06/27/2015)….
#1 “Even Now” | Barry Manilow
With words written by Marty Panzer, Manilow wrote the music & co-produced this song with Ron Dante. The title track from his 1978 album, this song was released April 1978 as the 2nd single from that album & peaked at #19 on the Billboard Hot 100 in June. Meanwhile, it became his 9th release to claim #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart, holding the spot for 3 straight weeks starting the last week of May. Elsewhere, the song reached #14 in Canada.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY1oLCamHqk
#2 “Even Now” | Exile
13 years after Manilow’s tune, this song became this group’s last release. Hitting the airwaves 06/22/1991, this single spent 20 weeks on the country charts & peaked at #16. The interesting “degree of separation” connection? Exile’s career began on the pop charts with “Kiss You All Over”, which claimed #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in … 1978! 2 years later, the band transitioned to the country genre (I have 2 of their albums on VINYL). However, their 1st charting release wasn’t until August 1983; their 1st country Top 10 was their 2nd country release, 1983-4’s “Woke Up In Love” (#1). That tuned sparked a string of chart toppers through early 1988, including 1984’s “I Don’t Want To Be A Memory”, 1985-6’s “I Could Get Used To You” & 1987-8’s “I Can’t Get Close Enough” (the band’s last #1). From early 1988 to mid 1991, the band released 8 tunes (including “Even Now”), 3 of which reached the Top 10: 1988’s “Just 1 Kiss” (#9), 1990’s “Nobody’s Talking” (#2) & 1990’s “Yet” (#7).