Billy Joel - "Sometimes A Fantasy"
Printed From: Top 40 Music on CD
Category: Top 40 Music On Compact Disc
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URL: https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1423
Printed Date: 13 May 2025 at 9:17am
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Topic: Billy Joel - "Sometimes A Fantasy"
Posted By: chendagam
Subject: Billy Joel - "Sometimes A Fantasy"
Date Posted: 07 October 2006 at 11:02am
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I'm just curious as to what version was played on the radio back in 1980? The 45 contains the extended version that appears on the 12" promo. My CD has a different phone number in the intro. Did they even play the "touch tone" intro on the radio. Do they play it now?
Thanks, John |
Replies:
Posted By: aaronk
Date Posted: 07 October 2006 at 4:25pm
| That's interesting info, John. Does that mean we have more than just a difference in length between the LP and 45 versions? According to the database, the 45 runs about 40 seconds longer than the LP with no other differences. I gather that there is something more to the 45 and 12" promo. |
Posted By: chendagam
Date Posted: 07 October 2006 at 9:29pm
| The 12" promo and 45 are the same version. The only difference I have seen is the touch tone intro. It is a different phone number on the CD. |
Posted By: Fetta
Date Posted: 08 October 2006 at 12:41pm
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The 45 is a much hotter mx than the LP. In addition, the LP version fades out while the 45 version just seems to break up with Billy saying "I have blisters on my blisters"
When are they going to put this verison on CD. How they left this off his new box set is beyond me!! |
Posted By: Pat Downey
Date Posted: 09 October 2006 at 9:45pm
| I have the dj 45 and the touch tone phone number is on there (both the long and short versions). The phone number on the dj 45 to my ears is the same as on the cd "Glass Houses". Chendagam do you have the commercial 45 where you hear a different phone number? Does anyone else notice a different phone number on your commercial or dj 45? |
Posted By: torcan
Date Posted: 10 October 2006 at 6:14am
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I always found it odd when the commercial 45 is actually longer than the album version. Since "Glass Houses" isn't too terribly long, I wonder why they didn't put the longer version on the album - unless they only mixed a longer version when the single was released(?)
Interesting nonetheless. |
Posted By: chendagam
Date Posted: 17 June 2007 at 3:04pm
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My CD was given to me on my 17th birthday so that would be 1991. I
know that the phone number is different on that CD as compared to the 12" promo, 45 and LP record from 1980. Maybe newer CD's have the original phone number intro? |
Posted By: eriejwg
Date Posted: 17 June 2007 at 3:41pm
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I bought the stock 45 explicitly for the "I got blisters..." part. It's the version I remember playing on the radio in 1980.
Why these record companies won't issue the 45 versions is beyond me. |
Posted By: chendagam
Date Posted: 17 June 2007 at 5:36pm
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So they did play that version on the radio way back in 1980...cool. Do
you remember if they left the phone intro on the radio? |
Posted By: eriejwg
Date Posted: 17 June 2007 at 8:32pm
| I seem to recall we had the stock 45. Many of us 'cued' past the phone intro. |
Posted By: anthology123
Date Posted: 18 June 2007 at 9:25am
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I have the original Columbia 45. It definitely has a different touch tone
phone number than the LP version. The majority of the song is the same until you get to the fade out on the LP, the 45 version at that point starts to jam, with BJ doing the chorus just one more time, also doing a little "ah ha ha ha", and then coming to a halt with the blisters on my blisters, ending with some distorted guitar sounds. I believe when I heard it on the radio, most played what sounded like the LP version, or at least they faded at the LP ends time. Anyone here made a needledrop? |
Posted By: vanmeter
Date Posted: 18 June 2007 at 4:14pm
| I'd bet money that radio around here played the LP version, since I seem to clearly recall being startled at the ending on the 45 when I heard it. |
Posted By: torcan
Date Posted: 20 June 2007 at 3:06pm
Same here. I always only heard the LP version on Toronto and Buffalo stations. I only picked up the 45 when I started collecting picture sleeve singles a few years ago - and it surprised me too! |
vanmeter wrote:Posted By: chendagam
Date Posted: 25 June 2007 at 12:03pm
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It's funny because I had this 45 as a kid and did not remember the
ending. Probably because my sister got mad at me and broke the record :). I stumbled across the 12" promo a few years back and it's labeled "extended version" so I thought I had a rare version until I picked up a copy of the 45 in my old age. It's still weird that the 45 is longer. |
Posted By: The Hits Man
Date Posted: 30 June 2007 at 10:10pm
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What? No mention of the cool extended guitar solo at the end of the commercial 45 that ends with the "I've got blisters on my blisters!"?
Pat, i'll have to sit down and check to see if I detect a different phone number. I have been told it was different. ------------- |
Posted By: sriv94
Date Posted: 01 July 2007 at 7:47am
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A couple of posts did mention the "blisters" part, and the fact that the 45 was longer (although you're right, no one specifically mentioned the guitar solo [Anthology123 came close]--so consider it mentioned :) ). ------------- Doug --------------- All of the good signatures have been taken. |
Posted By: Pat Downey
Date Posted: 05 July 2007 at 7:09pm
| I have looked into this matter a little further and come to the following conclusion--the commercial 45 and the dj 45 have the same phone number intro as what now appears on the cd "Glass Houses" but when I compare against the vinyl LP, the vinyl LP has a different phone number! |
Posted By: EdisonLite
Date Posted: 06 July 2007 at 9:23am
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So ... there was an LP version and a 45 version. And then years later, the CD was released and included the 45 version faded 40 seconds early in a failed attempt to match the old LP version, I guess.
Does anyone know why the touch tones were changed? Were people figuring out what phone number it actually was and calling it? Did they change it to a touch tone that had a 555 exchange? |
Posted By: aaronk
Date Posted: 06 July 2007 at 3:38pm
| If you crank the stereo up loud enough and hold the phone to it while you have a dial tone, the phone will actually dial the number. :) |
Posted By: EdisonLite
Date Posted: 12 October 2007 at 8:31pm
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Pat, you wrote:
SOMETIMES A FANTASY (LP length is (3:39); dj copies of this 45 ran (3:39) and (4:19); commercial 45's were all (4:19)) You then say that all CD entries are the 45 short dj edit. I'm a little confused about one thing. Is it also true that the version on the CDs is the same as the original "Glass Houses" LP EXCEPT that the phone number tones have been changed? Or, when you say "all CD entries are the 45 short dj edit", are you saying there is an EDIT in the "short dj edit" (as opposed to just a different mix --, i.e., the phone number tones)? |
Posted By: Pat Downey
Date Posted: 13 October 2007 at 3:04pm
| Yes it is correct to say that the (3:39) cd appearances of "Sometimes A Fantasy" are the "Glass Houses" vinyl LP version but with a different phone number at the beginning. My comment was intended to let you know that the only place you will find the (3:39) version with the incorrect phone number on vinyl is on the dj edit. |
Posted By: budaniel
Date Posted: 03 July 2013 at 6:06am
| Just bringing this thread back to say I just watched the video of this song for the first time ever on MTV and the vocals are completely recorded, there are some new vocal ad-libs, and the background vocals are not present for a majority of the song. It really ruins the track. |
Posted By: sriv94
Date Posted: 03 July 2013 at 6:35am
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MTV still plays videos? ------------- Doug --------------- All of the good signatures have been taken. |
Posted By: budaniel
Date Posted: 03 July 2013 at 7:26am
| hehe. sorry. I meant youtube. But VH1 classics still plays the oldies--although I've never caught this video on it. |
Posted By: Fetta
Date Posted: 03 July 2013 at 8:25am
All the videos for the "Glass Houses" album uses different vocals. Check out the videos for "It's Still Rock and Roll To Me" and "You May Be Right". Even thought it wasn't a hit...the flipside of "Sometimes A Fantasy", "All For Leyna" has a video and I am pretty sure the vocals are different for that as well. -Jeff |
Posted By: budaniel
Date Posted: 03 July 2013 at 8:38am
| yeah. i've seen It's Still Rock n Roll to Me. I can't imagine why they did that. The songs also sound like they slowed down the tempo slightly and Billy's tone sounds slightly lower in key. |
Posted By: Brian W.
Date Posted: 03 July 2013 at 9:19am
| The songs are performed live in a studio in the videos. He's not lip-synching. That is why they sound so different. |
Posted By: David Pro
Date Posted: 30 September 2020 at 12:09pm
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Does anybody have the re-mastered 1998 CD release of
Glass Houses to check if there is a difference in the opening touch tone in comparison to the LP, cassette and original CD releases? |
Posted By: Santi Paradoa
Date Posted: 09 April 2022 at 12:47pm
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Good and bad news to report. The commercial 45 single
version is now available for streaming only on the 50 track collection "50 Years Of the Piano Man." The bad news is it has not been made available for digital download (the entire set actually). Very odd but sadly true. ------------- Santi Paradoa Miami, Florida |
Posted By: PopArchivist
Date Posted: 09 April 2022 at 3:00pm
I take it this set is not available to purchase is it on CD's? ------------- Favorite two expressions to live by on this board: "You can't download vinyl" and "Not everything is available on CD." |
Posted By: Santi Paradoa
Date Posted: 09 April 2022 at 3:10pm
release (as of yet). ------------- Santi Paradoa Miami, Florida |
Posted By: Brian W.
Date Posted: 10 April 2022 at 3:51pm
This makes me wonder if the vinyl LP touch tone could be on the early-press CDs, like how the first press Japanese CDs of "Off the Wall" and "Thriller" contain the original vinyl mixes. |
Posted By: VWestlife
Date Posted: 10 April 2022 at 9:34pm
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I've never heard the beginning with the Touch-Tones played on the radio. It breaks the flow of the music and sounds like a mistake, as if the DJ was actually calling a phone number and accidentally put it on the air.
|
Posted By: aaronk
Date Posted: 11 July 2022 at 8:17am
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I pulled my copy of the Glass Houses LP, and to my surprise, it has the same touch tones as the 45. The Side A matrix is AL 36384 2CD. It's a Pitman pressing from 1980, according to Discogs, but likely a second pressing given that the original has different touch tones. YouTube has videos of an original pressing, and the touch tones are clearly different than what appears on my LP. ------------- Aaron Kannowski http://www.uptownsound.com" rel="nofollow - Uptown Sound http://www.919thepeak.com" rel="nofollow - 91.9 The Peak - Classic Hip Hop |
Posted By: aaronk
Date Posted: 11 July 2022 at 8:30am
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I just dubbed the "Short Version" from the promo 45, and this matches my LP copy of Glass Houses. To summarize:
1. LP version (printed 3:39) - different touch tones than 45 and is on some pressings of Glass Houses vinyl LP 2. Short Version (actual 3:36) - on one side of promo 45, some vinyl pressings of Glass Houses, and CD pressings of Glass Houses 3. Long Version (actual 4:19) - on one side of promo 45, promo 12", and commercial 45 ------------- Aaron Kannowski http://www.uptownsound.com" rel="nofollow - Uptown Sound http://www.919thepeak.com" rel="nofollow - 91.9 The Peak - Classic Hip Hop |
Posted By: crapfromthepast
Date Posted: 14 March 2023 at 8:20pm
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Because you really need to know:
The vinyl Glass Houses LP has the phone number 201-768-7293. (Area code 201 is eastern New Jersey.) The Glass Houses CD and commercial 45 have the phone number 516-673-1112. (Area code 516 is Long Island in New York.) It's also dialed more quickly than the vinyl, so that the first beat arrives sooner than on the vinyl LP. I remember reading somewhere that one of the two phone numbers was for Columbia Records? Or maybe Billy Joel's house or his manager? I forget. ------------- There's a lot of crap on the radio, but there's only one http://www.crapfromthepast.com" rel="nofollow - Crap From The Past . |
Posted By: edtop40
Date Posted: 16 March 2023 at 4:00am
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actually, in 1980 (year I graduated HS) 201 was north
jersey and 609 was south jersey.... ------------- edtop40 |
Posted By: chendagam
Date Posted: 16 March 2023 at 7:13pm
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I have been a 609er my entire life except for when I lived
in Wayne, NJ during college and that was a 201. Thanks for the info 867-5309. |