Van Stephenson "Modern Day Delilah"

The only database reference to this 1984 top-40 hit is on the Varese Vintage "The Lost 45's Of The '70s & '80s" compilation. According to allmusic, it is also available in CD form on the Van Stephenson album "Righteous Anger" on Hivau 1003 (not sure if this is an import and therefore excluded from the database). My question is this: allmusic lists the run time of Modern Day Delilah as 4:37. A) Is this accurate and B) would that make the 3:58 version on the Varese cd the 45 version (and should it be noted as such in the database?)

995wlol wrote: The only database reference to this 1984 top-40 hit is on the Varese Vintage "The Lost 45's Of The '70s & '80s" compilation.

Yep, I have that collection, and to the best of my knowledge, Pat's book/database is correct in that it's the only U.S. CD to date to feature "Modern Day Delilah". "Lost" is an understatement - one of the best hits of the '80s, IMHO, so kudos to Mr. Scott for helping to keep it alive...

According to allmusic, it is also available in CD form on the Van Stephenson album "Righteous Anger" on Hivau 1003 (not sure if this is an import and therefore excluded from the database).

By coincidence, I just recently added that very CD referenced by allmusic to my collection. :-) (Have had the U.S. cassette of "Righteous Anger" on MCA for years, though.) Correct (full) label name is High Vaultage; full catalog no. is HV-1003. It's indeed an import - from Germany - that was issued in 1996. Sadly, the album has never appeared on CD here in the U.S. to date...

My question is this: allmusic lists the run time of Modern Day Delilah as 4:37. A) Is this accurate and B) would that make the 3:58 version on the Varese cd the 45 version (and should it be noted as such in the database?)

A) No! Frankly, I don't know where the heck allmusic gets a timing of (4:37) for the song! Printed time for "Modern Day Delilah" on the back insert is "(4:17)" - which I assume matches the original 1984 LP - but the actual time is only (4:11)...

B) Apparently, yes. Based on jimct's post, there seems to be a 12-second difference between the 45 and LP versions...

BTW, if you like "Modern Day Delilah", by all means, hunt down the German CD of "Righteous Anger" - you won't go wrong! Another fabulous and underrated '80s album all the way through. In fact, at the same time, I also picked up the German CD re-issue of his 1986 follow-up, "Suspicious Heart", on High Vaultage HV-1004 (again, have had the U.S. cassette on MCA for years). Both CDs feature new liner notes written by Stephenson himself at the time they were re-issued in '96, so the label had his support...

Nice work uncovering this one, gentlemen. I concur that "Modern Day Delilah" is a great pop-rock song by an underrated artist and I'm very much interested in picking up the import CD release of Van Stephenson's Righteous Anger album. I currently have Stephenson's Suspicious Heart on the German import disc 80smusicfreak referenced and I think it's an overall solid album. I purchased that disc mainly to acquire the track "No Secrets", the main theme from the 1985 B-movie comedy Secret Admirer. The film co-starred actress Kelly Preston, who I thought was the hottest woman in the world back during my teenage years! ;-)

Hi All,

Had to chime in because i too always felt that was yet another unfairly forgotten 80's hit - did much better on MTV than its chart position might reveal...
If i recall correctly, i think Righteous Anger also has the follow-up single "What The Big Girls Do" which i heard on AOR for a short while, great tune.
Also a Blackhawk fan, and was saddened to hear of his passing. -MM