Tag Archives: Best Ever Recorded Song

Alfie Boe’s Best Ever Song 2018: Number Four

On the homeward stretch of the 2018 countdown of the fans favourite Alfie Boe recorded song and we find a song at number four that topped the chart in 2016, fell to number three last year and is now at number four:

I’ve used this video more times that I can remember (the song has featured heavily in the Six Sensational Songs series) but the first version of Love Reign O’er Me remains spine tinglingly wonderful.  The whole Classic Quadrophenia album is amazing but this is definitely the best, showcasing Alfie’s vocal talents like very few other songs in his recent repertoire, either recorded or live.  Anyone who experiences (you don’t see or hear Alfie sing this live, you experience it) Alfie singing this live can never get enough of it again.  It’s simply spellbinding.

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Alfie Boe’s Best Ever Song 2018: Number Five

We’ve reached the half way stage of the poll to find the best Alfie Boe recorded song 2018!  The song at number five is a new entry to the chart, having only been released in 2017.  The third song to feature Alfie with Michael Ball and taken from Together Again, the song is The Prayer:

Happily, this song was voted in at number five in this year’s Alfie Boe Best Live Song poll!

The song was written by David Foster and Carole Bayer Sager, with Alberto Testa and Tony Renis for the 1998 film Quest for Camelot and was originally two solo tracks; English for Celine Dion and Italian for Andrea Bocelli. The song was then released as a duet by Dion and Bocelli and that is the version that is most well known.

Composer Foster had said that is is “a song that I just never get tired of playing, I never get tired of hearing it, and I never get tired of people telling me that they enjoy it. And it seems to mean a lot—it means a lot of different things to a lot of people. So it’s a powerful piece of music. I think it came through me, and I think Carole’s lyric is beautiful. And it’s very meaningful to me that when all is said and done, there is a piece of music like that, that will undoubtedly outlive me. It was a moment—that song was a moment for sure.”

The Prayer was was one of my standout songs of Together Again – it’s beautiful and is a treat for those who love to hear Alfie sing in Italian. Both Alfie and Michael excel here and it seems to be a fitting song for the troubled times we currently live in.

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Alfie Boe’s Best Ever Song 2018: Number Seven

Number seven in the 2018 quest to find the fans favourite Alfie Boe recorded song is my favourite…Keep Me In Your Heart:

Now a staple of Alfie’s live set (so far!) in a different form, I love this video as I can see so many lovely friends in it!

Keep Me In Your Heart is from Alfie’s 2013 album, Trust (one of my favourites).  Judging my the results of this poll (only once has the song dropped out of the top ten since it’s introduction in 2014) everyone else feels the same…I worry for the safety of everyone’s buttons!

The song was written by US musician and songwriter, Warren Zevon in response to receiving a terminal diagnosis of asbestos related cancer and was the last song to be recorded for 2003’s The Wind, Zevon’s final album. Zevon survived the album release by only a few weeks although he did manage to see it achieve a top 20 chart position, his highest position since his critically acclaimed earlier album, Excitable BoyClick here to read more about Zevon’s music.

Trust is available here:

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Alfie Boe’s Best Ever Song 2018: Number Eight

Three weeks into our countdown to find the fans favourite Alfie Boe song 2019 and we arrive at the first new entry to the top ten:

The first song from 2017’s Together Again, this is the roaring cover of John Farnham’s iconic eighties anthem, You’re The Voice.  This video from the 02 features students from Mountview theatre school and makes the song even more powerful.

Written by Andy Qunta, Keith Reid, Maggie Ryder and Chris Thompson as a protest song, it was a massive hit for Farnham in 1986 – I remember this being everywhere at the time.

Together Again is available here:

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Alfie Boe’s Best Ever Song 2018 – Number Nine

The song at number nine in the 5th annual Best Ever Alfie Boe Song is one that last year came in at number two, having been in and out of the top ten several times before that.  The only representative from Storyteller for the second year running, it is Rank Strangers:

Alfie has performed this song many times over the years but never quite like this, at Joe’s Pub in 2013.  To me, the closest to the recorded song.

Rank Strangers was written by Albert Brumley, a musician and singer born in Oklahoma in 1905.  After studying at the Hartford Musical Institute, Arkansas,  Brumley toured with the Hartford Quartet and went on to write / copyright an astonishing 800 songs.  The most famous of these is I’ll Fly Away from 1932.  In 1970 he was inducted into the Country Song Writer’s Hall of Fame and his songs have been covered by amongst others, Bob Dylan, who I’m sure introduced Alfie to the song.  Here are the Stanley Brothers:

Storyteller is available here:

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Alfie Boe’s Best Ever Song – Number Ten

Last week saw the news that Alfie Boe’s new album, As Time Goes By (click here to order), will be released on 23 November and I’m sure there will be plenty of fans very much looking forward to hearing all the tracks.  Before then, however, we have the question that all fans are desperate to have answered:

What is the fans favourite Alfie Boe song 2018???

I’m happy to say that the vote is now closed, the votes have been counted and the results will be revealed over the next ten weeks, which will take us almost up to the week of the new album.  Anyone would think it was planned!

Without further ado, the song in at number ten is a song that featured in the first three charts but dropped out of the top ten last year.  From Onward, it’s A Living Prayer:

A Living Prayer shows off Alfie’s soaring vocals to perfection and is probably the reason why a song from one of Alfie’s lesser known albums has been eternally popular with fans, also being chosen several times as part of the Six Sensational Songs series.

A Living Prayer was written by bluegrass / country singer Alison Krauss and released on the Union Station album Lonely Runs Both Ways in 2004. The bluegrass roots are evident in this video of Krauss:

As evidenced from Alfie’s autobiography, he wasn’t too thrilled with the choice of songs for Onward, with the exception of A Living Prayer – hope he sings it again one day.

Onward is available here:

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2015: It Was A Very Good Year

Yes it was, a very good year for thoughtsofjustafan and for Alfie Boe too.  If I asked Alfie, his 2015 highlights might include Classic Quadrophenia and Les Mis on Broadway but I’m sure meeting loads of adoring fans at various UK and US concerts would also be right up there with the best moments.

For me, 2015 has been a series of fabulous moments one after the other – I can’t possibly choose one as the best although the first three on the list would certainly be competing for the top spot!

  • Interviewing Alfie for Classic Quadrophenia.
  • Interviewing Alfie again for the first in the Club 24601 series.
  • Chatting to Alfie at Somerset House and hearing him tell me that he reads thoughtsofjustafan…if Nikki Lewis hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have believed it!
  • Seeing my Classic Quad review from the Huffington Post quoted in a proper newspaper (the Guardian). The thank you from Alfie when I interviewed him shortly after was pretty special too. classic quad review
  • Addio Sogni di Gloria being voted the Best Alfie Boe Song (recorded) – last year’s favourite, Bring Him Home was number 4.
  • Taking my 9yo to Alive @Delapre for his first Alfie concert and hearing the stand out Alfie song from 2015, Run:

  • The Club 24601 series of interviews, beginning with Alfie and culminating with the current London JVJ, Peter Lockyer.
  • Interview with David Steadman, of the D’oyly Carte Opera Company and hearing about Alfie’s very first tour as a professional singer.
  • Finding out that the fan’s favourite Alfie Boe look is jeans, the tighter the better!  Alfie in a suit was a (very) close runner up.
  • Alfie in Les Miserables on Broadway – hearing the amazing reviews and happy fans was the next best thing to being there myself.

Thank you to everyone for reading and supporting thoughtsofjustafan – I really appreciate the time you take to comment on and share.  In February this year we passed 30,000 hits and thanks to all you wonderful readers, we have now more than tripled that number – woohoo!

Thank you too for all the wonderful compliments you have sent over the year, you are all very kind.

Of course, I can’t let 2015 pass without thanking some extra special people who have continued to support me and thoughtsofjustafan:

Thanks to Debbie Bannigan for giving me the best gift anyone can ever receive; belief and confidence that I can achieve whatever I want to.  Without your support, this blog would not exist.

Thanks to Linda Wellington for continually providing me with photos and videos and allowing me to use them.  Thank you also for all the laughs along the way this summer – and for ferrying us to Northampton!

Thanks to Carole Hunt for continuing to allow me to use her photo for the main blog banner.

Thanks to everyone who allows me to use their videos here – Nikki, Jayne, Annie in particular.

Thanks to Roberta Kappus and Carole Hunt for being fabulous reviewers this year – I hope to be able to call on you again lovely ladies!

Thanks to Sue Black, Linda Anstee and Marie Blair for being my top social media sharers this year – thanks for spreading the word!

Thanks to my top commenters in 2015 – Linda McCann, Sue Redfern and Carole Naden.  Love hearing from you!

Lastly, thank you to everyone who spoke to me at concerts this year and said they loved my blog – I love doing it!  Special thanks to the super posse of friends who, amongst others, made it extra special this year: Linda A and Linda W, Sally, Cecelia and Cassie (I’ll never forget your comments while waiting for the ladies at Hampton Court!), Paul and Pauline, Jan, Carole H, Sue, Pam and Tina, Nikki, Annie, Pauline H, Pat and Janet, Jayne, Deb and Flo.

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Looking Back at Alfie Boe’s Top Ten Songs

A year ago, I asked the question, What’s your favourite Alfie Boe (recorded) song?  There were so many nominations we ended up with 36 sings on the long list (click here to listen on Spotify)!

No one was surprised when Bring Him Home made it to the top spot but there were a few surprises along the way, namely A Living Prayer placed at number 2.  The final top ten was as follows:

10: You Are My Hearts Delight

9: Fratello Sole, Sorella Luna

8: If You Go Away

7: Rosie

6: Parlami D’Amore Mariu

5: Wayfaring Stranger

4: Je Crois Entendre Encore

3: Rank Strangers

2: A Living Prayer

1: Bring Him Home

Now you may notice that there are only nine videos on this list – that’s because the ninth best song, Fratello Sole, Sorella Luna has never been performed live.  Taken from You’ll Never Walk Alone, I must confess to being a little surprised that this song made it onto the Top Ten in place of other more well known songs (Wheels of a Dream comes to mind). However, perhaps it is the very fact that we don’t hear it very often that made people vote for it.

Not knowing much about this particular song meant that I had to put in a bit of research and was somewhat surprised to learn that it comes from a 1972 Franco Zeffirelli film Brother Sun, Sister Moon which is about St Francis of Assisi. Donovan wrote and performed the songs on the soundtrack and re-recorded them in the early 1990’s. More recently, Friar Alessandro has recorded the song.

Since this poll was revealed, we have of course, had a new album, Serenata and so the question I ask you today is:

Are there any Serenata songs you would love to see in the top ten?

Results to be revealed soon!

Serenata can be ordered here:

serenata

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Happy New Year! On This Day, 31 Dec 2013, Alfie Boe Sang…

…I’m sure that you don’t need reminding that it was Alfie Boe’s Best Live Song (as voted by you), Don’t Stop Me Now, on Gary Barlow’s New Year’s Eve Celebration:

What a great end / start to the year that was!

So, to round off the year, I’m looking back at my top ten thoughtsofjustafan moments (in no particular order) – hope you enjoy.

1 – Alfie’s best ever recorded song countdown – some great songs nominated (click here for the longlist) and while the      result was never really in doubt, some of the top ten were very unexpected.  This was my most commented on post      of the year!

2 – Michael Boe’s interview and the release of the track list for his next album – great news, Michael told me that him       and Sean will shortly be back in the studio!  The release of the track list was the 3rd most viewed post!

3 – Serenata – my favourite track changes all the time.  The first post about the new album was the 2nd most viewed        post this year, sandwiched between the Alfie on the Royal Variety Show and Michael’s new album.

4 – Caruso live at Newcastle (thanks Linda for sharing):

5 – Symfunny stage door – so lucky to be able to chat to relaxed Alfie!  But it was so cold…in June!

6 – Getting published on the Huffington Post UK!  Such a thrill!

7 – Hearing Addio Sogni di Gloria at Classic FM live (thanks Marcia for sharing):

8 – Quadrophenia on tour – roll on Royal Albert Hall next July:

9 – Laura Wright’s interview.

10 – Two (!!!) interviews from James Morgan – such a lovely man.

Last, but not least, thank you for all the support that you have given me since day one of this blog.  Thank you doesn’t seem adequate somehow but a huge big thank you hug for each and every one of you – some I’ve met, some I haven’t but your support is very much appreciated.  In particular, thanks to:

Debbie Bannigan for her unstinting support, encouragement and willingness to share her amazing fount of knowledge – thoughtsofjustafan truly would not exist in its current form without you xxx

Sue Black for sharing every single blog post ever published! xxx

Linda Wellington, Nikki Lewis, Marcia Studley for sharing their Alfie videos xxx

Carole Hunt for letting me use the banner photo of Alfie on the site xxx

Claire Smith and Michelle Keogh for sharing my Alfie survey on their facebook sites – and thanks to all who filled it in xxx

Cynthia Shepherd, Cecelia Powell, Linda McCann and Annie Lloyd for being my top commenters xxx

What are your top ten moments – leave me a comment!

Happy New Year to you all 

xx

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