An Album/Song A Day: "Fooled Around and Fell In Love"- Elvis Bishop

 When I first started to explore what channels were on the radio, the FM part of the dial was always a mystery.  By 1976, I began to check out the FM dial more than I ever had.  What I found was something foreign to my young ears.  Having only listened to AM Top 40, the genres I heard on the FM dial were new to my me: Gospel, Talk Shows, R&B, Rock, Country.  And even Top 40.  What a shock!  Top 40 channels were on the FM dial too.  And sounded better than AM radio?  

 To my recollection we had one Top 40 FM channel in our area. But the hits sounded different.  They were longer than the ones I heard on American Top 40.  Longer than the 45's I owned.  I decided to look at some of my sister's albums, and it finally hit me.  Album versions didn't always match the single version.  Talk about a revelation!

  One of the first songs I noticed that had a different running time was "Fooled Around And Fell In Love" by Elvin Bishop, and sung by Mickey Thomas.  The album length is about 4:30, while the single clocks in just under 3 minutes.  That's about a minute and a half cut from the album.  Basically a whole verse was cut from the song.  I kinda like the single version better, and that's the one you mostly hear today.  

Elvin Bishop was a founding member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band that brought Chicago Blues to white audiences that would have normally tuned out the Blues in the mid-60's.  They were inducted into the Rock Hall in 2015. 

 "Fooled Around and Fell In Love" as sung by Mickey Thomas was peak Blue-Eyed Soul.  Thomas went on to front the Jefferson Starship in the late 70's ("Jane" was his best moment with them).  It peaked at #3 in the Spring of '76. 

  As FM started to add more channels and variety, I began to tune out AM radio, except for AT Top 40, news and sports.