Just an idle observation of mine ( as a ture devotee of Chris Rea music for over 23 years )...
He does tend to plagarise his own songs, a bit like a magpie stealing things but in this case he is taking from himself ( no bad thing ).
By this I mean, has anyone else noticed in his recent Blue Guitars project how often he had revisited his own "back catalogue" for some new songs?
Many of the examples are to be found on the "Celtic Blues" CD eg:
Lucky Day is a re-working of the same song from te 1986 On the Beach Album which was a more jazzier sound with different lyrics. The new version is great.
Celtic Blue also borrows heavily from the track "Nothing to Fear" from the album God's Great Banana Skin.
Too Far from Home takes a large part of the intro' track Espresso Logic from the album of the same name.
Also, if you are a real Chris Rea devotee, you will find that the backbeat / rythmn on the song 'Til I find my True Love's name - is broadly the same as the song "Reasons" from the 1984 album - Wired to the Moon.
Obviously the song Catfish Girl on the CD of Louisiana Blues is the same as from the Stony Road album and somewhere there is also another version of the song - Mississppi , which was also on Stony Road but originally on the King of the Beach album !
Don't get me wrong, I think the fact that he re-visits these songs is not only a great idea ( to re-perfect his own material ) but also a good metaphor for the blues themselves, which are, after all, a sort of re-working of previous material with different styles.
Also, those of you who have listended to him as long as I have, will know it is not the first time he has done this sort of thing - going back to the self titled Chirs Rea Album of 1982 the song "If you choose to go" was re-worked later in the 1987 album Dancing with Strangers as Que Sera.
Also there is the re-working of the original "Let's Dance" which was on a mini LP in 1986 from the On the Beach Album ( a real jazzy / bluesy version) which became the famous sinlge from the Dancing with Strangers album.
Also the song New Times Square from the awful Road to Hell Pt 2 album is a re-hash of the song Blue Cafe from the album Blue Cafe from 1998.
Anyway, enough of that - I think it is a good thing - what do others think ?
Also - what about a top ten favourite track listings, my own would be:-
1. Nothing's Happening by the Sea
2. It's all gone
3. Daytona
4. Wired to the Moon
5. Chisel Hill
6. On the Beach ( album version 1986 )
7. Joy of Christmas
8. 'Til the Morning Light Shines on my True love and me
9. Out of the Darkness
10Catfish Girl
Best Album ( if you had to pick one ) - On the Beach
Best Concert ( seen 14 ) - 1988 Christmas - Drving Home for Xmas Tour, Glasgow, Dec '88).
Over to you.
Cheers