Rick Astley - When I Fall In Love
With a rich deep voice totally at odds with his youthful appearance, Rick Astley had exploded on to the music scene in 1987 with his smash hit debut solo single Never Gonna Give You Up. Yet another successful act for the increasingly successful writing and production team Stock Aitken Waterman, Astley's boy-next-door looks and down-to-earth appeal led to a string of hits, including this faithful cover of the Nat King Cole classic When I Fall In Love. Eschewing the synth-led dance sound of his earlier hits, Astley's cover was a sumptuous, string-laden affair, based on the original arrangement by Gordon Jenkins. Whilst not a Christmas song per se, the warmth of the production and a video showing Astley wandering through the snow give the track a Christmassy feel. Clearly designed to be the 1987 Christmas number one, it found itself in contention with another cover version, Pet Shop Boys' radical reworking of Always On My Mind. However, EMI Records (via its Capitol imprint) re-issued the original Nat King Cole version—the back of the sleeve actually stated “This is the ORIGINAL ‘When I Fall In Love’”—which reached number 4 and took sales away from the almost-identical Astley cover, giving Pet Shop Boys—signed to EMI subsidiary label Parlophone—a clear run at the number one position.
Written by: Edward Heyman & Victor Young
Produced by: Mike Stock, Matt Aitken & Pete Waterman
RCA Records PB 41683 / #2
From my Kindle book "80s UK Christmas Singles" -- a bargain at 99p!
