"Help Me Lonely" by van Dingstee - https://on.soundcloud.com/ujjpL This is a Dutch band's version of a Trevor Rabin demo of an early version of what became Yes's "Changes".
Jan van Dingstee told the story to the Facebook group "Trevor Rabin Fans"
Trevor Rabin Fun story behind ‘Changes’ / ‘Just A Kid (Help Me Lonely)’
I guess any Trevor Rabin fan ranks the song ‘Changes’ high up in his YES favourites. The song has an interesting little background story to it. Somewhere around 1980/'81 Trevor Rabin visited the Netherlands (just by himself) to promote his 2nd solo album 'Face To Face'. The LP was released in the Benelux/Europe licensed by Chrysalis Records to Ariola Benelux (Bertelsmann, later BMG).
At the time I was working as a young press officer for the record company while at the same time playing in a band myself. Our General Manager Evert Wilbrink, who maintained relations with Chrysalis Records, had invited Trevor over to promote his current album and we had arranged some magazine- and radio interviews for him. I believe Trevor was still living in South Africa at the time and we spent some very nice days in Amsterdam. During a ride in the car he took a cassette out of his bag with the latest of his demo recordings that was put in the car cassette player instantly. Trevor explained that he had recorded two versions of one song and he was curious to hear which one we liked best. One version was called 'Changes' and the other '’Just A Kid/Help Me Lonely'. Looking for songs myself to record in the studio with my own band, I was immediately struck by the second version,(Help Me Lonely)'.
A few months later I recorded some new stuff in the studio, including Trevor’s song. The recordings were produced by a great well-known Dutch producer Hans Vermeulen (rip) in Studio Zeezicht in the Netherlands. I enjoyed singing the leads with great pleasure. The single was released in 1982 in the Netherlands as 'Help Me Lonely' by 'Van Dingstee'. Unfortunately we received modest radio airplay and little attention on TV.
We lost contact with Trevor who had then moved to England (?) and a little later found his way to the band YES. When the album '90125' was released in 1983, I heard the song 'Changes'. It sounded (and still does) fantastic! Great recording (with an peculiar keyboard-intro) and of course performed within a high-end ‘Musical League’ level. But in our previous Dutch version the good listener will hear enough similarities in the verses, though with different chorus and lyrics.
Unfortunately for me, 'Help Me Lonely' didn't become a hit, but I still have lots of good memories of Trevor's visit to the Netherlands and the fun days we spent. I wonder if Trevor recalls any of this in these long bygone times. Anyway, for anyone who is interested, here is a YouTube link to the edited single version of a TV performance we did (sorry for the Dutch language introduction). Full length audio version can be found on Soundcloud, 'Jan van Dingstee’)
Different times, different standards. A guilty pleasure? Maybe, old stuff, but still…
Happy Days folks!
XXX Jan van Dingstee
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_90LobfNqDM
Jan van Dingstee told the story to the Facebook group "Trevor Rabin Fans"
Trevor Rabin Fun story behind ‘Changes’ / ‘Just A Kid (Help Me Lonely)’
I guess any Trevor Rabin fan ranks the song ‘Changes’ high up in his YES favourites. The song has an interesting little background story to it. Somewhere around 1980/'81 Trevor Rabin visited the Netherlands (just by himself) to promote his 2nd solo album 'Face To Face'. The LP was released in the Benelux/Europe licensed by Chrysalis Records to Ariola Benelux (Bertelsmann, later BMG).
At the time I was working as a young press officer for the record company while at the same time playing in a band myself. Our General Manager Evert Wilbrink, who maintained relations with Chrysalis Records, had invited Trevor over to promote his current album and we had arranged some magazine- and radio interviews for him. I believe Trevor was still living in South Africa at the time and we spent some very nice days in Amsterdam. During a ride in the car he took a cassette out of his bag with the latest of his demo recordings that was put in the car cassette player instantly. Trevor explained that he had recorded two versions of one song and he was curious to hear which one we liked best. One version was called 'Changes' and the other '’Just A Kid/Help Me Lonely'. Looking for songs myself to record in the studio with my own band, I was immediately struck by the second version,(Help Me Lonely)'.
A few months later I recorded some new stuff in the studio, including Trevor’s song. The recordings were produced by a great well-known Dutch producer Hans Vermeulen (rip) in Studio Zeezicht in the Netherlands. I enjoyed singing the leads with great pleasure. The single was released in 1982 in the Netherlands as 'Help Me Lonely' by 'Van Dingstee'. Unfortunately we received modest radio airplay and little attention on TV.
We lost contact with Trevor who had then moved to England (?) and a little later found his way to the band YES. When the album '90125' was released in 1983, I heard the song 'Changes'. It sounded (and still does) fantastic! Great recording (with an peculiar keyboard-intro) and of course performed within a high-end ‘Musical League’ level. But in our previous Dutch version the good listener will hear enough similarities in the verses, though with different chorus and lyrics.
Unfortunately for me, 'Help Me Lonely' didn't become a hit, but I still have lots of good memories of Trevor's visit to the Netherlands and the fun days we spent. I wonder if Trevor recalls any of this in these long bygone times. Anyway, for anyone who is interested, here is a YouTube link to the edited single version of a TV performance we did (sorry for the Dutch language introduction). Full length audio version can be found on Soundcloud, 'Jan van Dingstee’)
Different times, different standards. A guilty pleasure? Maybe, old stuff, but still…
Happy Days folks!
XXX Jan van Dingstee
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_90LobfNqDM
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