Thought I'd throw this out to all of your WANster tunesmiths...

Years ago, when Uncle Rog was a beardless yout', he heard a remarkable recording of the William Tell Overture as performed by a hard rock band backed up by what sounded like a full symphony orchestra.

He heard it -- 'way, 'way back in the Spring of 1971 -- over the speaker system of an Indiana University dining hall, which that day was tuned to a far-off FM station that was just about impossible to pick up anywhere else on campus...and which rarely (if ever) identified the cuts they were playing.

So, does anyone know the source of that long ago recording? Who were the performers? And is it available on CD?

Inquiring minds want to know!

--Uncle Rog

Just a guess, but Clockwork Orange came out in 1971 and contained various versions of The William Tell Overture. There are two versions of the soundtrack, you can check Amazon for samples to see if they sound familiar.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... 43-0130444

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... 43-0130444

I think it might be White Lightning, which was a hard rock hippie era band formed by ex-members of the Litter. Their recording of the "William Tell Overture" was a staple on progressive FM stations at the time you heard the track in question.

From a prog website:

>> The idea to do The William Tell Overture came to "Zip" Caplan and Woody Woodrich during their pre-band jam sessions. Pulling this section out of "Zip's" Boogie , Woody helped "Zippy" rework his full arrangement into the version that would become a trademark showstopper for "White Lightning". Charlie Carlson, a friend of Denny Waite, recorded the narration of The Lone Ranger origin heard at the beginning of The William Tell Overture. Charlie went on to become a successful Disc Jockey. <<

Unfortunately the only audio sample available is of the spoken intro, which might not help you judge if it's the same track:

William Tell Intro

The full song is available on an indie "best of" CD for White Lightning:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... 94-2878505

... but appears to be out of print. (When Amazon lists something as "4 to 6 weeks delivery" don't even bother, they won't get it.) There's one secondhand copy available from a private dealer, though. It's also at eBay, cheaper:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... eName=WD1V

Bloody librarians.

It looks like you can get a remake from Zip Caplan's web site. The CD is called <I>Monsters and Heroes</I>. Here's the list of songs and performers.

http://www.zipcaplan.com/credits/index.html

The order page is in the "music" link to the left. ( $15.00 postpaid ... I may have to order this... )

Zip's home page is here: http://www.zipcaplan.com/index.html

Jim Lawless