5000 Volts (aka Airbus) - I’m On Fire

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   Just like "Roxy Roller" and "Y.M.C.A.", the 1975 disco song "I'm On Fire" by 5000 Volts has multiple versions with different lead singers.

The song was originally released in 1975 as a B-side to the song "Bye Love", when the band was still known as Airbus.  The UK licensee of the song, Philips, changed the band's name to 5000 Volts, and rereleased the same Airbus version of "I'm On Fire" an A-side, now credited to 5000 Volts.  It was a minor hit in the US, peaking at #26 in 1975, but went top 10 in the UK, Germany, Australia, and most of Europe.  

The vocalist for the hit version was Tina Charles, who left the group after the single had run its course to pursue her own solo career.  (She hit the UK top 10 three times in 1976 on CBS Records, with "I Love To Love", "Dance Little Lady Dance", and "Dr. Love".)

Meanwhile, 5000 Volts replaced vocalist Tina Charles with Linda Kelly.  They recorded enough material with Linda Kelly to fill out a full album, 5000 Volts, which came out on Philips in 1976.  (Discogs lists a bunch of countries for the LP, but not the US!  Is it possible that the 5000 Volts album never came out in the US?)

Linda Kelly is the only vocalist credited on the 5000 Volts album (at least according to one of the releases on Discogs).  She sang lead on the band's single, "Dr. Kiss Kiss", which turned out to be their only other UK hit in 1976.  For the LP, the band rerecorded "I'm On Fire" with Linda Kelly, using the same backing track (slightly different mix but the same performance).

So, the 45 version of "I'm On Fire" has vocals by Tina Charles, and is considered the hit version in the US and around the world.  This version shows up on three CDs in the US: Rhino's Disco Years Vol. 5 (1992), Rhino's The Disco Box, and Varese Sarabande's Disco Classics, all of which run 2:47.  I assume that the mastering for the last two is based on Disco Years, but can't confirm.

The LP version of "I'm On Fire" has vocals by Linda Kelly, and is most definitely not considered the hit version, at least according to a bunch of annoyed reviews I saw on Amazon's CD release of the album.  I have the Linda Kelly LP version on two foreign CDs: Connoisseur Collection UK's 5-CD 100 Dance Hits Of The '70s (1988) and BR Music Holland's 4-CD Definite 70's Vol. 3 (1997).  Both run about 2:39.

Thanks to Mark M for doing some research for all this.  He found that Universal seems to own the U.S. rights but overseas it's controlled by B.R. Music.  Mark reports that usually it's either one or the other, not both.  Interesting.

I should also point out that neither Mark nor I own the 5000 Volts LP, so we can't confirm firsthand that "I'm On Fire" is the rerecording with Linda Kelly.  But I'd rate our confidence level at about 70%.

Edited by crapfromthepast