10 Days of Cover Art and Personal Explanations Day 8: Original Broadway Cast Recording of "Chess."

I remember being about 14 or 15 in a car with my brother Andy listening to this album. The lyrics were there in the back of my brain though I couldn't recall when I had listened to it before. But it hit like a revelation that day, and I became obsessed with this bizarre and endlessly revised show. It was re-written for every major production, sometimes new lyrics, new plot twists, entire songs. And I loved learning about each one.

Random fact you may not have known about me: I ran a well-known CHESS fansite for about 5 years, featuring all the lyrics to the Broadway and London concept albums. And I hosted the world's only running list of current productions of CHESS, receiving emails from fans around the world when they learned of a new production coming to their area. To this day, I find “Endgame” from this recording a deeply tragic bit of narrative songwriting.