The weird shit that you can find on soundtracks to obscure movies never ceases to amaze me. Most recently I found the soundtrack to Party Party, a forgotten 80s teen flick about (surprise) a party. I can find absolutely no information about it online so if anyone knows anything about it please comment. It certainly had a decent soundtrack though, with some odd ska-tinged covers of classic tunes,and some appearances by some very noteworthy 80s artists that you might not expect.
Time for a track-by-track rundown.
Elvis Costello – Party Party
I wonder how they convinced Elvis to contribute a title track to this flick? They obviously didn’t try very hard because as early-80s Elvis Costello tracks go this is pretty weak. This is on a couple of compilations but probably not any endorsed by Costello.
Dave Edmunds – Run Rudolph Run
Don’t know much about Dave Edmunds, other than the fact that he was in Rockpile. This cover of the Christmas classic is on about 80 billion Christmas compilations.
Altered Images – Little Town Flirt
Another band I don’t know shit about, although they sound kind of like a Siouxsie & The Banshees lite, so I might check them out sometime. This is a cover of a song made famous by Del Shannon and I don’t think it was ever released on any other album.
Bad Manners – Yakety Yak
I know Yakety Yak, but I’m not very familiar with Bad Manners and other than their contributions to the soundtracks of Dance Crazy and this movie I know nothing about them. Not really my style of music for the most part, but this is a fun cover and it’s never been released on anything else to my knowledge.
Sting – Tutti Frutti
Okay, this is just retarded. In the 90s a compilation album of Sting’s contributions to soundtracks was released (more on that in a bit) and this song was one of the only ones that wasn’t put on it. Listen to it, there’s a good reason why.
Bananarama – No Feelings
This is a cover of The Sex Pistols’ classic. Let me say that again, this is Bananarama covering the motherfucking Sex Pistols. It’s pretty much ‘Cruel Summer’ with the lyrics of ‘No Feelings’ put in. Rhino tacked this lovely little number on the deluxe edition of their first album, Deep Sea Skiving.
Madness -Driving In My Car
An odd song (even as Madness songs go), but there’s nothing really spectacular about it. It’s also on a quite a few Madness compilations so it’s not rare either.
Modern Romance – Band Of Gold
I’ll be honest, I never heard of Modern Romance until about five minutes before I began typing this sentence. Thanks to the glory of the interwebs, I can tell you that they were fairly big in the UK for a few years in the 80s and that Morrissey really hated them. After searching on Youtube for a bit I’ve discovered that I did know one of their songs ‘The Best Years Of Our Lives’. I didn’t like it then and I’m not a fan still. And anytime I hear the song title I think of the horribly depressing movie of the same name, which doesn’t make the song any more enjoyable. ‘Band Of Gold’ has always been one of my biggest guilty pleasures though, and they do it justice.
Bad Manners – Elizabethan Reggae
More Bad Manners, this track is on one of their rarities compilations. Why does this song make me want to smoke pot?
Pauline Black – No Woman, No Cry
Pauline Black was the lead singer of The Selecter, another ska band that’s on the soundtrack to Dance Crazy. This is a cover of the Bob Marley classic and isn’t available elsewhere.
Sting – Need Your Love So Bad
This one I have heard before, because in addition to being on the soundtrack to Party Party, it’s on that compilation of soundtrack tunes that I mentioned before. I don’t own that album, but for some strange reason my mom does and I’m assuming that’s why it sounds familar to me. It’s a good bluesy tune but it is pretty out of place considering what else is on this record.
Midge Ure – The Man Who Sold The World
Even more out of place is this spaced-out cover of the David Bowie classic by the lead singer of Ultravox. I think there are more synthesizer and vocal effects on this track than every other song on the album combined. Midge’s released this song a few times on various greatest hits compilations, but it appeared on this soundtrack first.
Chas And Dave – Auld Lang Syne
Another act I know nothing about. It is strange though that this is the second cover of Auld Lang Syne I’ve put up in less than a year. To my knowledge this track isn’t on any other album either.
I had this album in college — a real guilty pleasure. Thanks for sharing!
I had this LP in college as well – probably because of an Elvis obsession. I have no memory of the film but you can find out about it at IMDb (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086081/).
cheers!
I kind of recall this movie existing but I never saw it and never bought the soundtrack.
Thanks for digging it up!
This is my first visit to The Lost Turntable and I can promise I’ll be back regularly!
I bought this in 1982 for the various artists hard to get in America at that time, still have it now, mostly for the Chas and Dave track, pure madness for your holiday season. As always, you have awesome taste and style, keep spinning those tracks.
SDZ
SLC, UT
Elvis Costello made my face smiling, thanks dude!
cheers,
|cv|
I’ve gone through something like five copies of this between LP and cassette. (There was also a mid-’90s CD release as well.)
IT. FUCKING. ROCKS.
Meanwhile, the movie sucks. Hard. I mean, you can put your ear up to the VHS and HEAR the sucking sound it makes.
Imagine your prototypical Tits’N’Zits flick. Now, take it and make it as iconically English as Porky’s was American. However, do NOTHING to the quality.
I showed this to some friends at one of our Movie Nights, and I had to make a public apology to everyone afterwards.
Altered Images used to tour with Siouxsie – so you’re pretty close with your description.
I think you’d like Altered Images if you can handle Claire Grogan’s girlish vocals, which are pretty much a love ’em or hate ’em thing. They did three full-length albums, each with its own style.
Claire also acted in a couple of movies I always recommend: Gregory’s Girl and Comfort & Joy.
I think this is the only CD that the Costello track appears on.
altered images were an 80’s new wavy brit pop band with a minor mtv hit “i could be happy”…i liked them a lot…bad manners is on of the seminal surviving ska bands with a huge lead singer and who put on one the coolest live shows…just imaging a very large pub patron fronting a more jamaican influenced madness
Oh my goodness. That Elvis track is one that used to differentiate the “real Elvis fans/collectors” from the fake ones. I hadn’t thought about it for 20 years.
Thanks for your hard work on this blog. You do a good job.
–Bama
Chances are you may have heard the Fleetwood Mac (the original 60s band) version of “Need your love so bad”…been done by a few others, including the Allman Bros at some time.
Altered Images are def one of my “guilty pleasures”…especially a track called “Don’t talk to me about love”…well worth looking for!!
I had this album a zillion years ago, so thanks for uploading it on yr site, brings back some memories.
A friend of mine left it lying in the sun for a few hours, so the album ended up a bit warped, which caused some strange audio effects…
By the way, Costello considers this his worst song! Chas & Dave did a lot of pubrockboogie woogie stuff. Dave Edunds (big hits: I Hear You Knocking & Girls Talk) produced the 2 Sting covers, more on Need Your Love So Bad can be found on my site here: http://drfeelgoed.multiply.com/music/item/410