Archive for the ‘Harold Faltermeyer’ Category

Justly Forgotten 80s Relics

Wednesday, June 25th, 2014

I haven’t forgotten about my promise to update this blog five days a week come July. In fact, I’ve been rapidly recording material to fill the space. I still got plenty of time, right?

Oh fuck.

Terri Nunn And Paul Carrack
Romance (Love Theme From Sing)
Sing is a 1989 musical drama from the writer of Footloose and the director of…nothing else. It stars about two star-crossed teens in a downtrodden Brooklyn neighborhood who discover their love for music, and each other, while preparing for their school talent show. (Can you tell I used to write shitty movie descriptions for a living?)

The film also stars Lorraine Bracco from The Sopranos as a tough street smart teacher. It’s also apparently a giant piece of shit. I’ve never seen it, and judging from the fact that it has yet to be released on DVD or Blu-ray, I probably never will.

Both the film and the soundtrack have a minor following however, judging from the overly in-depth description of the plot on Wikipedia, and the fact that CD copies of the soundtrack go for higher-than-average used prices.

Like I said, I’ve never seen the movie, so I can’t attest to its quality. I have, however, listened to the soundtrack and goddamn it’s awful. Michael Bolton! Mickey Thomas! Bill Champlin! It’s a who’s who of who gives a fuck.

The only thing close to a decent tune on the LP is the theme track, a duet by Berlin’s Terri Nunn and professional band nomad Paul Carrack (Roxy Music, Mike + The Mechanics, Ace, about a billion other things). To be honest it’s actually not all that great a tune, typical 80s easy listening schlock, but I just love me some Terri Nunn so I’m a bit biased.

Oh, and while the Wiki description is needlessly complex, I love the horribleness of the IMDB summary: “A teen film about an Italian punk forced to work with an innocent Jewish girl.”

Harold Faltermeyer
The Race Is On
The Race Is On (Radio Edit)
The Race Is On (Instrumental)
The Race Is On (Dub Version)
“The Race Is On”  is a radical re-working/remix/remake of the theme to Starlight Express, the 1974 musical by Andrew Lloyd Weber about toy trains.

For real.

The cast (playing the trains) perform entirely on roller skates.

Yes, this is a song by Harold Faltermeyer, based off the work of Andrew Lloyd Weber, about a bunch of dudes in rollerskates pretending to be trains. So the next time someone tells you the 80s were full of nothing but awesome shit, throw this in their face.

Seriously though, this tune is pretty rad – great electro vibe.

Harold and Frankie

Monday, October 7th, 2013

Caring about baseball for the first time in 16 years (when the Indians were in the World Series, for those wondering) has really taken a hit into my productivity. Games every day? Jesus, how the hell do baseball fans get anything done? I’m used to wasting just one day a week to sports, I don’t know if even I have enough lack of motivation to subject myself to this much longer.

And besides, I have a shitload of stuff to do! Operation: Get Crap Out Of My House is well into effect, but I still got a few “big ticket” items I need to unload.

In fact, can I interest any of you in the following?

Super Famicom (Boxed!)

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A complete Super Famicom system, complete with both controllers, A/V cable and original AC adapter (so you might want a power converter). Comes in its original box too! Looks great and I can verify that it plays games perfectly as well. I’m asking $100 for this (shipping not included). That’s about $20-$40 cheaper than most Super Famicoms you see on eBay when you factor in the high international shipping you typically have to pay.

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I occasionally help out in my friend’s used games store, so believe me when I tell you that coming across one of these in as nice shape as this one is doesn’t happen everyday!

Sharp Front Loading Stereo Turntable RP-117

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Okay, this thing is crazy. It’s a turntable that takes LPs like CDs, and then it can play both sides with no flipping required! It doesn’t sound amazing, but it certainly sounds as good as most mid-range turntables, and it’s a great talking piece to have as an auxiliary deck.  I haven’t played it in about a year, so I’ll test it before I ship it out, but last I checked it played fine. These can be a bit finicky too, so finding one in working condition is a real rarity.

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I’m asking $300 for it, which is $100 cheaper than what they tend to go for on eBay. Don’t ask me about replacement styluses or needles for this sucker though, because I have no idea.

If either of these items interest you, leave a comment with your email (I won’t approve it, I’ll just use it to get a hold of you).

 

Okay, sorry for that brief QVC moment. If you read all that, I appreciate your patience and reward you with silly music from the 80s.

Harold Faltermeyer
Fletch Theme (Extended Version)
Fletch Theme (Radio Edit)
Fletch Theme (Fletch Rap)
Fletch Theme Bonus Beats (Hip Hop Version)
So I’m going to be real and just put this out there: I’ve never seen Fletch.

Okay, yeah, I know. Yeah, I’m sure its great. But by the time I was old enough to really appreciate it, Chevy Chase was well on his path of sucking, so I immediately associated the film with the long line of sucking pieces of suck he’s sadly known for today. I know I should watch it! I know it’s a good movie! But there are a lot of good movies I haven’t seen that I need to watch, and when I start looking at that list, I feel that movies like Godfather II, The African Queen and Manhattan probably take precedence over Fletch. Of course, you’re talking to the guy who decided it was of the utmost importance to mainline the first five Fast & Furious films in a 48 hour period, so what do I know.

Well, I do know that Harold Faltermeyer’s theme to Fletch is pretty fucking rad, and like some commenters have told me in the past, it’s actually even better than his theme to Beverly Hills Cop, something that’s no small feat. All four of these versions of the theme sound pretty similar to me, but whatever, it’s four similar versions of a completely bitchin’ tune, so I’m not going to complain.

Frankie Goes To Hollywood
Rage Hard (++) [Broad]
Sometimes I feel the need to just write about an album. No reason. Just because I want to. If I ever do this, I think I’d have to write about Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Welcome To The Pleasuredome. Not just because it’s a fantastic record and one of my favorites, but because I feel that I’m in the extreme minority in saying as much.  That album is a fucking masterpiece. Not only that, I feel that it perfectly encapsulates every single thing about the early 80s, from rampant casual sex to the constant threat of nuclear war. It’s an awesome record.

Liverpool, the group’s 1986 sophomore album, and their last release, is significantly less awesome. I’ve listened to it several times since finding it a few months ago, and aside from “Warriors Of The Wasteland” and “Rage Hard” it’s an entirely forgettable album. It also tries far too hard to recapture the magic of the original album in tone and structure too, right down to the random oddball cross-genre cover (a weak rendition of “Roadhouse Blues” filling in for Pleasuredome’s amazing take on “Born To Run.”)

But like I said, “Rage Hard” is a pretty great track, and thanks to Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s shameless(ly wonderful) practice of remixing and re-releasing singles ad nauseam, there are more than a few remixes of it floating out there. I currently have four: The Bob K Remix, an extended version, one simply titled “Vocal/Remix” that I got off of the Japanese version of the Frankie Said compilation, and the one I’m sharing tonight. Of those, I think this one is the best. It’s not the longest, but it’s still a hefty eight minutes, and unlike the other remixes, it never delves off into sample-heavy wankery or excessive non-musical segues or interludes. It just uses its eight minutes to take its time and really stretch the tune out. As I’ve said time and time again, the best remixes are the ones that just let a song’s natural awesomeness shine while not trying to change it too much.

Tubular Bananas in Tail Pipes

Monday, April 27th, 2009

I’m crazy busy reviewing awful music so just a quick post tonight, but before that some links to reviews of CDs that don’t suck.

Depeche Mode – Sound Of The Universe:
I liked it, surprise I know.
Radiohead – OK Computer (Special Edition): Just fucking buy it.

J&B Orchestra
Tubular Bells (Club Mix)
Tubular Bells (Dub Mix)
On a list of tracks I thought would get remixed by a Disco Italo artist “Tubular Bells”…is actually pretty high up there. Disco Italo is weird, so it’s not that surprising. Imagine the corniest aspects of New Wave, Disco and House music…tha’ts Disco Italo. This remix/remake of “Tubular Bells” (AKA the song in The Exorcist) appropriately exorcises all creepiness from the track and turns it into a fun little club jam.

Harold Faltermeyer
Axel F (The M&M Mix)
Axel F (Extended Version)
I’ve been collecting records for 10 years now. I know I have a pretty impressive collection, but I’ve always thought something was missing. I looked at my shelves upon shelves of 12” singles with an emptyness in my heart, a lacking, a yearning for something I didn’t quite understand. But now that I have the 12” single to Axel F I knew that is what was lacking. That was the missing piece, the keystone if you will, to my collection. My collection is now complete (not really). These remixes are awesome and I suggest everyone listen to them whilst jogging and/or fighting to avenge James Russo’s death.

Side Note: The first mix has little, if nothing, to do with M&M’s…I think.