All 80s tonight. More soundtracks later.

OMD
If You Leave (Extended Mix)
La Femme Accident (Remixed Version)
I still think that these guys should have sued 90s one-hit-wonder OMC for defamation of character. Not fair that they are forever side-by-side in CD racks at Best Buys worldwide.

Men Without Hats
Pop Goes The World (Dance Mix)
Pop Goes The World (Dub Mix)
Whenever I would talk about one-hit-wonders with this girlfriend I had and I mentioned Men Without Hats and she god all mad, yelling “They had two hits!!! ‘Pop Goes The World!’ Hello?!?!?” That must have been the reason why we broke up. She was right though, this song does totally kick ass. These mixes are off of a promo single.

Love & Rockets
Ball Of Confusion (USA Mix)
Ball Of Confusion (12” Mix)
Ball Of Confusion (7” Mix)
I totally thought this was Duran Duran until about 1998. Oh well. These are also from a promo single.

IMPORTANT READ THIS:
Something is stupid with my .mac account right now. If you use Internet Explorer and try to download any of the zip files I recently uploaded on my site their showing up as Tar files. To fix this RIGHT CLICK and SAVE AS and then rename it as a zip file. If you use Firefox then just ignore this. Firefox’s awesomeness isn’t affected by this at all.

The Black Cauldron Original Soundtrack
One of the weirdest movies in the Disney canon, The Black Cauldron is unique footnote in Disney’s past. This 1985 flick was their attempt to tap into the teen market and it was a MAJOR bomb. It came out in 1985 but they didn’t put it on video until the late 90s. I personally don’t like the flick that much, but this score by Elmer Bernstein is pretty decent. Of course it was never released on CD and is now only available on iTunes. I picked the vinyl up last week along with all the other insanely rare soundtracks I’ve been posting lately. A great record for Disney completists.

Berlin – Information
What the fuck? I didn’t even know this album existed until I stumbled upon it last week. Aside from John Crawford this incarnation of Berlin has nothing in common with the classic line-up that recorded songs like ‘The Metro’ and ‘No More Words.’ Terri Nunn isn’t even here, some chick named Virginia Macolino is! Apparently Nunn had left the band for a while to try her hand at acting (didn’t work out I guess). When she came back two years later the entire line-up was different, except for John Crawford. This record isn’t as good as the stuff they did later, but tracks like ‘City Lights’ and ‘Overload’ show the potential that later came to fruition. This album has never been released on CD and should be of interest to Berlin fans and anyone into early synthpop and post-punk music.

Many of the large downloads I post end up as Tar files for some reason. This is an odd problem, since I am uploading these files as zips!! I don’t know what the fuck is going on with them. If any of you out there know what’s up with this let me know. In the meantime I have a quick fix for anyone that can’t read tars – if you simply rename the extension from .tar to .zip it should recognize it as a zip file and work fine. Sorry about the confusion!

EDIT: This only seems to happen to people using IE, strange…

art two in my John Carpenter series. Some of these fuckers are a bitch to find, so enjoy! Oh, and just to disappoint some of you right now instead of later, I don’t have Assault On Precinct 13 or Dark Star.

Halloween I
I think it can be scientifically proven that Halloween is the best slasher movie of all time. A large part of its effect has to be contributed to the amazing score provided by the film’s director John Carpenter. It may sound like it was recorded on a Casio keyboard, but the stark and slightly unearthly feeling of it really helps create the mood of the movie. Carpenter has done the score to nearly all of his films (The Thing being a notable exception, but he was able to get Ennio Morricone for that one so who can blame him for passing) but this is still probably his best. It’s in print but you can usually only find the 20th Anniversary Edition for sale, which is pretty much just a CD version of the movie. This is just the music, the way it should be.

Halloween II
Carpenter was surprisingly involved in the sequel to Halloween. He wrote and produced with the Debra Hill, and once again contributed the score. Helping him on the score was Alan Howarth, who also worked on the score to another cult classic, The Final Countdown. Most of this album is just reworked versions of the original score, but it still sounds damn good. This one is a little harder to come by, if you want a CD of it you’ll have to shell out anywhere from 30-60 bucks on eBay.

Halloween III
I’ll be honest, I’ve never seen Halloween III but I’ve heard good things about it and this score is pretty good. John Carpenter worked on this score too, and I’m pretty sure it’s the last one he was directly involved with (the rest of them just recycled the stuff he already did.) I do know one thing though, this thing is a bitch to find. Want it on vinyl? That’ll set you back about $125. How about CD? Hope you got $200 to blow. Unless you’re as insane lucky as I am, and you can pick it up for five bucks.

They Live Original Soundtrack Recording
It don’t get much rarer than this shit.
They Live is a great movie and the soundtrack is just as good. Of course, it being an in-demand soundtrack to a cult classic sci-fi film , it’s out of print (way to go record label, way to go). If you want an actual CD of the soundtrack and not a CDR you’ll probably have to fork over close to a hundred bucks. I see that and I’m all like ‘fuck that shit.’ I found the vinyl today for five bucks. Enjoy. A little hint for you guys too, if you like John Carpenter’s scores then you might want to bookmark this site for the next few weeks…I scored some major finds this week.

I got a Wii today the fact that I can even use my hands is downright amazing. Enjoy the 80s-ness.

Roger Waters
Radio Waves (Remix)
Radio Waves (7 Inch Mix)
Going To Live In L.A.
Ah, Roger Waters, everyone’s favorite asshole bass player. Did anyone out there check out his latest album, that opera or whatever? Didn’t think so. I saw him live about eight years ago. It was an alright show, but he played way too much of Amused To Death (boring album) and his resident David Gilmour replacement sucked. From what I remember he pretty much avoided Radio KAOS all together, which is probably for the best considering just how damned depressing the thing is (of course you could say that about everything the man’s ever written I guess.) The album did have ‘Radio Waves’ though, a fairly upbeat and catchy tune. These mixes of that song, as well as the rare (and surprisingly good) B-side ‘Going To Live In L.A.’ are off of the ‘Radio Waves’ 12-inch single.

Leftfield
Song Of Life (Club Mix)
Who’s up for some early 90s progressive trance music? Well I am, so shove it.

Yaz (AKA Yazoo)
Situation (Dub Version)
I swear to God this is the last remix of this song I’ll post.

New Order
Fine Time (7 Inch Edit)
Fine Line
Fine Time (Silk Mix)
Fine Time (Messed Around Mix)
Don’t Do It
I cannot make the same promise for New Order mixes though, I will post them until I can’t find no more. I don’t suppose anyone has a problem with that though.

Erasure
I’m very tired and I’ve already said a lot about Erasure, so I’m going to shut up and let y’all get yo’ groove on. These are all off the 12-inch single for ‘Drama!’
Drama (Krucial Mix)
Sweet Sweet Baby (Medi-Mix)
Paradise (Lost & Found Mix)
Drama! (Act 2)
Sweet, Sweet Baby (Moo Moo Mix)
Paradise

A few days ago someone named Kristen posted a comment about my Urgh! files. Kristen, if you are out there, send me an email, I may have something that can help you and your station more than those files.

I have a few more Erasure B-sides I wanted to post tonight, but my connection is being ass so I’m not able to. Those should be up within 24 hours or so. Until then enjoy some lovely Depeche Mode songs about being a junkie, and a song by The Beat.

Depeche Mode
Never Let Me Down Again (Split Mix)
Never Let Me Down Again (Aggro Mix)
Never Let Me Down Again (Tsangarides Mix)
Pleasure, Little Treasure (Glitter Mix)
Pleasure, Little Treasure (Join mix)
There are a lot of Depeche Mode compilations and greatest hits sets out there. The newest one (The Best Of Depeche Mode, Volume 1) is a pretty good single-disc collection if you are just getting into the group. As great as that disc is, I think the band should release a themed collection featuring all of their songs about heroin. Between ‘Never Let Me Down Again’, ‘Shake The Disease’, Clean’, ‘Painkiller’ and the countless other tunes Martin Gore wrote while sticking a needle into his arm there’ s the makings of a great CD! These mixes are off of the ‘Never Let Me Down Again’ Maxi-Single.

The (English) Beat
What’s Your Best Thing (Dub Version)
The English Beat’s (or The Beat if you live in any country other than America) best thing was ‘Save If For Later.’ My best thing is my AMAZING ass.

I’m heading to lovely Toledo, Ohio today to spend Thanksgiving with my family, so this will be my last post for the week – I’ll try to make it count. A quick note on reposting previous songs. I usually don’t do it, however, if you email me instead of leaving a comment asking, you have much better chances of it happening.

Edgar Froese
Macula Transfer (Complete Record)
Sometimes I buy weird shit on a whim only to find out that it’s crazy-rare and hard to find. This is one of those. Edgar Froese is one of the founding members of Tangerine Dream, a band I’ve always had a passing interest in. I picked this solo album of his up not knowing the bizarre history around it. Originally released in 1976, it somehow drifted into copyright limbo in the 90s. When it was released on CD Froese threatened legal action and it was quickly pulled. He then re-recorded and remixed it for his official CD release. Of course, the die-hard Tangerine Dream fans (and there must be some) want the original. So here it is. Actually if you have any interest in ambient or electronic music you might enjoy it. Froese composed this album during flights, and each song is named after the flight he was on at the time.

School Of Fish
The Greatest Living Englishman
The Turtle Song
Disconnected
This Is Where I Belong
I did a post about these guys before and they are really growing on me. These tracks are from The Wrong Sampler an odd vinyl only release from 1991. Aside from being transparent blue (oooh nifty!) it’s also cool because the groove starts at the inside and goes out. Silly but fun. Also silly is that they added comments to the tracklisting, I love what the one about ‘This Is Where I Belong’ the most:

We wanted to see our names next to Ray Davies’. Now we have. This is the greatest moment of our lives. It’s all downhill from here. Straight down a really steep hill.

Anyways, none of these tracks are on CD, so this EP gets the record-geek triple threat of having a gimmick, being a transparent cover and consisting primarily of vinyl exclusives!

Debbie Harry
Rush Rush (Extended Version)
This is from the Scarface soundtrack (it was also in GTA III), if the gangstas dig that movie so much how come they all aren’t Blondie fans too? Fucking hypocrites.

P.M. Dawn
Reality Used To Be A Friend Of Mind (Club Mix)
I wish more hip-hop artists were as chill as these dudes. This is off of a 12 inch single and is a song I can definitely identify with.

The Odd Couple
You’re So Vain
The Odd Couple Opera
Okay, I don’t even know where to begin. For some reason Jack Klugman and Tony Randall decided to release an album as Felix and Oscar. This despite the fact that music didn’t really play a role in the Odd Couple series, and the painfully obvious fact that both of them can’t sing worth shit (well, Randall isn’t all that bad, but Klugman’s voice is about as melodic and elegant sounding as his last name.) This was originally released in 1973 and rightfully faded into obscurity since then. I could post the entire album, but I don’t want to subject my readers to such pain. Instead I’ve chosen two choice tracks. One is their very…unique take on the Carly Simon classic “You’re So Vain” and the other is a 10 minute OPERA about Felix being mad about Oscar not cleaning the apartment. Enjoy…well, listen to them at least.

Concerts For The People Of Kampuchea
Benefit concerts were all the rage in the late 70s and early 80s – I guess if there’s going to be fad in pop music it might as well be one that can help people. This one was for the victims of Pol Pot in Cambodia. Recorded in 1979 it features quite the unusual line-up, with 70s megastars like The Who sharing the stage with The Pretenders and Ian Dury. There were in fact four seperate concerts held, but this LP only features a few songs from each night. The selections are a little odd though, while The Who get an entire side (as they should), Queen and The Clash only get one song each. Fuckin’ Wings, on the other hand, get half of the last side.

The record closes with a performance by Rockestra, which was a supergroup organized by Paul McCartney for the Wings album Back To The Egg. It’s not really a supergroup as much as it is a really big jam, and it featured over 20 musicians rocking out. Rockestra included superstars Pete Townshend, Paul McCartney (with Linda), Robert Plan, John Paul Jones, John Bonham (less than a year before his death), and Dave Edmunds. Also on stage is Gary Brooker of Procul Harum, James Honeyman-Scott of The Pretenders (less than two years before his untimely death), Kenney Jones of The Faces (and replacement drummer of The Who) Denny Laine from The Moody Blues, and Bruce Thomas from The Faces. Most of Wings was up there as well.

Since the album is long out of print I’m putting the whole thing up as a zip file. I also didn’t feel like uploading 20 individual tracks and posting the links to all of them. It’s a big file but it’s well worth it in my opinion.

Concerts For The People Of Kampuchea
The Who
Baba O’Riley
Sister Disco
Behind Blue Eyes
See Me, Feel Me

The Pretenders
The Wait
Precious
Tattooed Love Boys

Elvis Costello & The Attractions – The Imposter
Rockpile – Crawling From The Wreckage
Rockpile & Robert Plant – Little Sister
Queen – Now I’m Here
The Clash – Amragideon Time
Ian Dury & The Blockheads – Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick (note: this song is awesome)
The Specials – Monkey Man

Paul McCartney & Wings
Got To Get You Into My Life
Every Night
Coming Up

Rockestra
Lucille
Let It Be
Rockestra Theme