Young Frankenstein

Frankenstein

Old Frankenstein

REALLY Old Frankenstein

A soundtrack of the 100 greatest Disco songs ever made would simply not be complete or even accurate if it did not include this rousing smash from the late Dan Hartman. He was a successful singer, songwriter, and producer, and he played many musical instruments during his shortened career and life.

Here he is as a 27-year-old with lots of energy. It’s his gold pop and disco smash from 1978 as it became 1979. Play it again Dan – It’s “Instant Replay” !

DAN HARTMAN: 1950-1994

Chart Position: 29

• Written by Dan Hartman
• Hartman is a former member of Edgar Winter Group
• Hartman is from Harrisburg PA

http://condron.us                                                             http://alphainventions.com

Early summer greetings  from Orchard Park, NY…just south of Buffalo.
Hey, who remembers Dan Hartman from the disco days of the 70’s/80’s?
Hearing now “Relight My Fire”…groovy baby. His big hit you may know was “Instant Replay”. Love this stuff every once in a while–makes you feel good ‘cuz it’s so uplifting.

Deeep Thought (really)
(Clancys’ Quotes @ http://clancycross.wordpress.com)
~“The real tragedy of the poor
is the poverty of their aspirations.”-Adam Smith (1723-1790), Scottish moral philosopher, pioneer of political economy.

“NORM!!”
~”Coach: How you doing, Norm?
 Norm: Coach, I’m on top of the world… it’s a dismal spot in Greenland somewhere.”

Big Music Notes for June 6th
(billboard.com via myway.com)
~2000 Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood checks himself into rehab in London. Wood, who is accompanied by his wife, is admitted to the Priory Clinic in an effort to overcome his addiction to alcohol before the Rolling Stones launch another world tour.
~1995 Pink Floyd releases its two-CD live album, “Pulse.”
~1992 David Bowie marries model and actress Iman in a church ceremony in Florence, Italy. The couple wed in a civil ceremony in May.
~1991 Jazz tenor saxophonist Stan Getz dies of liver cancer in Malibu, Calif., at age 64. His album “Jazz Samba” hit No. 1 on Billboard’s pop album chart in 1962. The song “The Girl from Ipanema” (with Astrud Gilbreto) reached No. 5 on the singles chart in 1964.
~1990 U.S. District Judge Jose Gonzalez in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., rules that 2 Live Crew’s rap album “As Nasty as They Wanna Be” is obscene.
~1971 Gladys Knight & the Pips are musical guests on the final episode of CBS-TV’s “Ed Sullivan Show.”
~1966 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “Paint It Black,” The Rolling Stones.
~1933 1st drive-in theatre opens (Camden NJ)
~1955 Bill Haley & Comets, “Rock Around the Clock” hits #1
~1960 Roy Orbison releases “Only the Lonely”
~1972 David Bowie releases “Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust”

And Your Big Birthday for the 6th

(from wikipedia.org)
*”Sandra Bernhard (born June 6, 1955, Flint, Michigan) is an American comedian, singer, actress and author. She first gained attention in the late 1970s with her stand-up comedy in which she often bitterly critiques celebrity culture and political figures. She is also famous for her close friendship to Madonna during the late 1980s. Bernhard is number 97 on Comedy Central’s list of the 100 greatest standups of all time.”

In Case You Can Use These This Weekend
(just a couple quotes heard recently on the ol’ tube)
~”radiating waves of contempt”
~”I don’t talk to the voices in my head, they talk to me.”

In Case You Need An Excuse
(http://daysthatendiny.com)
~”June 6, 2009
Grab the Absolut! It’s National Day in Sweden!”
(Aw shucks…you’re welcome!)

Believe It or Don’t
(Bad Predictions from http://coolquiz.com)
~”Beams of atomic radiation, instead of saws, cut lumber [in 1999]“
- Victor Cohn, 1999 Our Hopeful Future, 1954.
~”American medicine is by far the most costly in the world. American medicine at its best is also as good, or better, than anyplace else. The trouble is that we can’t quite figure out how to get it all to our citizens which is why there is so much controversy over medical plans and organizations. By 1984, we will have straightened out the mess.”
- Richard N. Farmer, The Real World of 1984, 1973.

Can I Get An Amen?
~”I believe that every human has a finite number of heart-beats. I don’t intend to waste any of mine running around doing exercises.”-Buzz Aldrin

Big Music Notes for June 7
~1969 Blind Faith makes its live debut in a London park. 150,000 people attend the free performance
~1958 Prince (Prince Roger Nelson) is born in Minneapolis. His biggest hit is “When Doves Cry,” which tops Billboard’s Hot 100 for five weeks and sells more than 2 million copies. On his 35th birthday in 1993 he changed his name to a symbol.
~1969 Tommy James & the Shondells release “Crystal Blue Persuasion”

And Your Big Birthday for the 7th
*“1940 Singer Tom Jones (Thomas Jones Woodward) is born in Pontypridd, South Wales. He wins the 1965 best new artist Grammy. He has three million-selling singles, the biggest of which, “She’s a Lady,” reaches No. 2 on Billboard’s Hot 100. After a nearly 12-year drought, he reaches the top 40 in 1988-89 with “Kiss,” a song written by Prince that he records with the British techno-pop group Art of Noise.”*

In Case You Give a Rat’s Rear End
(frugal tip of the day via myway.com)
~”Save the waxed paper liners from cereal boxes. They are an excellent way to cook corn on the cob in the microwave! Take husks off the corn, pop cobs into the waxed cereal box liners and microwave. Corn turns out great, and easy to handle, too!”

“Sammich” Idea for the Weekend
(http://iliveonyourvisits.com The Sandwich Project)
~787. We call it the “Jackson Street” here because we are a small espresso cafe in the downtown area and all of our lunch sandwiches have downtown street names
~What’s in it? Guacamole on one slice, cream cheese on the other, sliced turkey breast, lettuce, tomato and cooked bacon.
~What should we know? This is the #1 selling sandwich on our menu
~Bread Type? Multigrain

Tips for Life-Dumb Little Man
(http://dumblittleman.com)
(Written on 6/03/2009 by Jeff Nickels. Jeff is on a quest to live life to its fullest every day. He writes about his journey regularly on http://MySuperChargedLife.com. You can also follow Jeff on Twitter. This is just the list. There are explanations to each on his site.)
*12 Tricks Your Brain Is Playing On You*
1. I’d be happier if I just had less to do
2. It’s not me, it’s you
3. I just need to discover the secret to success to be happy
4. If I just had…
5. I like things just the way they are and never want them to change
6. If it hasn’t happened yet for me, it never will
7. I’ll just avoid the things I don’t like doing
8. The world is scary and something bad might happen to me
9. I’ll decide when I know for sure what to do
10. I know I shouldn’t but…
11. Dreams only come true for those that are lucky
12. I could never

Living the Smooth ‘n’ Jazzy Life
~”It is good to dream, but it is better to dream and work. Faith is mighty, but action with faith is mightier.”-Thomas Robert Gaines

And Finally…
Clayton Morris has been introducing the Palm Pre, among other geek things this week. You can catch the info at his site http://claytonmorris.com. Also, Brian Briggs has been unwrapping HIS Palm Pre…follow his humorous antics at http://bbspot.com .

Have a great weekend. Oops…heard a little tinny tone…think I have a text message on my Tracfone…

So, President Obama is overseas and he appears quite popular.   However, and unfortunately for him, his popularity didn’t lead to any concrete results.  He may have been well received, but failed in his two goals:  to get Europe to commit to more stimulus spending and to get more nations to commit troops to our military efforts in Afghanistan.  Again, President Obama may have become more popular by talking about closing Guantanamo or by changing the “War on Terror” to the “Overseas Contingency Operation,” but those who hate us are just laughing as the G20 countries ignore his wishes (and some of our haters are testing rocket launches to boot!)

In other news, Congratulations to all members of the class of 2013!  I look forward to seeing you at April Open House!

-Dan

i’m proud to be a disco era baby, born the same time as saturday night fever.obviously this means i don’t have very clear recollections of disco, but there is evidence that it had an influence on my infant years.  a photo exists of me at about 18 months old, looking terrified as my dad, a bee gees lookalike in obligatory tight shirt, sporting shoulder length flicked hair, beams.  my mum, in my christening photos, looks like a member of hot gossip.

I also don’t remember saturday night fever first time round, but an eight track cartridge of the soundtrack became one of the first albums I played, along with abba and the wombles, whenever I could get near the stereo – a big wooden Baird monstrosity, like the tv. eight tracks were fairly childproof, which perhaps explains why my parents had one, since they weren’t exactly early adopters…they only got into cds about 5 years ago.

my recollection of the novelty disco that followed – ymca, ottawan, boney m – is sadly slightly sharper. I can clearly recall stomping around our majorca hotel singing ‘hands up, baby, hands up…’ and forcing my very straight and very unenlightened dad to march up and down with me in a camp fashion to ‘in the navy’ by the village people. if asked what activity I wanted to take part in, apparently the answer was always the same – I wanted to go to the disco.

still, the first time I really heard chic was probably as an underage clubber in one of those great cheesy late 80s/early 90s clubs that are slowly becoming extinct. you know, carpet on the walls, lots of mirrors, peach wine (this was before alcopops) and a fat dj. during their retro half hour, a pointless exercise since no one in the club was over 18, they would play some disco before the obligatory birdie song and god awful jive bunny style 50s rock and roll.  if you weren’t around then, you have no idea how much clubs have improved over the last 15 years. unless you’ve been to a chicago rock café, in which case, you know.

disco was a nice introduction to music, let’s face it, punk was around at the same time so I had a narrow escape. to me, as to many others, it is a soundtrack to hazy flashbacks of high chairs and swirly 70s brown and orange wallpaper that prepped us for the clubbing mayhem of the 90s. it paved the way for dance music in all its forms and its appreciation belies the frankly pathetic ‘disco sucks’ movement perpetrated by US rednecks. get back in your caravan and turn up your insipid MOR rock – the glitterball is here to stay.

12 dazzling disco gems – download here

average white band – let’s go round again

black ivory – mainline

chic – my forbidden lover

dan hartman – instant replay

delegation – heartache no9

diana ross – the boss

jean carn – was that all it was

loleatta holloway – runaway

melba moore – this is it

odyssey – native new yorker

rose royce – is it love you’re after

sheila and b devotion – spacer 

1984 continues the run of great hits that came with the middle of the 1980s.  I had real problems narrowing the list down to 20 for this year.  As a result, from thus point, at least through 1986, I will give a list of songs that almost made the cut at the end.

20.  “Uptown Girl”, Billy Joel- This song was one of the many hits off his Innocent Man album.  It continues the be-bop style that was found in “Tell Her About It”.  The video featured his then wife Christy Brinkley looking very nice, and Joel as a mechanic.  It’s a fun song, and I chose it over his other hit from that year, “An Innocent Man”.

19.  “Say Say Say”, Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson- This is the third duet featuring McCartney to chart in a two year period, and the second for the team of Jackson and McCartney.  The other Jackson/McCartney song was “The Girl Is Mine”, and the third duet was the Stevie Wonder/McCartney hit “Ebony and Ivory”.  “Say Say Say” is a fun song, and it stayed in Billboard’s #1 slot for six weeks which was impressive considering the other great music that was out that year.

18.  “Here Comes The Rain Again”, Eurythmics- This is the second song from the Annie Lennox led band to make one of my lists.  It carries on many of the qualities of their earlier hit, “Sweet Dreams” including great vocals, keyboards , and a prominent use of stringed instruments (not just guitars).  Lennox’s voice has a smoky affectedness to it that makes it interesting to listen to.

17.  “I Can Dream About You”, Dan Hartman- This is definitely a one-hit-wonder from a guy I could not have named if you had paid me, but I could easily sing the song a the way through though.  It has a very catchy melody that moves along briskly and is easy to follow.

16.  “Easy Lover”, Phillip Bailey duet with Phil Collins- This is one of my top three duets of the 1980s.  The two Phils’ voices sound great together.  Collins is great as usual, and Bailey shows that he really has some pipes and range when he takes over for his verses.  For those who do not know, Phillip Bailey sang with Earth Wind and Fire before he teamed up with Collins.  He later had a solo career in Christian Contemporary Music, and finally rejoined his old band, re-billed as Phillip Bailey and Earth Wind and Fire to continue releasing music on the Christian charts.

15.  “Sister Christian”, Night Ranger- This was a great Power Ballad by a one-hit-wonder band, and recounts the coming of age of a young woman.  In the video, the band is stereotypically 80s from the hair to the dress.  The song is a very good representation of a power ballad sung by a ‘hard rock group.  It begins with a nice, soft keyboard and vocal, but by the chorus has developed into a full-fledged power ballad.

14.  “Wrapped Around Your Finger”, The Police- This is one of my favorite Police songs.  It has a subdued sultry tone that at times seems almost haunting.  The main instrument in the verses in the chime, and it sounds great as a punctuator for Stings voice.  The melody is easy to sing and memorable, and video looks great with the candles everywhere in a sort of maze.

13.  “Hold Me Now”, Thompson Twins- This is a very nice, easy to sing song by one of the many semi-androgynous British New Wave bands of the 80s.

12.  “Oh Sherrie”, Steve Perry- Steve Perry finally decided that the best way to showcase his great vocal ability was to dump his band, and in 1983 he released his first solo hit, “Oh Sherrie”.  It is a great song that begins with him belting out the first line a cappella.  The background vocals are also nice on this song.

11. “Legs”, ZZ Top- This was the biggest in a strong if hits by the iconic and very hairy guitar band.  Even their guitars were hairy, but ZZ Top was just cool.  I remember the video with that super-hot girl in it.  Nice.  I went to their Eliminator tour, and saw them on the fourth night of four sold out shows at reunion arena in Dallas.  It was great, even though they played a lot of old stuff I had never heard before.  The stage was the dashboard of the car from the video, and halfway through the show it morphed into the control panel for the space shuttle.  This concert was my first exposure to large groups of people smoking pot.

10.  “Pride (In The Name Of Love)”, U2- I have a confession.  I did not like U2 in high school.  I don’t even know why.  As a result, I do not know a lot of their stuff, but as the years have gone by, I have been confronted with the undeniable truth that they recorded some of the great songs of the 80s.  Today, I have a reason not to like them (I don’t see eye to eye with all of Bono’s politics), but I realize that songs like “Pride” are great, and deserve to be in any 80s list.

9.  “Like a Virgin”, Madonna- Madonna made my high school pants go crazy.  Her music before this “Lucky Star” and “Borderline” had a lot more of a be-bop quality.  “Like a Virgin” had a different quality, sexuality, and it worked.  Her slightly nasal voice fit in well with her new attitude.  I still remember her singing this on the VMAs while wearing a hot wedding dress.  Nice.

8.  “Shout”, Tears for Fears- This was the first mega hit for the British pop band.  It has a driving beat that I can still hear as a ‘Boom, Boom, Boom” of the rim-shots in my head as I think about this song.  It is right in a teenager’s wheelhouse with its angst-ridden lyrics that are all about expressing your rage at that age.  Oddly, the angry lyrics and beat are backed up by a very nice vocal, especially in the verses.

7.  “Drive”, Cars- The slow cool sound of this song is a departure from the normally quirky, syncopated style that the band normally put forth.  It showcased Rick Ocasek’s unique vocals, and tackles the unusual subject, for a pop song, of drug abuse.  I chose it over “You Might Think”, which is undeniably a more traditional Cars’ song, simply because I like it better.

6.  “Hard Habit To Break”, Chicago- This was the second release (the first being, “Stay the Night”) from the mega-album, Chicago 17.  It featured dual vocals from Bill Champlin and the rising star, Peter Certera.  This song recaptured the more traditional Chicago big-band sound with a great horn part in the middle while retaining their new Power Ballad style that was seen on Chicago 16.

5.  “If This Is It”, Huey Lewis and The News-  This was the hardest choice that I have had to make between two songs by the same band in the same year on these lists up to this point.  In the end, I chose “If This is It” over “The Heart Of Rock ‘N’ Roll” because I like to do-wap sound in the first one better than the “Rock Around the Clock” style of the second one (though as I write this, it does not sound like a very good reason).  They are both great songs, and Lewis shows his versatility by being able to sing the ballad or the rock song very well.  In the end, I’ll just flip a coin.  Heads it is, and I still choose “If This is It.”

4. “Owner Of A Lonely Heart”, Yes- Guitar is the star instrument in this progressive rock anthem by the British band, Yes, from the distorted guitar at the beginning to the long guitar solo in the middle of the song.  The vocals, provided by lead singer Jon Anderson have an almost hard rock quality which would have worked with a band such as Poison, Metallica or Def Leppard.  The back-up vocal, provided by Trevor Horn, who wrote the song, provides the familiar refrain “Owner of a Lonely Heart!” in the song.  The whole tone to his vocals is a nice contrast to the rocker sound of Anderson.  The video for this song is a surreal journey into the mind of a crazy person, and could have been a predecessor for the Fear Factor show.

3.  “Time After Time”, Cyndi Lauper- Lauper’s persona at the time was a big turn-off to me, but I’ll have to admit, she could write and sing a song very well when she really wanted to.  I still like this song today, and am pleased when I hear it on the radio or in a restaurant.  It gets tons of play, and is often heard in the score of a movie.  It has been covered on about 50 albums including artists such as Willie Nelson and Christian artist Phil Keaggy.  The most memorable appearances in movies include Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion and Napoleon Dynamite.  It was easy for me to choose this song over her other 1984 whip of a hit “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.”

2.  “Hello”, Lionel Richie- After making his mark with the Commodores’ “Three Times a Lady,” and “Still,” and again later with his smash duet with Diana Ross, “Endless Love,”  Richie released his first solo album in 1982 which included the hit, “Truly,” but was otherwise unremarkable.  In 1983, he released his super-album, Can’t Slow Down from which six of the eight songs were released and did well.  The best of these songs was unquestionably “Hello.”  It’s a beautiful love song, and the video featuring Richie who is in love with a blind woman is very memorable. 

I went to see Lionel Richie in concert when I was in high school.  It was a good show with Sheila E. singing in her underwear (hot!), and a superior technical performance when Richie took the stage.  Back then, you had to buy a T-shirt every time you went to a concert, and I bought one that was black with a big Lionel Richie face on it in some puffy raised-up synthetic paint (so gay).  I remember wearing it to Sunday night church (Sunday night was less formal in our church of about 800 regulars).  At the end of the service, I was standing there talking with my buddies when the preacher walked up to me, and tapped me on the back.  “I was just wondering who the black guy was that was staring at me the whole time I was preaching.”  I’m sure I turned red, and I was never quite sure if it was the fact that I wore a concert T-shirt to church that he did not like or the fact that there was a black man on it that he did not like.  In any case, I did not wear that shirt to church again.

1.  “Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)”, Phil Collins- I know I am fudging on one of my rules by having “Easy Lover” at #16, and this at number one, but I chose to look at the duet as a different group in this case, much like I would not have a problem putting a Genesis and a Phil Collins song on the same list.  This is one of the most soulful love songs (or ‘my heart has been ripped out’ songs) that you are ever going to hear.  It’s perfect.  The piano part is memorable, and the vocal is great.  I would love to sing along with it, but I can’t make my voice do the kinds of things that Collins can.  This is another song that came on the heals of Collins’ messy divorce, and his pain is evident in the lyrics and vocal.  The song was released as the title song of a movie starring Jeff Bridges and James Wood which was a remake of an old Robert Mitchum movie called Out of the Past.

Here is a list of songs I liked that did not make it onto the list in 1984:

“The Warrior”, Scandal

“Almost Paradise”, Mike Reno and Ann Wilson

“Say It Isn’t So”, Daryl Hall and John Oates

“I Just Called To Say I Love You”, Stevie Wonder

“Cruel Summer”, Bananarama

“Missing You”, John Waite

“On The Dark Side”, John Cafferty and The Beaver Brown Band

“Footloose”, Kenny Loggins

“One Night In Bangkok”, Murray Head

“Joanna”, Kool & The Gang

“God Bless the USA”, Lee Greenwood

“Jump”, Van Halen

“Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”, Wham!

Top 20 80s Pop/Rock Songs (Category)

Top 20 1980’s Pop/Rock Songs By Year (Criteria)

Top 20 Pop/Rock Songs from 1980

Top 20 Pop/Rock Songs from 1981

Top 20 Pop/Rock Songs from 1982

Top 20 Pop/Rock Songs from 1983

Top 20 Pop/Rock Songs from 1985

Top 20 Pop/Rock Songs from 1986

Top 20 Pop/Rock Songs from 1987

Dan Hartman, American musician (d. 1994)

i had hope that the shock exit of disco week would be be overstyled, overindulged irish brat eoghan. can’t see him doing too well on mariah carey week, can you? yes, it would even be worth cringing through another week of shameless opportunist daniel trying to parlay his loss into a career. just. as long as we can finally get shot of him the week after.

my retrospective wishlist for disco week. note, these are based on what would actually do the contestants justice, not the limited x factor playlist based on the paranoid assumption that every brit is too stupid to vote on the basis of a good performance. and only recognises a performance as such if the song in questions is a wedding reception or car advert staple and they already know all the words.

oh, and they’re actual disco numbers. not just songs from the mid-late 70s which some idiots equate with disco. of course the usual american idol/pop isdol/popstars faves were wheeled out…

download disco

jls – should have sung ‘heartache no9′ by delegation

but, good song choice for them tonight and nowhere near as predictable as i was fearing (more than a woman, relight my fire). i really want them to win – i think in terms of the credibility of the show and its future, they are the most likely to do well. leona ensured its relevance a few years back but its time for another real winner.

alex – should have sung ‘you know how to love me’ by phyllis hyman

what is it about that ‘on the radio’ song? it’s ok but it’s a nothing song. no opportunity show off her vocals, a complete waste.

rachel – should have sung ‘got to be real’ by cheryl lynn

you can’t help but like rachel. she’s coping admirably with her mentor, considering that given her background, a spoilt, childish and desperate woman like dannii must seem twice as irritating. tonight’s song choice was as ridiculous as ever. sack your mentor, rachel!

ruth should have sung ‘more more more’ by andrea true connection

should have been in her element next week as spain loves it some disco. still. another disco week another donna summer track. simon really needs to put some cash behind those song rights so we don’t have to endure the same tired old numbers next year. it’s like a pub jukebox that never gets refreshed.

laura should have sung ’street life’ by crusaders

she sang jocelyn brown in the auditions, i thought they used to criticise contestants for that…anyway it was good but i think her days are numbered now that she has been revealed to cavorting with an itv insider.

diana should have sung ‘heart of glass’ by blondie

come on, blondie is only borderline disco, you could have chosen one on the fucking line. ‘call me’ is a rock track. one week, diana will actually sing something from the required theme.

austin should have sung ‘rock with you’ by michael jackson

he probably was always too much of a gypo to win. i don’t know what it is about him. at first he just looked really dirty and unhealthy, and now he’s channelling pale and gaunt, but cleaner looking, 80s popstars.

daniel should have sung ‘instant replay’ by dan hartman

perhaps that should read ‘daniel should be able to sing if he’s been put in final 12 of the x factor, instead of wasting a spot that could have been given to someone with talent’. there.

eoghan should have sung – in tune

are the judges deaf? it’s like they were preprogrammed to ignore how resoundingly crap he would inevitably be. he’s been shit every week but this week was atrocious. get him out, now, i refuse to choose a song for him.

1. Crusaders feat. Randy Crawford – Streetlife (Full version)
2. Average White Band - Let’s Go Around Again
3. Dan Hartman – Relight My Fire
4. Linda Lewis – Class-Style (I’ve Got It)
5. Webster Lewis - Give Me Some Emotion
6. Diana Ross – My Old Piano
7. Luther Vandross - Never Too Much
8. Billy Ocean – Whatever Turns You On
9. Patrice Rushen – Number One
10. Quincy Jones – Ai No Corrida
11. Peaches & Herb – Shake Your Groove Thing
12. Third World - Try Jah Love
13. Taste Of Honey – Boogie Oogie Oogie
14. Commodores – Brick House
15. Chaka Khan – I’m Every Woman
16. Yvonne Elliman – Love Pains
17. Rick James - Super Freak

DOWNLOAD (re-upped)

Here is a really nice instrumental album and surprise, surprise it was released on the label Private Music.

Dan Hartman released this album in 1989 and it is a big departure from his usual musical output. He topped the dance charts in the 70s and also produced music for Tina Turner and James Brown.

On this album we get some much more relaxed music with nice pianos, big reverbs and ambient spaces. Lots of the music was performed live by Dan Hartman and he manages to paint a rather pleasant landscape.

The sound and production tends to be a little on the colder side, probably a sign of the time it was produced and the digital synthesizers used. But it does never feel mechanic or uninviting. The music feels very intimate and a little sad. It sometimes reminds me of the softer and calmer parts of Eric Serra’s score for the movie The Big Blue.

In the sleeve Hartman thanks Vangelis and Harold Budd and it is a pretty good blend of those two musicians.

From the sleeve notes by Dan Hartman:

“The subconscious mind is a powerful world possessing experiences and feelings we don not necessarily recognise in our daily movements; but nonetheless they influence our entire lives. The tones and shades in this collection were performed live and intuitively for the purpose of opening channels by which the listener may visit their own subconscious” – Dan Hartman.

Label : Blue Sky

Year : 1979

Producer : Dan Hartman

Arranged by Norman Harris

Mixed by John Luongo and Michael Barbiero

Loleatta Holloway sings in this tune, dont miss the end!

ENJOY THAT KILLER DISCO SOUND

El martes pasado como no tenía nada que hacer me puse a ver OT (miento, lo veo a diario los resúmenes y todos los martes clavada escuchándoles) y una de las cosas que me gusta es que se rescaten valores ochenteros, setenteros, etc.. aunque la mayoría lo hace fatal, algunos lo hacen bastante bien a su estilo y a la vez nos hace recordar esa música que tuvo tanto éxito en aquellos tiempos (ya me parecen hasta lejanos). También me vienen recuerdos de algún programa musical que empezaba con la entrada de instant replay.

Dan Earl Hartman nació en Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Hartman se unió a su primera banda, “The Legends”, a la edad de 13 años, junto con su hermano Dave. Hartman tocaba teclados y escribía mucha de la música del grupo. Lanzaron varios discos, pero ninguno fue un éxito. Se unió al grupo de Edgar Winter para tocar en 3 de sus discos; de hecho, Dan escribió la canción “Free Ride” en 1972, que sería uno de los mayores éxitos del grupo. Inició su carrera de solista en 1976. Una nueva versión de “Free Ride” se usó en la película de los Mighty Morphin Power Rangers en 1995. Leer más en wikipedia.

Hoy en la gala de OT vamos a escuchar su primer éxito a finales de los 80 que fue Instant Replay, esta vez lo cantará Pablo..espero que le salga bien.. aunque bien sabemos que como la original, pocas versiones serán mejores. Otros que no pueden fallar es Relight my fire, I can Dream about You y otros.. pero en especial estas tres son mis favoritas e imprescindibles. Y aunque Dan Haya muerto hace mucho tiempo..seguirá inmortal para sus fans.

Escucha: Instant Replay

Escucha: I can dream about you

Escucha: Relight my Fire

Help me escape this feeling of insecurity,
I need you so much but I don’t think you really need me,
But if we all stand up in the name of love
And state the case of what we’re dreamin of
I’ve got to say I only dream of you
But like a thief in the night
You took away the love that I knew

Relight my fire
Your love is my only desire
Relight my fire
Cuz I need your love

]]> http://natsukashi.wordpress.com/2008/04/21/episode-ii-streets-of-fire/ Mon, 21 Apr 2008 03:01:30 +0000 usesoapfilm http://natsukashi.wordpress.com/2008/04/21/episode-ii-streets-of-fire/

Dowload the podcast:  Episode II:Streets of Fire

By: Rob Rector

Streets of Fire (PG) – 1984
Directed by: Walter Hill
Starring: Michael Pare as Tom Cody
Diane Lane as Ellen Aim
Rick Moranis as Billy Fish
Amy Madigan as McCoy
Willem Dafoe as Raven Shaddock

Tagline: “A Rock & Roll Fable”

Personal Pre-screening Recollections: Tonight it what it means to be young indeed!

There are some films that come along at just the right time in your life and consume your thoughts, affect your decisions (“What would Indiana Jones do if his mom asked him to clean his room?”) and make you want to be that person on the screen. Tom Cody was one of those people for me.

Street of Fire affected me on several levels:

1. Musically : Granted, the film’s most popular tracks are rather weak, resembling some overly embellished piece of pomposity that even Meat Loaf would have snickered at. Soundtrack aside, it was the film’s score that really got to me. I felt hip among my elders to proclaim my passion for blues-guitar virtuoso Ry Cooder (who scored many a Walter Hill film).

2. Visually: The rainy streets, the violent neon. It was all so Blade-Runner-esque to me. And because Harrison Ford was a childhood idol, anything remotely resembling his films was of automatic interest.

3. Narratively: I know I’ll get crap for this, for the plot could be written on the back of a cocktail napkin, but each scene was stages like it could comfortably fit in a comic-book panel, which it seemed as though it was trying to emulate.

4. Perversely: In the first half hour, I could get my steady diet of cuss words, booze-swigging, chain-smoking heroes, and get flashed of nippledge from a rather homely stripper (but let’s face it, when you are in those formative years, that nipple could be placed on a woman’s earlobe and still elicit interest). And all of this was safely under the just-about-to-be-changed PG rating, which meant no parental supervision!

5. Critically: I can remember using one of my spiral notebooks purchased for school (which, of course, was typically blank inside) and beginning my career of a film reviewer. It was the kind of booklet that had the little colored tabs on the side, which I used to alphabetize the volumes of films I was devouring at that age. Streets of Fire got four stars (the highest). I really wish I held on to that little book. *silent weep*

6. Physically: Thank you, Diane Lane for that wonderful trifecta of “The Outsiders,” “Rumble Fish” and “Streets of Fire” for jump-starting my puberty.

7. Emotionally: I recall being crushed upon learning that “I Could Dream About You” was sung by a white guy Dan Hartman). Yet I still continued a slavish devotion to all actors in the film, including Stoney Jackson, who only pretended to sing the song. I remember watching him all his Jheri-curled glory in the “Miami Vice” ripoff “The Insiders “(featuring a Phil Collins-led Genesis theme “Just a Job to Do”), where he played a reporter teamed up with a honky to solve crimes. Right around the same time as Flip Wilson’s Cosby Knock-off “Charlie & Company”

8. Cinematically: Walter Hill was a cinematic god to me, between this, 48 Hrs, Brewster’s Millions, Extreme Prejudice and Trespass (not to mention that The Warriors was on constant rotation on HBO back then), he defined machismo (even though I failed to emulate it in real life).

9. Heroically: I was convinced between this and Eddie and the Cruisers, Michael Pare was destined to become a star. Only now do I realize that those two films would be the apex of his ability. I followed every player in his/her next project, from the aforementioned Stoney Jackson (perhaps the coolest name ever!) to Moranis to Dafoe.

Viewing the film today

It came as no surprise that this film held up as well as it did, partially because it was set in an ageless alternative universe, filled with ersatz 50s-era style, retrofitted with 80s sensibilities.

Pare stars as Tom Cody, a delinquent who is summoned back to his home town by his sister played by Deborah Van Valkenberg of “Too Close for Comfort” — Ted Knight, rest in peace) after his former flame Ellen Aim (played by Diane Lane) is abducted onstage by a gang of bikers.

Ellen is currently shacking up with her nebbish promoter Billy Fish (played by Rick Moranis), and together they team with McCoy (played by Amy Madigan) a drifter/former soldier to rescue the chantreuse back from the clutches of Raven Shaddock (played by Willem Dafoe).

That’s it. Honestly. The film’s plot is as economical as its 90-minute runtime.

But its brevity allows viewers to focus on the many other aspects of the film – from the host of supporting actors (hey, there’s Bill Paxton, testing out his portrayal of Chet from Weird Science a year in advance; poor Robert Townsend,relegated to a non-speaking role. So this is what led him to Hollywood Shuffle; Ed Beagley Jr.? Is that you?) to the steamy, rain-slicked set design.

As I watched, I was still amazed at how much they were able to slip into this PG-rated picture – drinking, swearing, smoking, non-stop violence and gunplay and even the aforementioned boob shot from a Sandra Bernhard lookalike stripper at the Torchy’s nightclub.

The cinematography is really what keeps this film from aging. Even the film’s puddles are vibrant, shimmering with the neon-soaked streetscapes (a la Blade Runner). It certainly isn’t the pulpy dialogue, which seems straight out of a cut-rate Dashiell Hammett or Mickey Spillaine novel (Sin City owes a helluva lot to this film.)

The film is a textbook definition of “style over substance,” but when a film oozes this much style, it’s easily forgiven.

New Memories

I don’t care if he looks like a pissed off Gorton’s fisherman in his rubber clamming trousers, Dafoe still can summon legions of hell with his scream. He creates some of the film’s most iconic scenes with just a stare.

I noticed, too, that the score is so much better than the soundtrack which was the most popular thing about the movie after its release (made for $14 million, the film only grossed $5 million at the box office). I wish legendary guitarist Ry Cooder would make more films solely for the opportunity to say the words “Ry Cooder.”

The acting ranged from wooden to spasmodic, but little in between. Pare was perfect in the roles of stoic bohunk, required to be little more than a 3-D cartoon. How badass is Tom Cody, you say? So badass that in the first scenes in which he appears he’s antagonized by a butterfly knife-wielding gang, he slaps the leader silly, takes the knife, closes it and hands it back to him, telling him to “Try again.”

Every character possesses that hyperbolic sense of self. For example, Moranis is not just a nerd – complete with a wardrobe so mismatched, sparks fly when they come into contact with one another – he’s a nerd with a smart mouth, a yellow streak and a look that is just shy of a “Hit Here” tattoo on his forehead. But that was the picture’s whole wonderfully deranged plot.

I still consider myself a devotee and fervent supporter of this film, even now that I view films with a much more critical eye. It’s whisp of story and vacancies in dramatic deliveries are far eclipsed by the sheer visceral candyland in which it places it’s audience.

Sure, Streets of Fire wears some of its 80s heart on its sleeve, but it’s just loopy enough and short enough to remember “what it meant to be young.”

Tratta dalla colonna sonora di Streets of fire. Il film è quello che è, ma le canzoni mi sono rimaste impresse fin dall’adolescenza.