This has got to be one of the most brilliant film related pieces of music of the last decade, in my opinion. Jorge's covers of Bowie's "Queen Bitch" and "Life on Mars" completely floor me whenever I hear them...
Track Listing:
01. Rebel Rebel 02. Life on Mars 03. Starman 04. Ziggy Stardust 05. Lady Stardust 06. Changes 07. Oh! You Pretty Things 08. Rock N' Roll Suicide 09. Suffraggette City 10. Five Years 11. Queen Pitch 12. When I live My Dream 13. Quicksand 14. Team Zissou
I know very little about this single other than it was advertised for mail order purchase in some Marvel comics magazines cover dated 1970.
After giving it a listen, the tune itself sounds like a a garage band of the era ripping off riffs and beats from one hit wonder the Strawberry Alarm Clock's psychedelic rock hit, "Incense and Peppermints" with weird-ass lyrics involving the Incredible Hulk....
I've tried to dig up some info on the band, The Traits, but have found little other than it is not the same Traits helmed by Roy Head (writer and performer of the 1965 tune, "Treat Her Right", later covered by Billy "Crash" Craddock, Barbara Mandrell, and George Thorogood). Slickdpdx of Knownunknowns has this to say:
"I heard that it was a promotional item that was never released. Forgotten about, it was left to rot in a warehouse in Queens until its discovery decades later."
I really enjoyed the animated adaptation of Darwyn Cooke's wonderful comic book mini-series, and recently came into possession of a copy of the CD release of the original score, which is phenomenal.
The tracks sound like a wonderful mix of the works of Wagner and Danny Elfman, yet with composer Kevin Manthei expressing enough of a flourish to stamp the work as his own. Great stuff....it's what I'd always imagined superheroes to "sound" like.
Track Listing:
01. Main Titles (02:01) 02. The Centre/Hal Shot Down (02:50) 03. J'onn J'onzz Arrives (00:51) 04. Wonder Woman Recounts/J'onzz Watches TV (02:11) 05. The Flash Saves Las Vegas (03:32) 06. J'onn Becomes John/Church Brawl (03:12) 07. Carol & Hal Banter (00:22) 08. Driving to Ferris/The Real Ferris (01:34) 09. Hal's Mission Revealed/Batman Surprises J'onzz/The Flash Fights Gorilla (02:52) 10. Crazy Scientist (01:37) 11. J'onzz Contemplates/J'onzz is Leaving (01:18) 12. To Space (01:27) 13. Mars Mission Mess (04:13) 14. New Green Lantern (03:56) 15. Superman Ties It Up/J'onzz Bonds (02:41) 16. Island Revealed/Superman Down (05:22) 17. Plan to Action (02:35) 18. Thick of Battle (04:32) 19. The Flash Vs. Centre/Last Bit of Business (03:37) 20. Victory (03:09) 21. End Credits (03:01)
I'm a long-time Ramones fan and absolutely love this film, which I treated myself to yet another viewing of today. Here's an "expanded" version of the soundtrack that I hope everyone will enjoy...
Track Listing:
01- "Rock n Roll High School"- Ramones 02- "I Want You Around"- Ramones 03- "Come On Let's Go"- The Paley Brothers 04- "Blitzkrieg Bop-Teenage Lobotomy-California Sun-Pinhead-She's the One"- Ramones 05- "So It Goes"- Nick Lowe 06- "Energy Fools the Magician"- Brian Eno 07- "Rock 'N' Roll High School"- P.J. Soles 08- "Come Back, Jonee"- DEVO 09- "Teenage Depression"- Eddie and the Hot Rods 10- "Smokin' In The Boy's Room"- Brownsville Station 11- "School Days"- Chuck Berry 12- "A Dream Goes on Forever"- Todd Rundgren 13- "School's Out"- Alice Cooper 14- "I Just Want To Have Something To Do"- Ramones 15- "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker"- Ramones 16- "I Wanna Be Sedated"- Ramones 17- "She's the One"- Ramones 18- "California Sun"- Ramones 19- "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend"- Ramones 20- "Blitzkrieg Bop"- Ramones 21- "Pinhead"- Ramones 22- "Teenage Lobotomy"- Ramones 23- "Rock the Roof Off"- P.J. Soles and Mary Woronov 24- "Rock n Roll High School"- Ramones 25- "I Want You Around" - Ramones 26- Radio Ads
For years, I've had a deep and heartfelt love for the Rankin-Bass "Animagic" work, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is the reason for it....
One of the things I find utterly amazing about this Christmas special (along with A Charlie Brown Christmas, which I'll talk about later this month) is the longevity of this thing. Rudolph alone has been airing continuously every holiday season for 44 years, it's first broadcast having been December 6th, 1964 on the NBC network.
I was going to rant along in this blog about the fact that a sign of the decline of our civilization in the new century can probably be traced back to the fact that It's A Wonderful Life is no longer in the public domain...Christmas just doesn't seem right these days when outside of my DVD copy, the only way I can watch Frank Capra's classic is the now-annual single broadcast that NBC provides us (who sanpped up all rights to the flick around 1992 or '93, I believe), when as a youth it was a staple of the holiday season to see it broadcast multiple times all over the television dial, especially on those crazy independent stations on the UHF band, and....outside of holiday childrens' programming on specialized basic cable channels such as Nickelodeon and the Cartoon Network, there have been no new animated (cel-based or "Animagic") Christmas specials produced for network television in nearly 20 years. But, I gave it a second thought...and figured it just wasn't right to complain about one's lot in life during the holidays, because if Rudolph and Hermie taught me anything as a child, it was that no matter how bad things look....every dog (or reindeer, in this case) has his/her day.
I also gave some thought about going into a long-winded and detailed history behind the holiday special, but another site, TVParty, has already done an amazing job at doing this and I highly recommend you take a look.
So.....all that's really left to do is share some holiday cheer by sharing the soundtrack album of this holiday classic, I guess...though, as an added bonus, right click here to get an MP3 of Smiley Burnette's version of the classic Christmas tune. Everybody's heard Gene Autry's version (a guy who Burnette played comedy relief to in about a dozen or more films), but hardly anyone remembers this one....
Track Listing:
01. Overture And A Holly Jolly Christmas = Burl Ives 02. Jingle Jingle Jingle = Stan Francis 03. We Are Santa's Elves = Videocraft Chorus 04. There's Always Tomorrow = Janet Orenstein 05. We're A Couple Of Misfits = Paul Soles 06. Silver And Gold = Burl Ives 07. The Most Wonderful Day Of The Year = Videocraft Chorus 08. A Holly Jolly Christmas = Burl Ives 09. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (Finale) = Burl Ives 10. Christmas Medley: The Night Before Christmas Song / A Merry Merry Christmas / When Santa Clause Gets Your Letter = Decca Concert Orchestra 11. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer = Decca Concert Orchestra 12. There's Always Tomorrow = Decca Concert Orchestra 13. Jingle Jingle Jingle = Decca Concert Orchestra 14. We're A Couple Of Misfits = Decca Concert Orchestra 15. Silver And Gold = Decca Concert Orchestra 16. We Are Santa's Elves = Decca Concert Orchestra 17. The Most Wonderful Day Of The Year = Decca Concert Orchestra 18. A Holly Jolly Christmas = Decca Concert Orchestra 19. I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day = Decca Concert Orchestra
I'm a huge fan of the Japanese horror cult film Wild Zero, which is where I discovered the joy of Guitar Wolf.
From Wikipedia:
Guitar Wolf is a three-piece garage punk band founded in Japan in 1987. The band is known for songs with piercing vocals and an extremely loud style of noise rock which emphasizes heavy distortion and feedback. They coined the phrase "Jet Rock 'n' Roll", which they also used to describe their musical style — an energetic cross between The Ramones, rockabilly, classic punk, and noise rock. It is a part of Sony Music Japan's Ki/oon Records division. The band has released nine studio albums internationally as well as a live album, numerous singles, and a greatest hits album called "Golden Black." The band members have also been featured in two B-grade science fiction horror movies, "Wild Zero" and "Sore Losers." A collection of Guitar Wolf's most popular videos and live performances have been compiled into a limited edition DVD entitled Red Idol. In March 2005, bassist and founding member Billy, also known as Bass Wolf, died of a heart attack at the age of 38. His replacement in the band, bassist U.G., has become a permanent member of Guitar Wolf and now rounds out the trio which currently consist of band members Seiji (Guitar Wolf): U.G. (Bass Wolf); and Toru (Drum Wolf).
DISCLAIMER: ADULT CONTENT!!!!! Sorry, kids....this one's for grown-ups...
Due to just sheer laziness and procrastination on my part (plus, Moore's death happening right smack dab in the middle of prep and posting of the Mighty Marvel Monsterbash 2008), I didn't get around to paying tribute in a timely manner to a wordsmith and comedian that has brought me a lot of joy over the years: Rudy Ray Moore (March 17, 1927 – October 19, 2008). Well, today I plan on rectifying that...
Many of us out there only know him from his blaxploitation comedy films of the 1970s, specifically the inafamous Dolemite (1975) and it's sequel, The Human Tornado (1976), but the man had a discography and filmography that would put most to shame:
So...to pay tribute to the man that many have credited as the Godfather of hip-hop and rhyme, I'll be sharing a few things from Moore's discography from my collection so that, even though the man may not be with us anymore....his words sure as hell can still make us laugh. Enjoy....
Tracklist: 01. Dolemite (Ben Taylor) 02. The Queen 03. Do You 04. The Rumble 05. Mayor¹s Get-Away 06. Power of Your Love (Mary Love) 07. Willie Green 08. When We Start 09. The Hitman 10. Ghetto Expressions 11. Time is on our Side (Revelation Funk) 12. Creeper 13. The Jive Jungle 14. Flatland 15. Dolemite (Ben Taylor w/ Moore narration, film version) 16. Flatland (film version) 17. Human Tornado (from Human Tornado) 18. Miss Wonderful (from Human Tornado) 19. Dolemite Radio Spot version 1 20. Dolemite Radio Spot version 2 21. Human Tornado Radio Spot 22. Untitled
1. Petey Wheatstraw (Vocal)- Nat Dove & The Devils 2. Ghetto St. USA- Nat Dove & The Devils 3. Zombie March (Instrumental)- Nat Dove & The Devils 4. Loving You (Vocal)-Nat Dove & The Devils 5. Walking Theme (Instrumental)- Nat Dove & The Devils 6. Ghetto St. USA (Vocal)- Nat Dove & The Devils 7. Joy (Vocal)- Nat Dove & The Devils 8. Steve's Den (Instrumental)- Nat Dove & The Devils 9. Loving You (Instrumental)- Nat Dove & The Devils 10. Petey Wheatstraw (Instrumental)- Nat Dove & The Devils 11. Junkie Chase (Instrumental)- Nat Dove & The Devils
Eclectic and eccentric, the rogue polymath known as the Hong Kong Cavalier is the secret identity of Anthony Wayne Conn...a thirty-something example of far too much television and way too many comic books in the 1980s. He will charge if spooked.
