Friday, February 29, 2008

SOUNDTRACK - Don (1978) Kalyanji Anandji


This Indian super-single comes courtesy 0f the soundtrack to the classic Bollywood film "Don".With its crazy 60's guitar riffs and psychedelic spy movie overtones, I'd have to say that this is a truely great find. If the movie "Don" is anywhere as insane as this theme song no wonder its remains one of Bollywood's most popular films of all time.

DON Theme (1978)

(BONUS) - Music From The Third Floor - Bollywood beats, ballads and bombs mp3 Blog

Friday, February 22, 2008

OSCAR - The Year's Best Songs 2007

Hands down my favorite movie this year was the underappreciated musical HAIRSPRAY. In a year filled with an over abundance of downer films it stood out as a reminder that fun, silliness and joy could still be found at the local megaplex. In fact most of my top picks this year tended to be heavy on the musical side (Once, La Vie En Rose, I'm Not There and Enchanted) Here's a sampling of some of the best songs to grace the screen in 2007...

HAIRSPRAY - "Good Morning Baltimore"



Perverts, rats and garbage are just a few of the wonderful things to wake up to everyday in sunny Baltimore. Congrats to first time director Adam Shankman and super-composer Marc Shaiman for helping to shoot Baltimore's tourist industry through the roof. It's tragic that Oscar rules kept this film from getting any nods, but hopefully its devoted fans will make it a cult classic in decades to come.

ONCE - "Falling Slowly"


Boy meets girl. They make a record and guy buys girl a piano. That's the plot to Once in a nutshell. Its greatness is in its simplicity, and I for one can't wait to see them preform Falling Slowly on Oscar night and take home the award.

Le Vie En Rose

Marion Cotillard is Edith Piaf, and hopefully she'll be rewarded for her show stopping performance with a little golden man come Oscar night. What's truly rewarding is that Le Vie En Rose has given us the resurgence of Piaf's music. What is old is new again, and knowing here tragic story only makes the achievement of her short life that much more sweet.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

MUSICAL - Robocop the Musical (Murphy It's You)

Half robot. Half man. All singing cyborg cop.

I'm an absolute freak for the movie Robocop, but never in my wildest dreams did I ever think it would make a great premise for a musical. Enter brothers Jon & Al Kaplan , the songwriting duo behind the cult show SILENCE! Silence of the Lambs: The Musical . The first and only song to birth from this twisted premise is a duet performed by RoboCop and Officer Lewis entitled Murphy It's You.

Is it good? Frighteningly so! At its best, the Kaplan's music holds its own against the likes of Marc Shaiman (Hairspray, North) and the works of Ashman and Menken. Unfortunately since SILENCE! premiered in '05, the brothers haven't released any new material, so it appears an anxious world must further hold its collective breath while awaiting their next twisted concoction.
"I'd Buy That for A Dollar".

Robocop The Musical - Murphy It's You.mp3

Bonus -Here's a selection of other one-hit-wonders from the Kaplan's

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

WEIRD - Chocolate Rain (cover) by Chad Vader



I've always found myself woefully behind the times when it comes to viral phenomenons, so imagine my surprise when today I finally heard the wonderchild that is Tay Zonday singing Chocolate Rain. Gold though this may be, what good would come from posting something that's already enslaved the internet with its stupidity a billion-fold already. My answer is this equally mind-numbing cover of Chocolate Rain by none other then Chad Vader.

Who is Chad Vader you might ask? He's the less charismatic brother of Darth Vader, who is the day shift manager of a grocery store and star of a very funny "Lucas Approved" web series of the same name. Does the idea of brown rain disgust anyone else? BLAH!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

LOVE - The One I Love (Belongs to Somebody Else) by Al Jolson


Today love is in the air, and one of my favorite love songs is all about the one that got away.
"The One I Love (Belongs to Somebody Else)" was first introduced by the one and only Al Jolson and this perticular live verson of the song is simply inspired. Only a master like Jolson could be such an entertaining showman one minute while simultaniously breaking your heart the next. The little touch he adds at the end,"belongs, belongs, beloooongs..." brings a tear to the eye every time.

Expect more Jolson in the coming posts, until then make sure to tell your special someone you love them or you to my be finding yourself singing the blues too.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

SOUNDTRACK - Forbidden Zone (1980)





This completely brilliant little ditty comes your way from the soundtrack to Richard Elfman's cult classic Forbidden Zone. It's the tune Pico and Sepulveda (1947) by Felix Figueroa and His Orchestra. I chose this song in particular because while it appears in the movie (see above video) its nowhere to be found on the soundtrack itself. This phantom gem was once a holy grail among record collectors until the internet came around, yet still it sees little air play outside of the occasional midnight screening of Forbidden Zone. If you like what you hear you'll love the rest of the CD which features appearances from The Kipper Kids, Danny Elfman and the The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo. While your at it buy the DVD too.


(Bonus Link) Check out info on Richard Elfman's Forbidden Zone-esk new film The Sixth Element


Pico and Sepulveda.mp3

Friday, February 1, 2008

DIRTY - Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts


"Nuts! Hot Nuts! You get them from the Peanut Man."

Today's found nugget is hot, DAMN HOT! Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts to be specific, and if you’re freezing your butt off like I am hot nuts are the way to go.

The album Hot Nuts by the raunchy early 1960s southern campus band Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts was one of the greatest musical discoveries of my teens. Its raw sound, risqué lyrics and filthy jokes on songs with titles like "Big Jugs" and "Two Old Maids" knocked me on my pasty white ass laughing.

Hot Nuts along with the legendary Rudy Ray Moore would set me on a path of hilarious debauchery that still continues today, and for better or worse has shaped me into the degenerate that posts before you.

Big Jugs.mp3
Two Old Maids.mp3
Hot Nuts.mp3 (coming soon)

Thursday, January 24, 2008

POP - You Might Think (Ukulele Version)

Here's a one-time only live performance by Cars keyboardist Greg Hawkes strumming thier 80's classic "You Might Think" on his ukulele from the great WBUR show Radio Boston.

Listen to the compete show this song comes from, Beantown Blues: Making it on the Boston Music Scene, and make sure to catch Radio Boston live each week Fridays from 1-2pm Eastern Time. Log on and listen in to thier live stream: http://www.wbur.org/listen .

Please show your support for public radio!

You Might Think.mp3

Sunday, January 20, 2008

CELEBRITY- Ali and His Gang Vs. Mr. Tooth Decay

Remember when Muhammad Ali could talk?
Remember when he was the greatest athlete of our century?
What about the time he fought Mr. Tooth Decay with the help of Ossie Davis and Frank Sinatra?

If your drawing a blanking on that last one, then you've never had the pleasure of hearing one of the most bizarrely amazing things he was ever involved with. 1974 brought us one of the most legendary vinyl records ever made, Ali and His Gang vs. Mr. Tooth Decay. The album features an A-list cast of celebrities all in rather ridiculous poses. Frank Sinatra, for instance, appears as a desperate ice cream vendor insisting Muhammad Ali force the gang of children that's following him (all orphans?) to eat ice cream. "No, kids! Ice cream hassa lotta sugah innit! Ice cream causes cavahtehs!"

Yet none of this holds a candle to when Ali, through song, brags about being the one who put the crack in the Liberty Bell! I can't help but think that what was once seen as a super human feat of strength in 74', would most likely be interrupted as an act of terrorism today. It makes one wounder why he limited his path of destruction to only America? He could have boasted to knocking off the nose of the Spinx in Egypt or leaning the Eiffel Tower with one blow.

To find out who comes out on top in this epic battle of hygienic proportions check out todays monumental postings. Also make sure to take a look at the completely absurd album cover galley. FIGHT!

Ali Fight Song.mp3
Ali and His Gang Vs. Mr. Tooth Decay (Part 1).mp3


"Mind-Blowing" Cover Gallery

RACIAL - World Famous Minstrel Show

The cover to this hallowed tome of yesteryear advertises “songs, jokes, laughs and gags galore!” What is not mentioned is the terrifying glee taken by the hellishly untalented all white performers in recreating a supposedly authentic old-timey minstrel show.

I dare you to not stare at your speakers in disbelief as the announcer introduces the band as, “all Blacked up and ready to go!”

The real surprise to this album, besides its politically incorrect ideas of nostalgia, lies on its reverse side. There you’ll find all your favorite minstrel songs of yore played instrumentally on a pipe organ so the whole family can join together in an old fashioned racist song-a-long. While admirable, if you your friends and family are truly yearning that much for some communal togetherness for god’s sake PLAY A BOARD GAME!

Truly there is nothing like a minstrel show “To bring back days of long ago.”

The World Famous Minstrel Show.mp3

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

SOUNDTRACK - Branded to Kill - The Films of Seijun Suzuki

Feel there aren't enough films about a chipmunch-cheeked contracted killer who has a sexual fetish for sniffing boiling rice?

Not to worry, master avant garde Nikkatsu action director Suzuki Seijun made Branded to Kill just to fill that bottomless void left in your being all these years. We're talking about a movie that is so progressive and radical in its storytelling and film making that it famously got Suzuki fired from his contract directing position at the Nikkatsu Company in 1967.

Decades later, Suzuki laughed last, and over sixty films and one Japanese Best Picture Award later he's been immortalized as one of Japan's greatest cinematic treasures.

But enough about the man, your here for the music and today's installment is a doosey. I present to you the complete never released soundtrack to Branded to Kill, frankensteined together by yours truely from the very movie itself. While this does leave the occasional line of dialoge or gun shot in, I believe it only adds to the fun. Enjoy.

BRANDED TO KILL - [Koroshi No Rakuin] 19967
  1. Branded Theme.mp3
  2. The Chase.mp3
  3. We Are Beasts.mp3
  4. Dead Bird.mp3
  5. Butterfly Graveyard.mp3
  6. Feather Like Thing.mp3
  7. To Kill A Butterfly.mp3
  8. Goodbye Forever.mp3
  9. All Dead.mp3
  10. I'm A Beast.mp3
  11. Bottle and a Body.mp3
  12. Vanished.mp3
  13. Killer Bossanova.mp3
  14. The Balloon "I'm Champion".mp3
  15. Branded to Kill - End Theme.mp3

Monday, January 14, 2008

POP - THIS STAR IS MINE - by COMING SOON

Today's selection is a haunting little ditty, "This Star is Mine" from the band Coming Soon. The glorious music video shot with Stanley Brinks & Freschard in the band's basement in Annecy, Kidderminster (apparently somewhere in France!) is a little slice of DIY heaven. If anyone knows anything more about this great band please leave a comment.

This Star Is Mine.mp3