The Benny Goodman Story

Soundtrack - "The Benny Goodman Story, volume 2" (1956) - Decca

Hey Friends,

The tiki bar is swinging tonight, friends!

This LP is the second soundtrack release from 1956's The Benny Goodman Story starring Steve Allen & Donna Reed.

Never saw the movie, but we picked this record up at a thrift store and were pretty happy with it.

Side One is comprised of four songs played by the Benny Goodman Trio/Quartet featuring Goodman on clarinet, Teddy Wilson on piano, Gene Krupa on drums and Lionel Hampton on vibes.

Side Two has five songs all of which feature Goodman's full orchestra, including one song with vocals, "And The Angels Sing" as sung by Martha Tilton.

The album ends with a rousing version of Goodman's signature song, the Louis Prima-penned, "Sing, Sing, Sing".

Can't help but listen to Gene Krupa's drumming throughout this record and be reminded of the movie Whiplash. 

Just waiting for J.K. Simmons to show up at the tiki bar, lift the needle off of the record and ask, "Were you rushing or were you dragging?"

RATING: 4 Silver Waves That Break on Some Undiscovered Shore out of 5

Saturday Night Fever

Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Sound Track - 1977 - RSO Records

Hello Friends,

Its a muggy Summer's night here on Vinyl in the Valley and we're working up a healthy sweat listening to the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack double album.

One of the most successful soundtrack album's of all time, the album captures the disco phenomenon at its apex.  Most of the tracks were either written or performed by The Bee Gees and features some of their biggest all time hits: "Stayin' Alive", "How Deep Is Your Love", "Night Fever", "More Than A Woman" (with a Bee Gees and a Tavares version), "Jive Talkin", "You Should Be Dancing" & "If I Can't Have You" (performed here by Yvonne Elliman.)

Other songs that round out the collection include Walter Murphy's classical-disco mash-up, "A Fifth of Beethoven"; David Shire's disco instrumentals (disco-mentals?) "Manhattan Skyline", "Night On Disco Mountain" (another classical mashup) and "Salsation"; Ralph MacDonald's frenzied "Calypso Breakdown" (which to us sounds like The People's Court theme music from the 80's); Kool & The Gang's "Open Sesame"; KC & The Sunshine Band's "Boogie Shoes"; Philly-soul legends MFSB's "K-Jee"; and everything culminating with a 10+ minute disco classic, "Disco Inferno" by The Trammps.

A great sweaty and somewhat sleazy record for a great sweaty and somewhat sleazy evening!

RATING: 4.5 ways of killing yourself without killing yourself out of 5

Turkish Delight

Midnight Express Soundtrack (1978) - Casablanca Records

Hello Friends,

On the turntable tonight, we've got Giorgio Moroder's soundtrack album to Alan Parker's 1978 movie about a hash-smuggling American who gets caught and jailed in a Turkish prison.

Spoiler alert: Its no picnic!

Based on the (mostly) true account of Billy Hayes, the film's script was written by none other than Sir Oliver Stone.  

Very synthy & dreamlike, Moroder's soundtrack is at times haunting and powerful.  There's a couple of vocal tracks that end up sounding kind of dated and cheesey, but the 8-minute opening track alone ("Chase") is worth the price of admission.

Its so good, in fact, that it won the Academy Award for best original score for that year!

Nice job, Giorgio!  You have yet to let us down!

And remember kids, just say No!

o-o-oh billy!

RATING: 4 dreams that keep my soul alive out of 5

Just A Gigolo

American Gigolo Soundtrack - 1980 - Polygram Records

Hello Friends,

Need a quick pick me up?

We do!  So tonight we're doing cocaine listening to Giorgio Moroder's excellent soundtrack to the 1980 film, American Gigolo.  

Written & directed by the great Paul Shrader (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Affliction) and starring Richard Gere & Lauren Hutton, American Gigolo helped usher in the sleazy, superficial, pre-AIDS 1980s.  The soundtrack is practically a character in the film itself; its impossible to separate the two even 30+ years later.  To this day, we can't even think of Richard Gere without imagining him walking him into a gay nightclub with Cheryl Barnes's "Love & Passion" blasting!

The soundtrack album gets the party started with an 8 minute long epic version of Blondie's "Call Me" aka "The Theme From American Gigolo".  A # 1 song in both the U.S. & U.K. for several weeks, its sexy and driving and manic and it really sets the stage for the movie as well as whats to come on the rest of the record!

FUN FACT: Originally, Moroder wanted to recruit none other than Stevie Nicks to collaborate with on this soundtrack. She was unable to commit to him due to conflicts with her record label.    

"Call Me" is followed by the aforementioned, driving disco-beat of "Love & Passion" and the side ends with the sleazy-sounding, noirish instrumental, "Night Drive".

Side Two is entirely instrumental and kicks off with "Hello Mr. W.A.M.", the song heard over the film's finale.  Its also Moroder's take on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Clarinet Concerto K. 622. Its equal parts Clockwork Orange, prog rock & Studio 54.



"The Apartment", another dark instrumental, sounds like Aphex Twin remixing Dark Side of the Moon.

"Palm Springs Drive" is an instrumental take on "Call Me" and its impossible to drive around downtown Los Angeles at night, looking for johns, without having this song pulsate in your brain!

Next there's a reprise of Side One's "Night Drive" only slower and more lumbering with lots of synthy-low notes and some church bells thrown in for good measure!

Closing things is the melodic ballad, "The Seduction (Love Theme)" which comes dangerously close to sounding like elevator music-schmaltz.  But, in the context of this record, its a subtle and fitting conclusion.

RATING: 4.5 Roll Me in Designer Sheets I'll Never Get Enough out of 5

Sound City: Real to Reel

"Sound City: Real to Reel" Soundtrack (2013) - Roswell Records 

Hello Friends,

Sound City: Real to Reel isn't so much a soundtrack to the Dave Grohl documentary as much as it is a companion piece.  This is not a compilation of all of the great songs recorded at the legendary Sound City recording studios, but rather a labor of love by Grohl (and a hodgepodge of friends) who got together to create some totally new music in celebration of his film.

Most of the 11 tracks here were recorded by Butch Vig and ALL were recorded in Grohl's private studio on "the" Neve 8028 console from the original Studio City.  

Surprisingly (or maybe unsurprisingly) its an incredibly listenable double LP set with every song pretty much being good.  

Side A has Grohl and the Foos jamming with such strange bedfellows as members of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club ("Heaven and All"), Masters of Reality, Rage Against the Machine ("Time Slowing Down") and Miss Stevie Nicks ("You Can't Fix This").  At first, we just figured this was going to be a throwaway novelty song, but the Stevie Nicks song is great! It sounds as if it would have been right at home on Fleetwood Mac or Rumors.

Side B begins with "The Man That Never Was" featuring Rick Springfield and the song sounds exactly like a Foo Fighters song if it were sung by Rick Springfield!  Things take a (welcome) punk turn on "Your Wife Is Calling", featuring the vocals and harmonica(!) of Mr. Lee "Fear" Ving.  The side concludes with "From Can to Can't" featuring a passionate Corey Taylor (Slipknot) on vocals and the inimitable Rick Nielsen on lead guitar.

Side C starts out with two songs featuring longtime Grohl collaborators, Josh Homme and Alain Johannes ("Centipede" and "A Trick With No Sleeve").  Speaking of collaborators, Nirvana bassist, Krist Novoselic, joins Dave and Pat Smear on the Grammy-winning, "Cut Me Some Slack" which features septuagenarian Paul McCartney on vocals and guitar.  Again, the result is far from the cheesiness one might expect; it sounds like a loud and grungey update of Helter Skelter-era Paul.  A fusion of two of the most important Rock & Roll bands of all time, what's not to like?

Side D begins with Grohl going mostly acoustic on the ballad-y "If I Were Me" (again, this would fit right in on a Foo Fighters record!).  And the album closes with the 8 minute climactic, "Mantra", featuring Grohl, Homme & Trent Reznor-- a fitting conclusion to an overall great record.  (Plus, Reznor & Homme harmonizing sounds really good!)

Our fear here was that this was going to sound like a hastily put-together "Rock & Roll Hall of Fame" Jam Session, but instead, the artists here (lead by Grohl) really give their all and come up with 11 really enjoyable songs.  There's not a stinker in the bunch and because of Grohl's presence throughout the record has a good flow, a solid sound, from start to finish!

RATING: 4.5 Your Wife Is Calling (Tell Her I'm Not Here) out of 5

Go, Get the Butter

Gato Barbieri - "Last Tango In Paris" Soundtrack (1972) - Liberty

Hello Friends,

Bernardo Bertolucci's acclaimed 1972 film, Last Tango in Paris, is about two strangers (Marlon Brando & Maria Schneider) who meet on the streets of Paris and begin a salacious, anonymous sexual tryst.  Its your basic boy-meets-girl story with lots of nudity, afternoon sodomy, tangoing and butter-covered fingers inserted into rectums!  Don't bring your kids to see this one!

Argentinian composer & musician, Gato Barbieri, was recruited for the film's soundtrack. For the score he crafted a melodic, saxophone-laden, Latin jazz score in a very 1970's vain.  Its like a cross between Henry Mancini, early Santana and Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street".  Jazz composer (and fellow saxophonist), Oliver Nelson, aided Barbieri in the arrangements and the music fits the film perfectly.

In fact, its some of the most memorable saxophone heard in a film second only to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuJ9YNfKC2o.

The film holds up well as a masterpiece of the cynical 70's.

Brando, up to this point, has never been so sleazy and so creepy! 

The soundtrack album holds its own as well. When heard out of the context of the film it comes across sounding a little lite, a little soft jazzy, a little bit like a remorseful cop beneath a street lamp in the rain!

Now, if I only knew where Tiki T. hid the nail clippers!

RATING: 4 better not lay a finger on my butterfingers out of 5

Thanks to Danny & Ross for this one! An import from Italy, no less!  

Vinyl in the Valley of the Dolls

"Valley of the Dolls" Soundtrack (1967) - 20th Century Fox Records

Hello Friends,

Things are getting campy tonight on Vinyl in the Valley! 

The 1967 film version of Jacqueline Susann's 1966 best-selling novel stars an adorable 
Barbara Parkins, an all-grown-up Patty Duke, and a so-sexy-it-hurts Sharon Tate as young, nubile ingenues trying to act/marry/claw/drink/screw their way to the top!


The titular "Dolls" don't just refer to this trio of starlets but to the copious amounts of colorful little pills that they wash down in order to cope with their melodramatic lives!        

As the opening lines of the film and record reminds us: "You've got to climb Mount Everest to reach the Valley of the Dolls!"  You said it sister! 

The music on the LP (with songs written by Andre Previn) is soft and sublime and provides an almost delusional counterpoint to the manic and over-the-top melodrama going on in the movie.

Fun Fact # 1: Judy Garland was originally cast in the film but was fired because of her substance problems!  Though she did keep her character's sequined pantsuit and wore it on tour!  

Fun Fact # 2: The first of many, many Oscar nominations for composer, John Williams.  (It would be the only Oscar nod the film would receive!)

Fun Fact # 3: Dionne Warwick sang the title song in the original movie but, due to contractual obligations, could not appear on the soundtrack record.  Dory Previn, wife of Andre Previn, recorded the version for the record!

Fun Fact # 4: Raquel Welch was originally offered the role that went to Sharon Tate.  A year after this movie, Tate would marry Italian-child molester-director, Roman Polanski.  A year after that she would have a starring role in the Manson Murders!  And, scene...
  RATING: 3 Boobies, Boobies, Nothin' But Boobies out of 5

Happy Halloween!

The Rocky Horror Picture Show Soundtrack (1975) - Ode Records

Happy Halloween Friends,

We're celebrating right this year... giving out candy, listening to records and polishing off a bottle of Amontillado while reading passages from Edgar Allen Poe by candlelight!

But Halloween just wouldn't be Halloween without Brad & Janet, the Time Warp, a sweet Transvestite (from Transsexual, Transyvlvania), Meat Loaf, Riff Raff and Susan Sarandon's sweet jack-o-lanterns in their prime!

Because of the film's incredible cult status the soundtrack is often overlooked, but trust us friends, its worth the listen!  Its campy and glammy, with healthy doses of Broadway, Bowie, Queen and 1950's rock and roll.  Its like "Grease"-on-Acid!




Happy Halloween kids!  We're off to TP some houses!

RATING: 5 Science Fiction Double Features out of 5  

Gettin' Lucky with Mr. Lucky!

Henry Mancini - "Music From Mr. Lucky" (1960) - RCA Victor

Hello you cool cats, 

Tonight, we're gettin' dressed up fancy-like and drinking some sparkling wine while listening to Henry Mancini's snazzy soundtrack to the short-lived television series, Mr. Lucky.  The TV series might have only of lasted 34 episodes, but the music on the soundtrack LP is timeless!

Mr. Lucky (CBS TV) Credits

A great listen, this album is more "jazz for the Sears crowd" as I like to call it-- a genre pretty much defined by Mancini.   

At the heart of each of the songs is an easy listening orchestration that's both smooth and familiar. Mancini then adds a jazz element to flesh out the tunes-- a pinch of bebop here, some walking bass lines there and a healthy dash of latin rhythms to boot.  Finally, some of the songs are punctuated by the grinding sharpness of a skating-rink organ making for some very swingin' stuff!   

Also, the album is produced by a guy named Dick Peirce.  How can you go wrong with a producer like that??  

RATING: 4 One Eyed Cats out of 5 

Music from The Valley

Obscured by Clouds was Pink Floyd's last album before the immensely successful, Dark Side of the Moon.  Its a soundtrack record to the Barbet Schroeder film, La Vallee-- a trippy little film about an upper-class French woman who gets knocked down a few notches when she gets lost in the primeval jungles of Papua New Guinea. 

The movie is missable, but this soundtrack LP is tops!

Half the songs are instrumentals.  Short, straight-forward rock'n'roll instrumentals, nothing too long or too weird or too proggy.

The songs with vocals are equally as accessible.   David Gilmour's "Wot's...uh the Deal?" and "The Gold its in the..." are standouts.  As is Roger Waters's "Free Four"-- in which he starts exploring some Daddy-issues and other dark motifs that would become a running theme throughout Pink Floyd's later, much more famous works.

I guess one of the best things you can say about this album is that it really doesn't sound like Pink Floyd at all. 



RATING: 4.5 New Guinean cannibals out of a possible 5.