Bradley's Buzz

BubbaTUNESday

Today's bubbatunes are two rare gems of soundtracks - they are related in the fact they both require lacing up some skates and doing a roller skating boogie to the tunes of 70's and 80's classic cuts. Our first delve into the roller skating craze comes with the CD release of the soundtrack to 1979's Roller Boogie starring Linda Blair and a feather mopped hottie known as Jim Bray who got the job only because he was hired as the roller skating stunt man but was well just too hot to pass up and our second is a brand new version of an old favorite - we have gone back to the neon drawing board and came up with an all new Xanadu Soundtrack - the Mount Olympus Edition, so strap up your laces and let's hit the roller skating floor...


bub92 Roller Boogie - Music From The Motion Picture Soundtrack (1979; June 12, 2007)
If you like your disco thumping and your rock in that 70's vein than this soundtrack is for you. Personally I love both the movie and the soundtrack, having even seen the film at the movie theater when it came out in late 1979. The plot of a rich Beverly Hills girl who just wants to leave her stifling role as a musician genius and head to Venice Beach to skate her cares away and her unlikely pairing with the hottie poor boy who lives on the beach, rents skates for a living and gets the whole town of Venice into a roller skating congo line is really something everyone should see, and when I get around to my top 100 Films According to Bradley you can bet your sweet skates this one is on there.

As for the soundtrack, anything that opens with Cher's throaty vibrato talking about being hell on wheels, well you've got me sucked in. Cher's 1979 single and actually almost everything on the Roller Boogie is co-written and produced by Bob Esty who had his hands in a lot of that 70's disco/rock hybrids running amock on the radio including working on a number of Donna Summer's excellant 70's output. "Hell On Wheels" is no exception in the forumla he perfected with Cher declaring if there's something she wants you better know she's gonna get it.

Bob Esty himself does vocals for what I think may be the one and only time as he contributes a number of songs on the soundtrack - the ballad "Summer Love" is the quisessential ballad all these film soundtracks have to have, the somewhat electronica induced "Elektronix (Roller Dancin')" and the goofy yet alluring "The Roller Boogie" (I used to hate to skate/ now I can't wait), "Rollin' Up The Storm" is one of the rare instances on the album that goes more into rock than actually dance disco music, while the excellant "Love Fire" is a duet with his writing partner Michele Aller. He also does the instrumental "Cunga" which is exactly what you would think it would be - a congo line of roller skating heaven.

A few other unknowns pop up on the Bob Esty written songs including a man named Johnnie Coolrock who gives us the one and only real rocker "Good Girls" which is an excellant song of the 1979/80 rock vibe, Ron Green offers up two songs and Cheeks gives us the duet with Bob on "Elektronix" and "Top Jammer" another great little dance disco song while Mavis Vegas Davis gives you the disco triumph "All For One, One For All" and the equally impressive "Evil Man", Bob returns for an awesome ballad, the Supertramp cover "Lord Is It Mine", we also get the bonus cut "Night Dancer" by the Donna Summer sound alike Jeanne Shy which was released as a 12" single on its own accord and hit the dance club charts, it appears in the film Roller Boogie but never actually made it onto the original double soundtrack album.

Somehow Roller Boogie also got the rights and the use of "Boogie Wonderland" by Earth Wind & Fire and The Emotions which in turn actually gives listeners some sense of familiarity with the music. But believe me for a taste of the unknown almost underground disco Roller Boogie soundtrack is really amazing... and kudos and thanx have to go out to the ultimate Roller Boogie fan who runs http://www.rollerboogie.net/ and got me to thinking about adding this gem to my catalog of rare CDRs.

Roller Boogie - Music From The Motion Picture Soundtrack (bub92)
Track List: 01. Hell on Wheels (Cher) 02. Good Girls (Johnnie Coolrock) 03. All For One, One For All (Mavis Vegas Davis) 04. Boogie Wonderland (Earth Wind & Fire and The Emotions) 05. We Got The Power (Ron Green) 06. Top Jammer (Cheeks) 07. Summer Love (Bob Esty) 08. Takin' Life In My Own Hands (Ron Green) 09. Elektronix (Roller Dancin') (Bob Esty & Cheeks) 10. Cunga (Bob Esty) 11. Evil Man (Mavis Vegas Davis) 12. Lord Is It Mine (Bob Esty) 13. Rollin' Up A Storm (The Eye Of The Hurricane) (Bob Esty) 14. The Roller Boogie (Bob Esty) 15. Love Fire (Bob Esty & Michele Aller) Bonus Track: 16. Night Dancer (Jeanne Shy)

download Roller Boogie Soundtrack (bub92)
http://rapidshare.com/files/122559090/bub92_Roller_Boogie_Soundtrack.zip.html

bub33R Xanadu Soundtrack - The Mount Olympus Special Edition (1980; June 12, 2007)
Way back years ago, around the time of bub33, our 33rd CD, I decided I wanted a special version of the Xanadu Soundtrack. The original album is available on CD and in fact it was even remastered in a special import edition, however neither of those releases contained the songs that weren't included in the original soundtrack. Most highly missed was Olivia Newton-John's "Fool Country" a rock/country hybrid that she sings at the end of the flick, the song was released as a B-side to the single "Magic" in the US and the single "Xanadu" in the UK and it finally made it onto a remastered Olivia collection a few years ago but it's never been offered on the Xanadu soundtrack. So I added it back in 2004 when I did the original bubbatunes version, also on that version were too completely lame remixes of the title track sung not by Olivia but by some wanna be disco diva.

Then something surprising happened, actually two surprising things happened. 1. They, they being the powers that be decided to turn the great cheez fest known as Xanadu the film into a Broadway play and 2. One of the all time Xanadu fans on a my space group I belong to made his version of the Ultimate Xanadu Soundtrack which not only included "Fool Country" but also included "Drum Dreams" by ELO which is the song that has all the hand claps and the "Xanadu" chants in it, he also found a different version of ELO tracks "Don't Walk Away" and "The Fall" and a Jeff Lynne sung version of the title track. He also included dialogue from the film into his soundtrack. The most impressive thing he did was take the whole 11 minute segment from the end of the film and put it on the soundtrack - that segment begins with the 'drum dreams' before breaking into "Xanadu" then a tap dance by Olivia, which moves into "Fool Country" then another rousing ending version of "Xanadu" before Olivia as Kira the Muse disappears into a neon glow back up into the Heavens. It's awesome and I wanted it. So I went to his limited download sight and got the songs I didn't have including another Olivia song that never made it to the soundtrack, her version of "You Made Me Love You" which she sings in a flashback part the Danny (Gene Kelly) character is having.

I decided to put together my own version of an ultimate Xanadu soundtrack using cues from this big fan. I included those rare songs that weren't included, put together my own version of the Xanadu Montage (by using the remastered versions of the original songs rather than the somewhat sketchy sound from the film) and voila! we came up with the new edition of the Xanadu soundtrack. To make it even more appealing, I took the songs that are put together with dialogue and the Xanadu Montage and put them in their original individual parts as bonus tracks, plus the whole thing actually goes in order as the movie presents them so by the ending credits (Closing Fanfare) you feel like you just watched the flcik. So with all that crap in your head and under your roller skates, I give you the track list to bub33R Xanadu - The Mount Olympus Special Edition.

Xanadu Soundtrack - The Mount Olympus Special Edition (bub33R)
Track List: 01. Opening Fanfare/I'm Alive (Barry DeVorzon/ELO) 02. dialogue - 'hey it's that crazy girl' 03. Magic (Olivia) 04. dialogue - 'hey clarinet' 05. You Made Me Love You (Olivia)06. Whenever You're Away From Me (Gene Kelly & Olivia) 07. Suddenly (Cliff Richard & Olivia) 08. Dancin' (Olivia & The Tubes) 09. dialogue - 'a little pizzazz' 10. All Over The World (ELO) 11. Don't Walk Away (ELO) 12. dialogue - 'kissed by a muse'/ The Fall (ELO) 13. Suspended In Time (Olivia) 14. Xanadu Montage: I - dialogue 'maybe just one moment' II - Drum Dreams (ELO) III - Xanadu (Olivia & ELO) IV - Tap Dance Interlude V - Fool Country (Olivia) VI - Xanadu (Reprise) (Olivia & ELO)/ Kira's Ascent 15. dialogue - 'oh miss' / Closing Fanfare (Barry DeVorzon)
Bonus Tracks: 16. I'm Alive (ELO) 17. Don't Walk Away (Alternate) (ELO) 18. The Fall (Demo) (ELO) 19. Xanadu (Jeff Lynne) 20. Fool Country (Olivia) 21. Drum Dreams (ELO) 22. Xanadu (Olivia & ELO)

and for a limited time:

Olivia Newton-John - Fool Country
Xanadu Montage

Labels: Bubbtunes, Electric Light Orchestra, Jim Bray, Linda Blair, Olivia Newton-John, Roller Boogie, Roller Boogie soundtrack, Xanadu

posted by swivek @ 8:51 AM