BubbaTUNESday Cher - Prisoner
BubbaTUNESday 3 for 1 special (part 2)
Cher & Cher & Cher Alike
bub 127 Cher – Prisoner (1979; 2008)
(June 17, 2008)
It didn’t take long for our girl to hop back onto the recording stool and come up with another album for Casablanca – in fact by my calculation, it was probably only a few months for Prisoner, came out in 1979 as well.
The album didn’t do nearly as well as Take Me Home, but according to those know it alls at Wikipedia, the album did go gold though it didn’t seem to chart very high – if at all.
Regardless of the chart positions and sales, this was an album Cher apparently wanted to make. I’m sure Casablanca pressured her into another disco-fied album but our sassy gal was a little too smart to just go that route.
Inserted in between dancey disco is some rock and some pop and some of just about everything. An 8 song collection handled and mostly written by Bob Esty and Michele Aller with Cher supervising, these were all songs for Cher about Cher for Cher fans. She wanted the peeps to know what was going on in her life and how she felt, but couldn’t be bothered to write the songs herself (I kid.)
None the less, we have some interesting dips into Cher’s world – the ultimate and best track on the whole set is “Hell On Wheels” – an opus ride into roller disco with some rock edges to it. This was when Cher was actually spinning her roller skates at LA roller discos every night. It’s completely brilliant and just happened to have “Git Down (Guitar Groupie)” from Take Me Home as a B-side on the 7” making it one of the best singles to come out in the 70s.
“Holdin’ Out For Love” bee bops through a poppy keyboard and was the second single. The story of being tripped up in love before and deciding this time she’s “holding on/ holding in/ holdin out for love..” It’s actually pretty catchy.
The opening title track is an opus of sound that fills the whole first six minutes of the album and is one of the highlights of the album, but in all honesty as much as I wanted to love Prisoner as a whole album it kind of falls short.
Mirror Image and Outrageous! are classic examples into the personality of Cher – particularly how the paparazzi and people saw her. The cool keyboard lines in “Mirror Image” make it stand up a bit more than “Outrageous” but in both cases I think the lyrics kind of weight it down.
The same goes for “Boys & Girls” a full on rock song full of fire and fun, you would think. Once those lyrics start flying out it’s hard to keep concentrated. There’s just something that doesn’t work for me.
While “Shoppin’” is just something everyone has to hear. It’s about, well shoppin’ – one of Cher’s past times and as much as I would even love to love it just on sheer camp value, I think she’s too serious about it for it be just for fun; while “Holy Smoke!” is actually catchy and fun as she talks about the ills of the modern world. With a little re-write here and there it would’ve been great!
I may be acting a bit harsh on Prisoner, after all I did take all this time to put together the music, do the artwork, include lyrics and the whole shizz – but that has a lot to do with the fact the artwork and promo works for Prisoner are brillz! The best cover shot of Cher’s albums ever! Plus the whole of the album is actually a piece of Cher history and it’s definitely worth hearing and having for the big Cher fans.
A CD version was released as an import along with the Take Me Home but I think the album was remixed and the fact is it’s damn hard and expensive to find and with the ultimate brilliance of the album artwork on both Take Me Home and Prisoner, neither of which was reproduced for that CD, the Bubbatunes are really the best Cher re-releases ever – plus we have bonus tracks and bonus bonus tracks.
The 7” versions of the two singles “Hell On Wheels” and “Holdin’ Out For Love” are here as is the super cool “Bad Love” – a song she did in all Giorgio Moroder coolness for the film Foxes in 1980 (a movie which had “On The Radio” by Donna Summer as the theme song)… and thanks to Amoeba Records, I found the 12” of “Hell On Wheels” which is even longer than the album version plus it was backed with a 12” version of “Git Down (Guitar Groupie)” and though neither are mentioned in my artwork, they are here in the download just for you!... Don’t tell Cher.
Cher – Prisoner (bub126)Track List:
01. Prisoner 02. Holdin’ Out For Love 03. Shoppin’ 04. Boys & Girls 05. Mirror Image 06. Hell On Wheels 07. Holy Smoke! 08. Outrageous
Bonus Tracks:09. Hell On Wheels (Single Version) 10. Holdin’ Out For Love (Single Version) 11. Bad Love 12. Hell On Wheels (12” Version) 13. Git Down (Guitar Groupie) (12” Version)
DOWNLOAD CHER – PRISONERLabels: bub127, BubbaTUNESday, Bubbtunes, Cher, Hell On Wheels, Prisoner
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 CountryXanadu MontageLabels: Bubbtunes, Electric Light Orchestra, Jim Bray, Linda Blair, Olivia Newton-John, Roller Boogie, Roller Boogie soundtrack, Xanadu
Good Morning Angels
One of my all time favorite shows from when I was but a wee tyke is
Charlie's Angels - I mean who doesn't love that show? Everyone who loves the show has a favorite Angel - most are Farrah fans with Jaclyn Smith right up there and then there's my ultimate favorite
Cheryl Ladd. I love her, and did from the moment she strutted onto the show in its second season. I mean I even stole my cousin Paula's Cheryl Ladd doll - though my mother caught me as I stuffed it into my jacket. She always caught me doing that crap..
A few years ago when
Charlie's Angels was finally released on DVD, I opted not to buy it as first I'm fairly frugal and second, I wanted to make sure the seasons with Cheryl were going to be released. So season 2 finally made its debut and I still didn't buy it cause the damn thing is expensive man - so I still don't own it but finally thanks to Amoeba and a $20 selling price I got my mugs on Charlie's Angels Season 3 which is of course with Cheryl, and it happens to be Kate Jackson's last season. My pal and partner in all that is 70's and 80's Jen came over last weekend and we watched a few episodes and realized how much we really love it.
Now if the seasons continue on DVD I will be in Angel Heaven - I really want season 5 because though it may be a strange choice, I really liked the final season with Tanya Roberts as Julie Rogers - she was street wise and hot, and her introduction in the first episode of season 5 is great - as for season 4 Shelley Hack has always been to me a bit of a, well hack. She's the lesser version of Priscilla Barnes and that's a strange thing to be. I still haven't found that elusive Charlie's fan who goes ape shizz crazy for Tiffany Welles, but something tells me he's out there (you know it's a boy)...
But the highlight of this rambling little ode to all that is Charlie's and Cheryl is this - the season 3 two part opener has the Angels headed to Vegas and as they all go undercover, they throw Kris Munroe (my Cheryl) into a gig as a singer. That's when I remembered that Cheryl had recorded a few albums in the 70's. She even scored a top 40 hit with
"Think It Over", a very 70's adult contemp type of tune. I'm not even kidding when I say she was big in Japan.
Anyhoos, I thought it would be so cool to track down that song. Luckily for us all, Cheryl is an internet type of Angel and if you go to her official website, supposedly updated by the woman herself at her
music page on
www.cherylladd.com you can download 18 songs from her short career!
I just about fell over. Her singing voice is much deeper than I would've imagined - though the sound quality is a little off on some of them, never fear because you know there's a Bubbatunes mix with 'remastering' in the works... until then enjoy the sweet sounds of 70's (it's very Melissa Manchester-ish and not disco at all) including the ultimate highlight
"Television"...and if you really feel the need, let's talk
Angels - who's your fav? Shelley Hack's stoney performance of Tiffany Welles???
Labels: Bubbtunes, Charlie's Angels, Cheryl Ladd, Farrah Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith, Kate Jackson, Shelley Hack, Tanya Roberts, TV on DVD
bub 127 Cher – Prisoner (1979; 2008)
