So Wounded Bird re-released Lisa Hartman's albums a few months ago and this was a bonus cut on "Hold On" - never knew where it came from but here you go! Lisa on The Red Foxx Show in 1978
Just got the news from Wounded Bird that Lisa Hartman’s album Letterock has arrived at the Sony office. They are sending me a copy and waiting for the other two Lisa Hartman re-releases. I will be pimping these out for months to come! They arrive in stores mid April and you can pre order on Amazon.
There's a new band (to me anyway) called Tennis and they are releasing their new album... do you notice any similarities in their album cover? As for the music, the only song I've heard so far reminds me of She & Him - but they are coming to LA so I may have to check them out. You can check them out by clicking HERE.
So here is something you don't hear everyday - I had a sex dream about Bryan Adams last night. I never even knew I was attracted to him. In the dream, I was feeling like a little lovin' so I drove over to Bryan's and crawled into bed with him. He was very happy to see me and we made out and had this long talk like we had been booty partners forever. If Bryan Adams is has friendly and nice as he is in my dream - kudos to him.
And since he's on my mind - there's a little song he co-wrote called "Hidin' From Love" that my best gal Lisa Hartman recorded. I also just randomly found a video he made of his version of the song - strange that I had the dream before I saw him in these shorts. Hopefully, this won't be a recurring thing - check out the two videos:
Some poeple have been asking me to reload a few Lisa Hartman albums that have since gone the way of cyberblackhole so below you will find new links to LISA HARTMAN - the self titled 1976 album and HOLD ON from 1979. For those of you asking for the compilations "Dreamer Of Dreams" and "Could Be Magic" I will have those up tonight - for sure...
Our tree is up, I mailed out boxes to my family (ies) in Wisconsin and now the presents are arriving at my house. Yesterday we got home from work and there was a little package from a pal of mine I've never even met personally but we exchange music and fun stuff all the time and he got me the VERY best present ever:
That's right biatches, a Lisa Hartman coffee mug... thanx Shae! it's the very best and I don't know how I'm going to give you anything of an equivalent, but be ready for those mixers.
bubbaTUNESday - bub136 Lisa Hartman - Dreamer Of Dreams
Today's bubbatune brings you one of my all time fav gals of the world. She may be more famous these days as wife to Clint Black but there was a time when she was pretty damn popular on her own. There were tons of scantily clad pix of Lisa Hartman all over the magazines in the 80s when she was at the height of her fame if you will, which would've been the Knots Landing years and shortly there after. But like most people who do know who she is, Lisa Hartman Black, the singer isn't much more than an occassional duet partner for her husband. But it's actually music and a record contract that first brought Lisa Hartman into the world of celebrity.
Her first soft pop self titled album came out in 1976, followed by a one off single in 1978, a Motown inspired rock album called Hold On in 1979, then my favorite - her 1982 rock album Letterock and her theme to the film Where The Boys Are '84 and finally another rock album in 1987. All the while she stayed busy making TV movies and appearing on Knots Landing for four years. Now she shows up occassionally on record and in concert with Clint, but this little collection called Dreamer Of Dreams shows Miss Hartman doing what she had set out to do - make records... and though the elusive hit didn't happen until her marriage, that doesn't mean these songs don't deserve a good listen or ten.
bub136 LISA HARTMAN - DREAMER OF DREAMS(December 2008)
Years and years ago someone online sent me all the Lisa Hartman music they could get their hands on and I put them into the Bubbatunes collections (bub7) as a 2 CD set but since those days I have come up with the whole Lisa Hartman re-releases and a collection of rarities and felt it was time to come out with a one disc comprehensive collection of Lisa's best ofs.
I tried to incorporate every single 7" single she released but didn't quite make it as I had to have some favorite album tracks thrown on as well. We have all 3 of the Clint Black duets, and songs covering all four of Lisa's solo albums, plus some one off singles and even some "rare" "live" stuff from her films and Knots Landing.
Rather than do a chronological look at Lisa, I thought it was way more fun and just throw it all out there and see how it lands, so we start with the newest song available "You Still Get To Me" - the latest duet with her husband from last March, before going to the vaults and pulling songs and singles from her albums.
Some rare points include the 7" cut versions of "Where The Boys Are" and "I Don't Need Love" - two songs that should have been hits.
The majority of these songs come from what is my favorite album in her catalog - 1982's Letterock which should've been a hit if not just from the fact Lisa sang some of these songs on Knots Landing. Included in Dreamer Of Dreams, is the single "Hidin' From Love", "If Love Must Go", "Hole In My Heart", "New Romance (It's A Mystery)" and "Games" - the last four which were all performed on Knots Landing - (Games is performed during the scene when a drunken Gary wrecks Ciji Dunne's recording session by telling Abby they are 'ruinninnggg liiiives!'). Also from Letterock is Lisa's pseudo homage to gays with "Johnny's Always On My Mind"
1979's Hold On has some of my favorite Lisa songs and the ones included here include "Walk Away" (the one and only single released) and its B-side - an update on the Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On" (which she also performed on Knots Landing), my favorite from that album "If You Want To Come Home" and the pretty ballad "Don't You Love Me Anymore" (incidentally also sung on Knots).
From her final album Til My Heart Stops, I threw on all three of the singles - the aforementioned "I Don't Need Love" plus the pop/rock ballady "The Dress" and the rocking "Tempt Me (If You Want To)".
The vault begins with her self titled 1976 album and from there comes the singles "Saying Hello, Saying I Love You, Saying Goodbye" and "Pickin' Up The Pieces" but I had to dump the final single "Kentucky Rainbows" for one of my fav album tracks, "Somebody Been Lovin' Her".
In the same musical vein as the Lisa Hartman songs is the 1978 single "Nobody Likes Lovin' More Than I Do (Dreamer Of Dreams)" which is where our title is sort of derived from.
The rarer songs come out with her cover of "Sometimes When We Touch" which was sung on Knots Landing, and "Waitin' For A Miracle" which our girl sang on the TV film The Great American Traffic Jam in 1980.
So even though these songs never made any chart dent, they left a huge dent in my life, and I love all of Lisa's songs and now maybe you will too, and of course we all know things worked out for Lisa but it would've been great if just one of these ditties had had some chart action, after all at the biggest time in her career Lisa told TV Guide, "I want to sing. I came out here with a dream and I still want that to happen." Alas, a dreamer of dreams.
bub136 LISA HARTMAN - Dreamer Of Dreams Track List: 01. YOU STILL GET TO ME (w/ Clint Black) 02. IF YOU WANT TO COME HOME 03. HOLE IN MY HEART 04. WHERE THE BOYS ARE (Single Version) 05. I DON'T NEED LOVE (Single Version) 06. NEW ROMANCE (IT'S A MYSTERY) 07. YOU KEEP ME HANGIN' ON 08. EASY FOR ME TO SAY (w/ Clint Black) 09. SAYING HELLO, SAYING I LOVE YOU, SAYING GOODBYE 10. HIDIN' FROM LOVE 11. THE DRESS 12. PICKIN' UP THE PIECES 13. WAITING FOR A MIRACLE 14. WALK AWAY 15. TEMPT ME (IF YOU WANT TO) 16. IF LOVE MUST GO 17. NOBODY LIKES LOVIN' MORE THAN I DO (DREAMER OF DREAMS) 18. JOHNNY'S ALWAYS ON MY MIND 19. SOMETIMES WHEN WE TOUCH 20. GAMES 21. SOMEBODY BEEN LOVIN' HER 22. WHEN I SAID I DO (w/ Clint Black) 23. DON'T YOU LOVE ME ANYMORE
This week I have so many things that have become my favorite things and now it's time to share...
First, equality is a favorite thing of mine - namely the wise courts of Iowa and Vermont who in one week decided that not allowing gay people to marry is discrimination. Also, Washington DC has decided to honor gay marriages (though I guess it would now be all marriages) from other states and of course Sweden (my ancestor peeps) who have also instated gay people the right to marry.
And what to do after you get married, well take your pals and head to my new favorite bar, the Normandie Room, just down on the corner from my home. I have had a good time every time I've been there. Though I think I left my umbrella ella ella hey hey there on Tuesday. Oh well I'll just have to stop in for one of there $2 happy hour drinks to get my ella ella on.
Then when I get home I can jam to the tuneful tunes that Wounded Bird Records keeps putting out. In the past they've been responsible for releasing all of Ellen Foley's albums on CD, re-releasing Deborah Harry's Debravation and Def Dumb & Blonde, releasing all of Melissa Manchester's albums on CD, recently releasing not one but four Juice Newton albums on CD and of course they were so wise when earlier this year they released Lisa Hartman's Til My Heart Stops on CD - I'm sure it's just a matter of time til the rest of Mrs. Black's albums hit the street thanks to the those peeps at Wounded Bird. Maybe they're hiring!!!
The cul-de-SAC that is... it's official, finally after about three years the second season of my beloved Knots Landing is coming to DVD on April 14th!!!! I can't even tell you how exciting this is.
First of all, this is my all time fav show and secondly the 1980-1981 season is the one where Miss Donna Mills joined the cast as Abby Cunningham! This is so exciting and if everyone in the world will buy a copy, then the chances for season 3 (yay!) and (gulp) season 4 are inevitable. You see with season 4 not only do you get Michele Lee, Donna Mills, the insanely awesome Joan Van Ark and the super cool as a cucumber Constance McCashin but you also get Lisa Hartman as Ciji!
You didn't think just because it's the weekend I'd forget about Lisa Hartman Week now did you? A week is, after all, 7 whole days so here we are at Day 6 and it's a doozie..
bub 55 Lisa Hartman - COULD BE MAGIC (2005)
The holy grail in Lisa Hartman music, this is the CD all the Knots knuts really want - full of rare televison and movie songs from my Lisa, Could Be Magic had a lot of research, a lot of time and a lot of love put into it. My pal Shae came up with the music, very hard to find and very hard to manipulate but he did it, cuz well he's super cool that way - and then I took those songs and manipulated and "remasterd" as best I could.
The problem wiht movie and TV songs are the lengths and the background noise in them - a lot of songs are cut mid way to cut to another scene, some are done at the beginning and then the show cuts to another scene before going back to the song, and for those Shae was awesome in putting some songs together. I tried to put the more perfect songs at the beginning and go from there - for some of these though edited versions of a real song are complete songs in themselves.
For most fans they want the songs Lisa sang on Knots Landing. In her first stint on the show when she played Ciji Dunne, Lisa did a lot of songs she recorded herself on her Letterock album but there were moments of different songs in Ciji's catalog including an excellant version of "Sometimes When We Touch" and Journey's "Open Arms" though it should be noted the Journey song was never done in one full scene so it's one that had to be meshed together, and a thrill for many, a version of "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" sung with Julie Harris that the characters of Ciji and Lilimae sang at a block party.
When Lisa returned to Knots Landing the following year as Cathy Geary her singing was fairly limited, Gary caught her singing Journey's "Separate Ways" at a bar towards the end of the season and the only other time she sang was at the piano in the ranch where she finished a full verse of Linda Ronstadt's "Love Has No Pride" before being interrupted.
But the following season, Cathy got a job singing at Isadora's and then went onto her boy's religious program so she was like a walking performing American Top 40 singing the hits of 1984-85 and continuing the following season (her last on the show). So we get a ton of little gems, some are full completions (though like I said they are shorter versions of the real song) including Corey Hart's "Never Surrender", "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" (which was done as a kind of mini video in the series), Pat Benatar's "We Belong", Survivor's "The Search Is Over", Foreigner's "That Was Yesterday", Rick Springfield's "Love Somebody" ( a real highlight though it's too bad it's one of those that had to be meshed together), a wonderful cover of Bee Gee's "Words" and the ultimate in fan favs the synthesized religious "Jehovah".
But Lisa performed elsewhere as well including her stint as Neely O'Hara in Valley Of The Dolls '81 where she rocked it out with Could Be Magic's opening track "However Dark The Night" and a different take of "Why Baby" which would end up on her Letterock album.
Also included is another rarity that is thrilling in how well I got it to sound, the theme song "It Could Be Magic" from her short lived 1977 sitcom Tabitha. There's also some songs from a TV special Lisa did in early 1979 entitled The Lisa Hartman Show : Hot Stuff - we have the title of that show here (no, it's not a Donna Summer cover which would've been so cool), and a duet with Ricci Martin (different Ricci than Ricky) who is the son of Dean Martin and starred with Lisa in the movie Just Tell Me You Love Me; here the duo take on Kenny Loggins/Stevie Nicks with a version of "Whenver I Call You 'Friend'" and also from the special is what I do believe is Shae's favorite - a rousing version of the Beatles' "The Long & Winding Road".
The 39 song Could Be Magic may seem a little dauntng but you have to remember a lot of these are about 2 minutes long at best with most of the second half of the compilation comprised of songs that just end because the scene was cut. But for the Lisa Hartman enthusiast this is a real find.
LISA HARTMAN - COULD BE MAGIC (bub55) Track List: 01. However Dark The Night 02. Sometimes When We Touch 03. Why Me? 04. The Long & Winding Road 05. Love Somebody 06. Never Surrender 07. Words 08. How Am I Supposed To Live Without You 09. Love Don't Live Here Anymore 10. Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) 11. We Belong 12. I Can Dream About You 13. Jehovah 14. Whenever I Call You Friend 15. Open Arms 16. Dancing In The Street 17. The Race Is On 18. The Search Is Over 19. That Was Yesterday 20. It Could Be Magic 21. Will The Circle Be Unbroken 22. Why Baby '81 23. Ease On Down The Road 24. Where The Boys Are Live 25. You're The One 26. Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow 27. Love Has No Pride 28. Beat Of A Heart 29. Games - Alternate Version 30. Time After Time 31. Let's Be Lovers Tonight 32. If Love Must Go - piano version 33. Don't Tell Me About It 34. Don't You Love Me Anymore - Alternate 35. Tender Evening 36. Caroline 37. Something's Not Right 38. Hot Stuff 39. Run Around
For more intensity check out these Lisa Hartman links:
Cathy Geary singing "Jehovah" on Joshua's television show which starts at 1:06 but before that is a GREAT GREAT scene with Joan Van Ark as Val and Julie Harris as her Mama Lilimae in a scene everyone calls "the perm scene" it's so cool - but then check out Jehovah:
Cathy - in a super kewl blue dress - doing my girl Benatar's We Belong
Well until my heart stops beating I'll be loving Mrs. B and here we are at day 5 of our Lisa Hartman Week and what better way to continue on then with our girl's last album Til My Heart Stops. Picture it, 1987 the drum machines are buzzing, the hair gel is flying and my girl has never looked better.
bub 48 Lisa Hartman - TIL MY HEART STOPS(2004; 1987)
The only Lisa Hartman album to have an official release on CD, this 1987 freestylin' synth drum popping album is long out of print and another that fans search and search for. The last going price I found for it was $75 starting, so it's pretty cool that Bubbatunes is around and with bonus cuts to boot.
Til My Heart Stops seems to be an album that Lisa really wanted to make. Her voice is strong, the songs are well chosen rock/pop songs of the era and she even co-wrote a little. Also a thing to think of is when she recorded the album she had made a name for herslef as an actress, having chosen to leave her 4 year stint on Knots Landing and concentrate on TV films, which included the starring role in a huge mini series Roses Are For The Rich, the same year as this album, so she more than likely could've given up the singing all together but not our girl for even in a 1985 TV Guide article about her role on Knots Landing, she declared she really wanted to be a singer, "I came out here with a dream and plan to fulfill it," she said.
So Lisa fled the cul-de-sac of Knots Landing and headed to the studio to begin recording a new album of fresh material. I remember when Til My Heart Stops came out, I was so frickin' excited and I couldn't wait to get it. It seemed to have come out around my birthday in the summer of the year I was living in a car with Tim Tauges and camping out all the time, as he wrote a bad check at Camelot Music to buy it for me as a birthday present - oh the men I fell for.
Anyhoos, opening with the rocking "Tempt Me (If You Want To)", the album found Lisa in full on rock mode, a Benatar-ish attitude set to the freestyle synth pop of 1987. In fact that's perhaps what made the album fail, (chart wise) is that it wasn't anything particularly fresh or unheard of. But that shouldn't be held against her then or now as she took the style that worked for her and I can tell you this album was on constant and I do mean constant replay that summer and beyond.
The first single was the slight ballady "I Don't Need Love" complete with guitar solos and a growling Lisa bridge, there is even an awesome video featuring her 1987 hot hair. 'Til My Heart Stops goes through all the motions of the synth pop/rock including more of the ballad styled songs like the awesome "How Many Rivers" and a single "The Dress" in which she tries to get her man back by declaring she could wear the dress he used to love. "Til My Heart Stops Beating" is an epic ballad with drums and guitars and a heart felt gut wrenching performance by Lisa and is probably one of her best sung songs.
The rockier side of Lisa shows through on the rest of these 9 tracks including the bouncy "Ooh I'm Satisfied" and the bitter-ish "Tender Kiss" but it's really "Imagination" and "I Can't Get You Out Of My System" that stand out for me. In the former, Lisa is at the club when a guy eyes her up and down and up again as she wonders if it's all in her mind, the song leads to a fairly predictable solution but the grittiness and sexiness of the song takes you to that conclusion with great results. In "I Can't Get You Out Of My System", the cliches may fly fast and furious in the lyrics but what was 80's rock about if not cliches? It's a perfect product of its time and if I were in charge that is the song I would've released as a single and I think Lisa may have a had a good shot at the charts.
As it stands I really love 'Til My Heart Stops but for some reason I don't love it as much as I did in 1987, for some reason the whole style of the sound that was so prominent then sounds more dated than her earlier 80's album Letterock. I'm sure it's the syths and the drum machines that do it, but if you get past that or if that's what you like about that era's ear than Til My Heart Stops is a great listen.
In any case, it's great to hear Lisa stir up a rock album with such gusto.To add to the bonus side of this album, we took the only post- Til My Heart Stops songs Lisa has ever recorded (as of 2004). Her two hits (yes they hit the charts!) duets with Clint Black - the chart topping, award winning (just like Lisa always wanted) "When I Said I Do"; a song Lisa didn't even want to record as she thought Clint's career had gone so well so far and her music career was well not so successful, she felt for sure she'd jinx it, but Clint said he wasn't going to record it with anyone else but her and he would just shelve the song so she finally agreed and she got those awards that she alwasy wanted, not to mention a new legion of fans for her singing as the song is one of the top wedding songs since its release in 1999.
Two years later, the Blacks got together again to record another duet - the much better in my opinion, "Easy For Me To Say"; not quite as big of a hit but still a hit none the less and a very sweet, not sickly sweet just nice, song about loving each other. I've decided it's one of the songs I have dubbed "our songs" with the Leivas.
LISA HARTMAN - TIL MY HEART STOPS (bub48) Track List: 01. Tempt Me (If You Want To) 02. I Don't Need Love 03. Ooh I'm Satisfied 04. I Can't Get You Out Of My System 05. Tender Kiss 06. The Dress 07. How Many Rivers 08. Imagination 09. 'Til My Heart Stops Beating Bonus Tracks:10. When I Said I Do (with Clint Black) 11. Easy For Me To Say (with Clint Black)
A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS - The Lisa Hartman Edition
KNOTS LANDING That's right I love a little soap show that aired on Thursday nights from 1979-1993 and why not that's 14 frickin' years of my life. Of course I didn't really start watching religiously until 1983 when I stumbled upon Miss Lisa in her first year on the show, but once I was there I was hooked. The best seasons are most definitely the Lisa Years seasons 4-7 and that's not soley because of my love for Lisa - everyone including the writers and the directors are at the very tip top of their game during those years of 1982-1986. And though I love me My Miss Anne Matheson and Claudia Whittaker from the later years it was a completely different show by the time it ended - but with a big cast and some brilliant acting that's how a show can remain on the air for so long..
Anyhoos, here's some awesome little clips that show just a few reasons I love it (and Lisa so) - our first clip has Lisa playing Cathy Geary after getting a make over paid for by Gary Ewing (hottie Ted Shackelford) - he is dressing her up and cutting her 'do to make her look like the dead Ciji Dunne - Cathy comes back to the weight room with her alien dress and the Ciji Dunne album - there is a lot of great moments from one of my all time fac characters Laura Avery played by Constance McCashin so enjoy:
The second Knots moment is from the season 7 episode "Rise & Fall" where the bible thumping maniac Joshua Rush (Alec Baldwin - yes that Alec Baldwin) is ready to throw his wife (Cathy Geary Rush) off the roof of a building so they can be together forever - but not if Mama Lilimae Clements (the superb Julie Harris) has anything to do with it - this scene should have gotten them all Emmy nominations! Oh and by the way I so want that giant Billboard of Lisa Hartman - I wonder if she got to keep it as a prop.
2000 MALIBU ROAD Lisa Hartman left Knots Landing in 1986 to pursue music and a TV movie career and by the time she was ready to head back to a series she had become Lisa Hartman Black and opted to join the Aaron Spelling produced 2000 Malibu Road - as pretty much the lead though it was a character driven show. In the show, Lisa plays Jade a high class call girl looking to go good, so she has to get roomates in order to pay for her Malibu mansion - in comes Jennifer Beals as a haunted and slightly drunkard attorney, Drew Barrymore in one of her adult come back roles as a would be actress, Tuesday Knight as Drew's demented and hilarious sister and Brian Bloom as just one of the many hotties in the show. The ratings were huge when it debuted in the summer of 1993 but apparantly budgets were so friggin high on the show, the producers opted to just shut it all down rather than discover how the girls got out of the sticky situations they had found themselves in. This is one that NEEDS to be on DVD! I blame Candy Spelling for it still sitting on the shelf - well that and a number of other things.
and finally one of only three big time movie roles Lisa had - this one as somewhat virginal Jennie on her spring break in Fort Lauderdale in the sometimes hilarious and always entertaining Where The Boys Are '84 and the obligatory pot smoking scene:
Welcome to Day 3 of our rather intense and entertaining LISA HARTMAN WEEK and today we have the motherlode of Lisa's recorded music to share with u! Oh yes, kiddies it's Letterock and you are going to love it!
bub 46 Lisa Hartman - LETTEROCK (2004; 1982)
The most infamous of all the Lisa Hartman albums, Letterock is the album everyone searches for and though I think that has a lot to do with the fact she sang a slew of these songs in her stint as Ciji Dunne on Knots Landing, it should also be noted that this is probably her most consistent and appealing album.
In fact of all four of Lisa's albums, Letterock holds the place in my heart as my favorite. Not because it’s the music that first introduced me to Lisa Hartman or even the fact it’s the 80s personified or even the shot of Lisa in a blue teddy on the back cover (yes even on the Bubbatunes reissue), I just happen to think it’s a damn good album and why it didn’t score with radio is a mystery to me. Letterock even had the advantage of promotion as Lisa was performing the songs on Knots Landing. But apparantly timing is everything and Letterock was released months before Lisa debuted on the show and so when she was signing those songs her album had already hit bargain bins and the like. But none of that means this album isn't good because it really is, I mean really, it is. Letterock opens with “Hidin’ From Love” a rocking little number that sounds like so many other 80s songs only this is Lisa singing it. The song is actually a Bryan Adams written ditty and has been covered by others, but Lisa did it first. It was the first (and only) single released from the album and it’s always been one of my favorites. “Hidin’” along with a few of the other tracks has a little countrified rock sound going on that was so typical of 1982. Not quite as country as say Juice Newton but not quite as rock as say Pat Benatar - it (like most of the album) has a kind of Rick Springfield-ishness sound to it. Riding somewhere in between (“Riding in the middle/you’re halfway into me”) it should’ve struck a chord with someone. Lisa sasses her way through the song hoping her guy will stop hiding from love, “You were hoping love was something else/ I was hoping it was you.” Interestingly enough this song is one she didn’t perform on Knots Landing – though she would begin performing it when the album was re-released in 1984
“Why Baby” opens with the background synthesized “aaahs” of some male singers and a breezy new wave country feel. Like most of the songs on the album, the topic is love or lost love but Lisa is riding on different territory so it isn’t so much a song of desperation as it is of confused turmoil. She gave her best but “you were lying” so “Why Baby, why are you back on my mind again?” The song originally appeared in the 1981 TV Movie Valley Of The Dolls where Lisa played the Neely O’Hara character. Apparently Lisa liked it enough to record a different version for this album.
“Johnny’s Always On My Mind” has to be one of those 1980s gems that everyone wanted to do. It’s the rock version of the new wave pseudo hit “Johnny Are You Queer?” telling the tale of a boy named Johnny that the singer is in love with. Unfortunately John has a boyfriend, “His name is Don and he’s a major disappointment.” But that won’t stop Lisa, she’s going to “make it with his roommate” while he’s gone - anything to get Johnny off her mind. It’s hilarious, it’s topical, it’s something she did not perform on Knots Landing. Though with the subtext of Laura and Ciji being lesbian lovers, the song may have been perfect.
Now for the goods, “If Love Must Go” begins with a twang, a ballad of 1980s Urban Cowboy mentality. Lisa performed the song on Knots Landing the very first time she ever donned the famous red alien dress. In the show, she sings the song as the characters’ love lives are falling apart; a poignant moment of the series and a great performance on record. In fact Lisa, whose voice isn’t all that edgy or full of range, performs her little heart out and trying to sing along is a lot harder than you would think. In spite of or even because of the country twang in the song, I really like it. It has the feeling of a smoky small town bar where the lights are coming up, the booze has been drunk and your love life is in the toilet. Lisa has a way of singing about heartbreak in the most delicious manner.
In 1981, another soap star by the name of Rick Springfield made an album called Working Class Dog. The album contained a little ditty known as “Jessie’s Girl” and Rick became an international music star leaving behind his soap opera days. Like Lisa, Rick was originally a singer way before ever trying his hand at acting. Unlike Lisa, Rick found that international success and got to leave the acting behind him.
It’s almost ironic that Lisa chose a Rick Springfield song to cover. Even choosing one off of Working Class Dog but that's exactly what she did with “Hole In My Heart”. Perhaps it wasn't irony at all but just very well thought out publicity since "Hole In My Heart" is also the Lisa song that was most heavily promoted on Knots Landing. (For nit pickers, I said it’s almost ironic, I’m still rather confused – I blame Alanis of course, for a lesbian comedienne recently told me, Alanis did not have “ironic” experiences but rather she had “unfortunate” things happen to her – irony is “a Scottish man cloning a sheep” and not a “black fly in your Chardonnay.” – so whether or not this is ironic, is really up to you – it is at least interesting, right?)
I didn’t have the Rick Springfield album until years later so it was Lisa’s version of “Hole In My Heart” that I heard first. I’m still a little torn between which version I like the best. I know I like the ending of the Rick version better which ends with an overdubbed version of the chorus just hanging mid air, but I have to say Lisa does a bang up killer job on this rocking track.
The imagery of the song, the lyrics, (“I must’ve looked like a prime one/running after you thinking we still could survive/but nobody I ever loved ever hurt me like you did/and I can feel it…”) and Lisa’s best growling through the verses and the long-winded “Iiiiiiveee got a hoooole in my heeeaart” make this one enjoyable ditty and open to repeated listens. Once again it’s a bitch to sing along with, though that doesn’t stop anyone I know.
“Two To Do” begins with keyboards churning, rock guitars crunching, a piano pounding away and Lisa crooning “when you’re alone the night can last forever/it takes love to get you through and love takes two to do.” Not necessarily the most clever lyric but the passionate approach and the general electricity make the track so 1982 enjoyable.
“Games” is pseudo ballad/pseudo new wave in the vein of “Why Baby,” only this time we have some pretty clever lyrics. Comparing love to a game of cards is probably nothing new (“Queen Of Hearts” anyone) but I’ve always liked this particular lyric. It’s also one of Lisa’s best vocal performances declaring, “Those Games that you play/don’t you play them with me.”
I’ve always loved female performers but I am especially partial to those that are sassy, no holds barred, not to be messed around with women. Of course I’m also an 80s aficionado who loves a good pop hook and this song pretty much has it all. The background “Aaahs”, the keyboards, the guitar solo all help to make this song one of the best on the album. Again, it’s a song she performed on Knots Landing so Lisa must’ve enjoyed it as well. Lookie here as she performs it (starting at :44) though a drunken Gary Ewing does break up the recording session:
Like “Hidin’ From Love” and “Why Baby” it borders on the country pop line but with its stops and starts, the keyboard running through it, the guitar solo and Lisa screaming, “no baby no baby no no!” at the end, it rises up above those two songs and I love it! It’s another I have to wonder, "Why baby, why wasn’t this a hit?"
Where “If Love Must Go” was the ballad with the guitar, “Miss You (Like I Do)” (and B-side to the single "Hidin' From Love") is the full on piano ballad. It’s fairly reminiscent of the material Lisa did on her previous album, 1979’s Hold On, but instead of being 1970s shtick, it’s very modern (1982 modern but modern nonetheless). Thanks to the minimalist instrumentation this one may stand up in the contemporary world than others on the album.
One of my favorite Lisa ballads is “Don’t You Love Me Anymore” from Hold On and this one is a close runner up to that song. Lisa’s high pitched crooning, emphasizing every note and word, touches me somehow. Like any good ballad, the song starts slow and quiet and gears up from there. The first verse is piano and then the drums and guitars kick in, then the bridge. I am a sucker for a good bridge and this song has one of the best, “For some folks it can be so hard/depending on who thought who was true/but as it stands/ well all I’ve got/is too much time trying to figure out/ how a love so strong/ could go so wrong/I miss you like I do” then a guitar solo. I tell you this song has it all. It’s a sweet little number that I always end up replaying after I listen to it.
The album’s closers are where Lisa really letserock (get it?). It’s rock and rock in 1982 new wave fashion and probably not coincidentally these two songs seem to be the most popular among her fans as well. It’s really no wonder once you hear them.
“Don’t Let Me Go” kicks in with a hard new wave drumbeat, cowbells(??) and guitar then Lisa takes it from there, growling and squeaking her vocals. “Oh baby don’t let me go/I’ll do what you do (oouh!)/I’ll go where you go/still I don’t know/what’s going on/ between you and me/it’s not like it’s supposed to be/I sit around by the telephone/I wait for your call/you left hours ago/and I’m tired of waiting around/hanging around/just a goin’ around.”
The song is obviously a plead not to be thrown away by her lover but the power that lies in the thumping beat and Lisa’s hardcore vocal take lead you to believe she doesn’t really care if you let her go or not. Perhaps Johnny is still on her mind. The versatile song combining high hats, a great guitar solo and drum rolls severe could’ve been a hit for anyone from Josie Cotton to Olivia Newton-John to the Go Go’s. The performance and the music is new wave at some of its finest. Again, why wasn’t this a hit? I would’ve roller-skated to it.
The final track of the original album is “New Romance (It’s A Mystery)” which is a song whose story and connections could probably write a full biography. Written by Holly Knight and Anton Fig of the band Spider it was a top 40 (#39) hit for the band in 1981. It would be their only single chart success but tucked away inside of the band’s two albums was not only this little nugget but a song called “Better Be Good To Me” which Tina Turner made into a hit, “Changes” a hit for John Waite and “Little Darlin’” a song that Rachel Sweet took to new levels. Spider (with lead vocals by Amanda Blue) would only have a hit with “New Romance” but Holly would go on to better things – not only as co-writer of the above mentioned songs but also “The Warrior” (Scandal), “Love Is A Battlefield” and “Invincible” (Pat Benatar) and a few more for just about every artist involved in 80s rock.
I recently found the two Spider albums conveniently released on one CD. I hadn’t known how exactly I was going to react to their “New Romance” as to me it will always be Lisa’s song. I was particularly afraid I might like the original better. Luckily, I was wrong. Lisa takes the song to completely different levels. Amanda’s voice is low and manly and somewhat off key while Lisa does a Benatar impression and I think it’s her version that should’ve hit the top 40. Incidentally, Spider’s version of “Better Be Good To Me” is killer.
Lisa’s “New Romance (It’s A Mystery)” is a new wave confection, starting with a keyboard whirlwind and a drumbeat roll blended by a thumping guitar lick which pushes through the first verse … “I fell in love today/never thought I’d feel this way/been so tired of one night stands/now I’m ready for a new romance” before the “ooh’s” kick in and the beat changes, “oooh it’s a mystery/I can’t figure it out/oooh it’s a mystery/do you know what I’m talking about”, then the beat changes again adding a harder edged kick, “Do you love me? Do you want me? Maybe it’s crazy/Give it a chance/I think I like this New Romance.” Then the whole idea starts over for the second verse.
On Knots Landing, this song could arguably be dubbed as Lisa’s (and thus Ciji’s) theme song. It’s the first song Ciji is actually able to lay down a track for when recording her album and the episode “Celebration” which is the one in which Ciji ends up dead on the beach, begins as a pseudo music video for the song.
The episode begins with different shots of Ciji riding her bike through Knots Landing. Wearing short shorts cut in one side red/one side white, she whizzes through the street as the song plays. We get practically the whole song in those first three minutes of the show and it’s a great send off not only for the Ciji Dunne character but for the Letterock album as well. Again...single? Hit? Why? Check out the “video” here:
When Lisa Hartman signed onto Knots Landing in 1982 it was for the sole purpose of exposing more people to her music. She had just released Letterock when filming began and she thought it would be the perfect vehicle for such a thing. For some reason, it didn’t work out that way. After Lisa had been back on the show and again making a splash in the waves off of Knots Landing, the album was re-released and re-named Lisa Hartman. The front and back cover was switched around putting the shot of Lisa in her neon blue negligee front and center. There was even a huge sticker stuck to the front, declaring, “Lisa Hartman, singer of TV’s Knots Landing.” Again, the album didn’t sell.
In between leaving and returning to Knots Landing, Lisa starred in a little known series called High Performance and got her big movie break. She took one of the leads in yet another classic remake when she starred in Where The Boys Are ‘84.
The movie is about four-college girls heading to Fort Lauderdale for Spring Break. Lisa is a music major who meets one of her friend’s classic music loving cousins. Meanwhile, a more rock and roll guy also has his eye on Lisa. The movie is pure T&A comedy so typical of the 80s but it gave Lisa a chance to release one more single in the theme song.
I had the luxury of seeing her perform “Where The Boys Are” on Solid Gold when I was a kid and the sheer excitement of it all was a tad too intense for my little frame. I had to see the movie, but alas I couldn’t for it was “filth” in my mother’s words. Eventually, I would see it and so typical of almost everything Lisa has done, it’s yet to see an official DVD release – just like this CD!
When I wanted to do a cover of a Lisa Hartman song my intitial choice was of course "New Romance" but once those beats starting dripping out of my head, I knew a pop dance cover of "Where The Boys Are" was the way to go. Actually, it came to me one day while listening to this very album. I thought, "What a great song to cover," and initially the song was going to be a lot closer to this version. Of course, Lisa's version isn't all that different from the original Connie Francis version so I took a completely different direction. And MOST people seem to enjoy it, I wonder what the queen Mrs. Black would think of it, someone will have to ask her! You can download the Swivek version here.
The "Where The Boys Are" single, like the Letterock album, and to some extent, the movie itself, didn’t make much of a dent in the charts, or pop culture for that matter, and just like the single, the Letterock album and the movie, the reasons for the lack of success aren't very clear. Lisa’s musical performances are of no less caliber than any of the female rockers of the day who happened to have hits.
Lisa definitely had the look, she had the talent, and she had the sass, plus she seemed down right likeable. Perhaps it was timing, musical tastes were changing, other females were coming up, perhaps it was the radio stations. Pat Benatar said even during her highest career point some radio programmers would tell her they were already playing one female on the radio and didn’t have room for more.
By the mid 80s (and Lisa’s next album) the landscape was different, but again it didn’t work out for our girl, perhaps by then there were just too many women rock performers. Whatever the reasons, and there are plenty of them, Letterock didn’t take off but it hasn’t left my CD player since I made this reissue or anyone else’s who happens to have a copy of it… and that should say something about the lasting power of Lisa Hartman’s music.
LISA HARTMAN - LETTEROCK (bub47) Track List: 01. Hidin' From Love 02. Why Baby 03. Johnny's Always On My Mind 04. If Love Must Go 05. Hole In My Heart 06. Two To Do 07. Games 08. Miss You (Like I Do) 09. Don't Let Me Go 10. New Romance (It's A Mystery) Bonus Track: 11. Where The Boys Are
Here's a little treat for you all - in our little themed Lisa Hartman week - here is my girl playing Cathy Geary on Knots Landing and singing "Don't You Love Me Anymore" from her album Hold On (see previous post) I know, I'm such a giver.
So a few friends from the O.C. showed up last night and we hit the bar and a club to see a couple of bands - which means I just got to work and am still drunk - I mean hungover... either way today's trip to the wonderful world of Lisa Hartman week will be brief but oh so worth it -
bub 46 Lisa Hartman - HOLD ON (2004; 1979)
Lisa came off of Tabitha and a few films to try her hand in the studio one more time, 1979's Hold On pushed her music more toward the Motown sound she had grown up loving than the adult contemporary she had done on her debut. Opening with a cover of "Hold On I'm Comin'" the album was off and running with a renewed energy and some pretty killer hooks; the strangely entertaining "If You Want To Come Home" is pure Bob Segar-ish type of late 70's pop/rock and with the back up "oohs" and "aahs" you can hear the original Motown influence and the "we can just sit home and get high" lines gives it that ultra cool 1970's feel but for some reason it wasn't a hit, in fact it wasn't even released as a single but had I been an A&R guy it's the one I would've pulled.
Instead they pulled "Walk Away" which is a good song but it's another ballad and it seems to me they were really trying to push her as an Olivia styled chanteuse, but by 1979 even ONJ was wearing leather pants and cooing to the rock beat of "Deeper Than The Night". But it's not like they concentrated only on ballads for Hold On, for Lisa tackles some fairly big rock tunes to cover, Segar's "Old Time Rock & Roll" and the Supreme's "You Keep Me Hangin' On" which she does well on both though I much prefer her Supremes cover which is slightly more convincing than the lyrics of "Old Time Rock & Roll" particularly when you put those lyrics of reclaiming rock and roll along side the disco tinged "Who's Gonna Hold You" or the string laced "Steal Away Again."
But don't get me wrong, I'm not making fun of these songs at all because for some reason I really, really love them. The thrill of having CD's no one else can buy keeps me going and the love and admiration I have for my Ciji Dunne also only goes so far, eventually you have to cut to the music and I can honestly say I love this album. Her ballads aren't the cringe worthy over the topness of say some of the catalogs from Melissa Machester or god forbid Celine Dion, instead we have a group of really pretty songs about love and longing and none are better than the closing track of Hold On, "Don't You Love Me Anymore" a very bittersweet rendition with a crackling performance by Lisa where it almost appears as if she is crying by the end of the song, a great song.
But should I ever not include something bonus like to it, we get two great rock songs from 1980; the uber catchy and fabulousness of "Falling In Love With Love" and "Waiting For A Miracle". The pair are songs she performed in the TV movie The Great American Traffic Jam, playing, what else but a singer of a rock band caught in the great traffic jam with her band mates so they perform a few songs and these songs are two of my favorites in Lisa's whole collection. Unfortunetly they were never issued in any form, well until Bubbatunes stepped in.
Lisa Hartman - Hold On (bub46) Track List:01. Hold On I'm Comin' 02. If You Want To Come Home 03. Oh Me Oh My 04. Walk Away 05. Old Time Rock & Roll 06. Who's Gonna Hold You 07. Steal Away Again 08. Livin' Without Your Love 09. You Keep Me Hangin' On 10. Don't You Love Me AnymoreBonus Tracks:11. Falling In Love With Love 12. Waiting For A Miracle
It's about time we had a Lisa Hartman (Black) week here at Bradley's Buzz. I had been planning on doing it way back in June when it was her birthday and even a few weeks before that when she had released a new duet with her hubby Clint Black - oh, did you miss that one? Well stick around for Lisa Hartman Week... until then...
Today in our first day of looking at all the brilliance and hotness that is Lisa we head to the past - back to when our girl was but a wee 19 year old with a dream and some big wigs behind her - as we look at into our Bubbatunes vaults at the first ever Lisa Hartman album!! Wooh ooh!
Anyhoos, in her bio at the time she is compared to Olivia Newton-John, Helen Reddy and Ann-margaret and why the hell not? Her first album, the self titled beauty that it is, comes off full of countrified ballads and mid tempo love songs like those three other ladies (Ann-Margaret???) were doing around 1976 - that's right this is from 1976. She is even produced and co-writing with frickin' Jeff Barry who not only wrote some brillz songs for the Brill Building days but had in 1974 co-written "I Honestly Love You" for ONJ - alas, none of the ten songs on Lisa Hartman scored any charts - even with three singles promo'd out - but I'll never know why.... why don't we head back to another time where I talked about the first Lisa Hartman shall we? Of course we shall....
bub 45 Lisa Hartman - LISA HARTMAN (2004; 1976)
Oh yes, this is the highlight of the entire Bubbatunes Collection if you want my honest to God; the entire Lisa Hartman album releases on CD for the very first time ever; well at least in my hot little hands. My girl is known to most as an actress and or wife to country crooner Clint Black who she married in 1991. After a couple more years of acting, our girl got preggers and kind of semi retired to Nashville and the family life; but every now and then she can be coaxed out to do a TV movie or sing a country duet with her husband.
But prior to all of this, Lisa Hartman had a dream - a dream to be the next big Grammy winning singer and for a brief minute or two it looked like it may happen.
Discovered singing in a bar band in Houston by Brill building biggie Jeff Barry, the 19 yer old Lisa was shipped off to LA to record her debut album. 10 midtempo pop songs were written for Lisa by members of Barry's team, mostly by Jeff himself. Not quite country yet not quite rock enough to be Linda Ronstadt, Lisa Hartman is more a product of the 1976 adult contemproary set, think pre-Grease but post-country Olivia Neton-John. You know 1976 ONJ.
The whole Lisa Hartman album was a bit of a surprise to me. First of all I never even knew it existed until around 2002 when I found a tribute site to Lisa called Kentucky Rainbows. The title Lisa Hartman was used for the reissue of her 1982 album Letterock so when I found there was a whole different Lisa Hartman titled album I was in awe.
Soon after that a fellow internet Lisa fan sent me the two CD's of Lisa songs I talked about back at bub07, but it was missing 4 of the 10 songs found on this album. A short while later I found "He Ain't You" and "Right As Rain" but it wasn't until 2004 when I contacted that original Kentucky Rainbows dude did I get "Seeing Is Believing" and "Room Without A Door", and you can imagine how exciting it was to find out almost 30 years later, two new Lisa tracks I had never heard.
And let me tell you "Room Without A Door" is a pure gem. A ballad set with strings and the whole shizz, she sings straight from the gut for her man to let her back into his life and more importantly to actually share his thought and feelings, "You're a river much too deep for me baby/ you're a mountain much too high/and I would like to laugh with you again baby/ like we used to laugh before/ but how can I get next to you baby/ you're like a room without a door.." It's by far my favorite track on the debut album.
Lisa Hartman launched three promo singles, all of them pseudo ballads so prominent of the time - "Pickin' Up The Pieces", "Saying Hello, Saying I Love You, Saying Goodbye" (also issued as an actual single with 'So Glad I Found You' as the B-side) and "Kentucky Rainbows"; all three are of the same type of vein, love found, love lost, love gone; but the individual songs definitely have their own personalities yet none of them seemed to mesh with either the radio programmers or their listeners.
Luckily, we're still left with all 10 of these gems and the song "He Ain't You" a type of countrified pop about breaking up with a man for another man but wanting the first man back (who hasn't done that) actually became a hit for Lynn Anderson on the country charts, and since it's one of the only songs co-written by Lisa herself, it was in some way gratifying for her I'm sure.
Lisa Hartman opens with the uptempo "Somebody Been Lovin' Her" and it's catchy fun right from the beginning to the end. The first single "Pickin' Up The Pieces" comes in right after and shows off that Lisa was not fooling around when it came to her singing. She belts it out and you feel the feelings coming off of her. In fact the whole debut album is a very pleasant surprise in that it's not terribly cheesy in a way a lot of music in this genre was, and Lisa's voice is very heartfelt and full of passion. She has a mid range alto and doesn't croon or orchestrate in a Streisand kind of way but instead just sings from her gut and gets her feelings out there through song. What more could a listener or singer really want? '
After the rather dismal failure of Lisa Hartman, our girl took up some modelling and acting jobs including the lead in the ABC series Tabitha, a spin off the Bewitched series about Samantha and Darrin's daughter living life in LA as an assistant at a TV station. The show didn't do well and Lisa took another stab at a single with 1978's "Nobody Likes Lovin' More Than I Do", a more upbeat track than most of the debut album though it is similar in sound to the opening track "Somebody Been Lovin' Her".
The single tells the tale of holding your ground against a one night stand declaring as much as she likes "lovin'" she wants more than just sex. The single came with the equally entertaining "100 Different Ways" as a B-side, both included here as bonus tracks.
LISA HARTMAN - Lisa Hartman (bub45; 2004) Track List:01. Somebody Been Lovin' Her 02. Pickin' Up The Pieces 03. Room Without A Door 04. Right As Rain 05. Kentucky Rainbows 06. Saying Hello, Saying I Love You, Saying Goodbye 07. Seeing Is Believing 08. So Glad I Found You 09. He Ain't You 10. The Ice Cream ManBonus Tracks:11. Nobody Likes Lovin' More Than I Do (Dreamer Of Dreams) 12. 100 Different Ways
Location: West Hollywood, California, United States
SHORT VERSION: Bradley Jacobson is a singer/songwriter, sometime actor, sometime writer, audio engineer and producer, and all around happy dude. He was the singer/songwriter of the electronic trashy punky pop band Swivek, but is now a "solo" artist releasing music under his own name.
bub136 LISA HARTMAN - DREAMER OF DREAMS (December 2008)
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First, equality is a favorite thing of mine - namely the wise courts of Iowa and Vermont who in one week decided that not allowing gay people to marry is discrimination. Also, Washington DC has decided to honor gay marriages (though I guess it would now be all marriages) from other states and of course Sweden (my ancestor peeps) who have also instated gay people the right to marry.
Well here we are at the last day of our week long tribute to one of my favorite people - Lisa Hartman!
bub 55 Lisa Hartman - COULD BE MAGIC (2005)
For more intensity check out these Lisa Hartman links:
bub 48 Lisa Hartman - TIL MY HEART STOPS (2004; 1987)
Anyhoos, opening with the rocking "Tempt Me (If You Want To)", the album found Lisa in full on rock mode, a Benatar-ish attitude set to the freestyle synth pop of 1987. In fact that's perhaps what made the album fail, (chart wise) is that it wasn't anything particularly fresh or unheard of. But that shouldn't be held against her then or now as she took the style that worked for her and I can tell you this album was on constant and I do mean constant replay that summer and beyond.
The first single was the slight ballady "I Don't Need Love" complete with guitar solos and a growling Lisa bridge, there is even an awesome video featuring her 1987 hot hair. 'Til My Heart Stops goes through all the motions of the synth pop/rock including more of the ballad styled songs like the awesome "How Many Rivers" and a single "The Dress" in which she tries to get her man back by declaring she could wear the dress he used to love. "Til My Heart Stops Beating" is an epic ballad with drums and guitars and a heart felt gut wrenching performance by Lisa and is probably one of her best sung songs.
The rockier side of Lisa shows through on the rest of these 9 tracks including the bouncy "Ooh I'm Satisfied" and the bitter-ish "Tender Kiss" but it's really "Imagination" and "I Can't Get You Out Of My System" that stand out for me. In the former, Lisa is at the club when a guy eyes her up and down and up again as she wonders if it's all in her mind, the song leads to a fairly predictable solution but the grittiness and sexiness of the song takes you to that conclusion with great results. In "I Can't Get You Out Of My System", the cliches may fly fast and furious in the lyrics but what was 80's rock about if not cliches? It's a perfect product of its time and if I were in charge that is the song I would've released as a single and I think Lisa may have a had a good shot at the charts. 
As it stands I really love 'Til My Heart Stops but for some reason I don't love it as much as I did in 1987, for some reason the whole style of the sound that was so prominent then sounds more dated than her earlier 80's album Letterock. I'm sure it's the syths and the drum machines that do it, but if you get past that or if that's what you like about that era's ear than Til My Heart Stops is a great listen.
bub 46 Lisa Hartman - LETTEROCK (2004; 1982)
I had the luxury of seeing her perform “Where The Boys Are” on Solid Gold when I was a kid and the sheer excitement of it all was a tad too intense for my little frame. I had to see the movie, but alas I couldn’t for it was “filth” in my mother’s words. Eventually, I would see it and so typical of almost everything Lisa has done, it’s yet to see an official DVD release – just like this CD!
So a few friends from the O.C. showed up last night and we hit the bar and a club to see a couple of bands - which means I just got to work and am still drunk - I mean hungover... either way today's trip to the wonderful world of Lisa Hartman week will be brief but oh so worth it -
Download LISA HARTMAN - HOLD ON
