Bradley's Buzz

The Bubbatunes Vaults 9

In order to get through this vast Bubbatunes wasteland of fun music, I am double loading it for the next two days - that way I can enjoy my Turkey day without worrying about both of my blog readers who may skip that big dinner with their families just to read about my music; so don't fret I'm here for you, and here's our next trip into that vast Bubbatunes Vault with 6 ultimate collections of some of my favorite gals.

bub 49 Dolly Parton - ULTIMATE DOLLY (2004)
Oh that damn Dolly, you realize she's the ultimate in American icons, or perhaps she's two of our national treasures, or just a treasure chest; but if it was the big tits alone Dolly would only have gotten as far as Anna Nicole, no there is substance below those wigs and all that make up. She may be humble and she may giggle at the slightest innuendo but we all know she's got more talent in one of those fake nails than many of her far younger contemporaries. Coming into the face of those glamor filled late 60's country shows, Dolly took over for another blonde named Norma Jean to star with flashy Porter Waggoner. They did duets, they had hits, she recorded a handful of interesting songs including a girl group sounding ditty, and some hilarious songs called "Dumb Blonde" and "Something Fishy" but it wasn't until she finally broke her duet and went on her own that Dolly really started to wow us all.

Running in chronological order Ultimate Dolly really isn't all that ultimate in the fact that it's only one disc and doens't include her Porter duets or even the infamous 1983 "Islands In The Stream" duet with Kenny. This is called Ultimate in the idea that these are my ultimate favorite Dolly songs from the early 70's all the way through her blue grass return in the late 90's these are all classic Dolly.

Beginning with her autobiographical "Coat Of Many Colors", Dolly takes us back to her youth of East Tennessee and the story of Joseph and how it pertained to her own life; then onto my very favorite Dolly song ever "Jolene"; a tale that seems hard to believe on paper, Dolly pleading to some auburn haired hooch not to steal Dolly's man?? I mean really? But with Dolly's voice and her way of telling a story you believe that Jolene really does pose a threat and you end up hating her just as much as you love the song, this is followed by the all too familiar "I Will Always Love You" (both are from the 1973 Jolene album) in its very first incarnation. Not overdone like Whitney or too Hollywood like Dolly's own 1982 remake, just simple and sad as it was meant to be. The sad and moving mood continues with the highly delightful "Love Is Like A Butterfly" a sort of lullabye ode to flighty love.

By 1977 Dolly was becoming quite the commodity on the world market, her singles were hits on the country stations, her looks garnered her magazine covers and she had her own variety weekend show but she wanted to head a little more to the pop part of the world so she began with her album New Harvest...First Gathering, washing pop sounds into country and gospel styled songs, the highlight of which is included here, "Light Of A Clear Blue Morning." Dolly redid this song too for her 1992 movie Straight Talk and I loved the version that is until I heard this original. Gone are the synthesized drums and over production and here in its original form it's a great ballad turned gospel pop, "I can see the light of a clear blue morning/I can see the light of a brand new daaaay/I can see the light of a clear blue morning/oh and everything's gonna be all right/it's going to be okay". Rising and falling in tempo and full of choir voices, this is pure genius.

After that album Dolly hit the pop pump hard, 1977's Here You Come Again found Dolly leaving her country behind. Sparkled up and bouffanted out to Hollywood Dolly made a pop record and surprising to many I think she scored huge. The title track hit the top 3 on pop and still managed to hit the top of the country charts. The follow up single "Two Doors Down", a song I always associate with the Bee Hive tavern in Wisconsin from when I was but a wee boy, continued the chart success, but the ultimate for me is "Me & Little Andy", a highly dramatic and horrible little ditty about a poor hungry child who knocks on Dolly's cabin door late one night with her dog Sandy in tow. It seems Sandy's mama and pappa are gone and or drunk and she's all alone. As it turns out, she ends up sleeping in Dolly's little house but heads straight for Heaven. It's horrible but so damn good I can't stop listening to it. By the way, it makes my big strong brother cry like a tit baby every time he hears it. So I put it on every mixer I ever make him. What are big brothers for?

Dolly's pop success got her a ton of exposure and she wasn't going to head back to the trenches of Nashville, her follow up albums continued to churn out not only country hits but pop hits as well, the dancy energetic "Baby I'm Burnin'" became the first country song ever to be remixed into a disco single and to actually hit the charts. Leave it to Dolly. From The Leivas' favorite Dolly album 1980's Dolly Dolly Dolly comes the ballad "Starting Over Again" about the disinegration of a 30 year old marriage that was actually written by Donna Summer and her husband.

By the end of 1980 Dolly was completely Hollywood and proved it by starring in a film - the hugely successful 9 To 5 also launched one of her biggest singles ever in the title track. A song she supposedly wrote on her fake fingernails while waiting to do scenes. She felt rubbing her nails together sounded like a typewriter and wrote the song from there. Once again, that damn Dolly. Her movie career continued with 1982's The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas and its soundtrack which included the beautiful "Hard Candy Christmas."

The country sound of Dolly started seeping back into her career by the mid 80's "Think About Love" and "The River Unbroken" (from her only all pop album Rainbow) successfully combined the best of both of her worlds. When her critics and the sales of her poppy stuff started failing she reached back to her original love and came up with some brilliant full on country songs like "Why'd You Come In Here Looking Like That", a full on blue grass version of REO Speedwagon's "Time For Me To Fly" and "Rockin' Years" a duet with barritone bully Ricky Van Shelton. But her days of classy pop weren't completley over as pin pointed by "Just When I Needed You Most" a cover from the 70's that is probably one of my favorite vocal performances by the big D.

As the 90's were coming to a close, Dolly decided to screw everyone and do what she wanted to do. Radio wasn't playing "old timers" like Dolly and she decided she could make any kind of record she wanted so she made a throw back to her bluegrass roots with The Grass Is Blue whose title track in all its glory is here. With the actual success of that album Dolly continued making two more in the same vein Little Sparrow (2001) and Halos & Angels (2002). She also continued to create new versions of classic songs you'd never expect to hear in blue grass fashion let alone sung by Dolly Parton, but that's exactly what she did with "Shine" by Collective Soul and once again she did it succesfully. Who frickin' needs Porter Waggoner?

Track List:
01. Coat Of Many Colors 02. Jolene 03. I Will Always Love You 04. Love Is Like A Butterfly 05. Light Of A Clear Blue Morning 06. Here You Come Again 07. Me And Little Andy 08. Two Doors Down 09. Baby I'm Burnin' 10. Starting Over Again 11. 9 To 5 12. Heartbreak Express 13. Hard Candy Christmas 14. Think About Love (Think About Me) 15. The River Unbroken 16. Why'd You Come In Here Looking Like That 17. Time For Me To Fly 18. Rockin' Years 19. Just When I Needed You Most 20. The Grass Is Blue 21. Shine 22. I'm Gone

bub 50 Olivia Newton-John - ULTIMATE OLIVIA (2004)
Another ultimate collection, this time of that other blonde girl who went from sweet chanteuse to movie star and beyond. I love my Livvie as anyone who reads any of this blog will attest to. She has been with me since I was just a wee tyke. I have loved her through her Australian take on American country in the early 70s, her never been mellowness of the middle 70s and her hot leather panted totally hotness of the late 70s. I begged and pleaded to be part of the leg warmer sweatband Olivia craze of the 80s, I stood by her sultriness of the late 80s, I reveled in her trashiness in Sordid Lives, fought along with her during her breast battles and even cried during her tortured performance as a mannequin come to life in Mom For Christmas. Through all of her incarnations, she will forever be Sandy Olsen the shy girl who changed her entire personality for the sole purpose of getting it on with a T Bird. But though Grease was my first real glimpse of how cool she could be, I most definitely have followed her music career and whether you want to believe me or not, this little Aussie girl has an awful lot to offer. Ultimate Olivia was made after I found a DVD of Olivia videos at a very reasonable price at Amoeba music. On it were little vignettes of Olivia singing “A Little More Love” and “Deeper Than The Night” then a full on staged video of “Totally Hot.” I had also recently found a remastered version of her 1978 album Totally Hot and realized how cool it was. This was her first post Grease album and it was the beginning of her real claim to charts fame with catchy little pop songs and a sexy little attitude.I realized that though there were a number of compilations available none of them had my very favorite songs on them. Even Back To Basics, a 1992 comp from the Liv camp forgot to include some of my more favorite and forgotten songs like “Tied Up” and “Livin’ In Desperate Times.”

I’m not a huge fan of chronological order compilations so I thought I’d mix this one up a bit. I also wanted to make sure I got all those rarities and album tracks that I so loved, so a few of the Newton’s hits had to go – most of which were the country and adult contemporary 70s stuff. We begin the comp with one of her all time greatest songs, “A Little More Love.” With its popping guitar and Liv’s screams through the end, it is a classic gem. It was the lead single from the Totally Hot album and became a #3 hit. Totally Hot is my second fav album by our girl led only by 1981’s Physical of course.The other two songs from that enormously popular hot album on Ultimate Olivia are “Deeper Than The Night” another hit single and the title track. Anyone who hasn’t heard the title track (or hasn’t heard it in a while) really needs to check it out. It’s a piano driven countrified pop song with Olivia singing fast and high as “it’s so hot, totally hot, you got to me, baby, baby so hot, totally hot, you got to me! Give me what you got ready or not my love is totally hot.” Awesome!

In order to make sure I had my ultimate fav singles, I put them on the very beginning of the CD. Immediately following “A Little More Love” is one of my all time favs, “Heart Attack” which I’ve always felt was Olivia’s best single of the 80s.The song is so clever yet so simple. It begins with a drum and cymbal combo that I always end up humming for days, “Da da da dunt shhh shh da da dunt shhh shh” before Olivia starts cooing, “My mouth is dry, my legs are weak, thank goodness that I can speak/I’m looking at you/you’re looking at me/you must think that I’m just crazy” and then she picks it up a notch, “If you only knew/what you’re putting me through/you’re giving me a Heart Attack.” People may have forgotten how brilliant and catchy this song is (not real fans of course) and though it’s a short little 3 minutes, Olivia’s vocals and the dark intensity of its 1982 pop formula are basically friggin’ brilliant. “Must have died and gone to Heaven/what a way to gooooo….” “You’re giving me a Heart Attack.” And so are you Miss Newton-John.The song was done for 1982’s Greatest Hits Volume 2, a ten-song compilation that had all of her hits from 1978 to date. Of course this was meant to cash in on her Grease/Totally Hot/Xanadu stuff. Two new songs were recorded for the package, “Heart Attack” and “Tied Up.”Once again, I love “Tied Up” and feel it’s one of her more overlooked ditties. Perhaps because it’s so similar in sound to “Heart Attack” people forget about it. But not this boy. It was one I absolutely had to put on the compilation. “Tied up in promises/ooo Tied Up in what you got to be/Tied Up in promises we could never keep.”The song is all about an adulterous relationship from what I can tell and that’s always something I liked to hear about. Around this time, Olivia had perfected a pop formula where her songs all contained the verse, then a bridge to a chorus, this gave her the opportunity to fade out a song without having to repeat the same chorus over and over. This formula is featured in “A Little More Love”, “Make A Move On Me” and this song. It really worked for our girl and it worked for me too. In “Tied Up” the verses begin with Olivia’s standard cooing, “You keep me waiting/I don’t mind waiting” “This is a one time situation/you say you need me/I believe you need me/but you’re fooling no one/this is a one time situation” then the beat changes as she reminds her man, “what does it matter when you’ve got two hearts aching to begin.” Then the bridge which is brilliant, “Here’s your opportunity/come and take it to the nth degree…” Did I mention I love it?

In 1980, our girl tried her hand at another musical movie. The much bally hooed train wreck that is Xanadu. The movie didn’t do much for Olivia’s acting career but the songs from the soundtrack didn’t crash and burn at all. In fact all the singles released hit the top ten in both the US and UK.“Magic” was the lead single and though not prominently featured in the film (she’s roller skating to the song when we first meet her character), it is ultimate Olivia if ever there was one. It’s this song that really made me realize how brilliant she could be. I had the 45 and used to listen to it over and over again. Once I was grounded for something I was probably wrongfully accused of doing and my parents took my stereo out of my room. I had my revenge by putting the stereo in the living room, plugging in my headphones and singing out loud to every song I listened to while my parents tried to watch television. It was Olivia’s “Magic” which finally got me my stereo back.Incidentally, the flip side of the single was another Xanadu masterpiece called “Fool Country” starting out as a punk rock song it quickly turns into a country song. It was the theme of the movie to combine musical genres and this song captured it as well. The song though was never put on the Xanadu soundtrack for some strange reason. But you may recall you will find it on the Bubbatunes version of the Xanadu sountrack (bub33).

Also included from Xanadu is the brilliant ELO written and produced theme song. I love this crazy little ditty. It’s totally Electric Light Orchestra at its very best and Olivia singing lead on it only makes it so much better. As silly as the movie may seem (I personally love it) and even the song’s lyrics you can’t help but sing it over and over once you hear it.There was another single released from Xanadu called “Suddenly” a duet with Cliff Richard. The songs shows up on numerous compilations but you won’t find it here. I’ve always thought the song was a bore and felt the only reason it was a hit was because those Brits loved Cliff Richard and we needed something slow to couples roller skate to.

Another movie bomb Olivia ended up in was her 1983 Two Of A Kind film. Why this film didn’t make it I’m not quite sure. It had Olivia saying, “This tastes like shit,” a moment I will forever remember and it had an interesting theme. Not to mention Olivia wasn’t her usual sweet self, she was a lying manipulating woman who pretty much caused the end of the world – oh well. What did come from the movie was two excellent little 1983 synthesized pop gems. “Twist Of Fate” was the huge hit scoring #3 again for the girl. The lyrics are complete 80s madness but not if you know the movie. It’s a little story about getting second chances though you screwed up your whole life – that is the theme of the movie. The song is great and I love anytime Olivia sings really high and screams her little Aussie head off. Fun, fun, fun.But the fun doesn’t end with that number. The opening number in the movie isn’t the big lead off single but rather the second single, another synthesized drum machine laden pop confection called “Livin’ In Desperate Times.” I had not heard the song since its release in 1984 when I stumbled upon a used 45 of it in Spokane, Washington. I will never forget jamming the song on my little turntable while my roommate Patrick got ready for work. He came into my room and I expected a little rant about how Olivia Newton-John should not be played in his presence – instead he loved it, the cheesiness, the perfection of it, all of it. I knew then that Patrick was my best friend.

In 1981, I received one of my best Christmas presents ever. The full album Physical. By this time the song and Olivia was everywhere. You couldn’t go anywhere without hearing the song and I had to have it.My Aunt Carol, who was considered by some in my crazed family to be an outcast, was to me an inspiration. She knew about television, she knew about music, she knew everything. It was Carol who gave me my first Pat Benatar record, it was Carol who let me ransack her record collection and take anything I wanted (Blondie’s Eat To The Beat was the winner), it was Carol I went running to when I got “The Tide Is High” single at Prange Way; and it was Carol who bought me the Physical album.Carol had come to us one November day asking what we kids wanted for Christmas, I told her I wanted the Physical album, to which my mother later scorned me, “Why didn’t you ask for the single, you don’t need the whole album.” Apparently, my mother was on some form of medication or still drunk from the night before because her reasoning was obviously blurred – why would I want a single when I could have the whole album?So Christmas came and I got that record. It was a wonderful gift. The album opened up into a gatefold with Olivia in a red dress playing in the ocean. On the inside you turned the record right side up and Olivia was swimming with the dolphins. Inside, Olivia was in various poses of exercising in the water, and on the flip side of that were the lyrics to all the songs.For the longest time it was the only Olivia Newton-John record I owned besides the Grease soundtrack. Needless to say that thing got played a lot! One of my all time favorite tracks on the album was a little song called “Recovery.” Hidden at the end of side two, the song had the pop formula Olivia had perfected by 1981 but instead of singing about the environment or sexual escapades, this was a song about loneliness. Only it was done in reverse, though Olivia sang with remorse and longing it was really telling who ever would listen to her that she didn’t need to be part of the real world and all of its ills and woes…“I live on an island far away/all by myself /there’s no one else…” “Nobody here to make a career of hurting me/deserting me/your crazy life ain’t ever gonna get me…” then the backing boy vocals chime in singing behind Olivia’s “Lover don’t you worry about my Recovery/cause lover you won’t recover me/I’m not too low/I’m not too high/I get by/making my Recovery.”For a strange 8 year old lost in a world of fake sitcoms and music, I could completely relate to the song. To this day, there is a certain feeling I get when hearing the song. I love it and it was a must have for this compilation.

Of course an Olivia compilation wouldn’t be complete without the mandatory “Physical” song. I don’t know if people really understand the impact this song had on pop culture at the time. It ended up being the biggest selling single of the entire 80s decade, and it came out in 1981! A pretty outstanding feat.The song was banned in some markets because of its obvious sexual tone, though Olivia made the video into an exercise video. But even the video with its tongue pressed firmly in cheek was rather bold. Olivia plays an aerobics instructor singing to a group of obese men working out. During the guitar solo, our girl opts to take a shower, while the boys go into full exercise mode and not only lose weight – they become muscular hot studs (should be noted this is 1981’s idea of muscular hot studs so don’t think I’m going into convulsions when I see the red headed mustache of stud #3). The joke is as Olivia comes back from her shower and realizes how hot all the guys are she is more than ready to get Physical. However, as the video ends, those boys all leave together – taking each other’s hands and walking out the door. Yes, my friends it has to be one of the first gay videos ever. Olivia sticks her hand out of the door and pulls one stud back in – only to find it’s one of those obese guys from the beginning. Olivia just smiles and shakes her head making us think she is so hot by now, she’ll take what she can get…. The other singles, “Make A Move On Me” and “Landslide” were equally fabulous in their pop moments. The first was very much in vein with “Physical.” Beginning with a synthesized keyboard, the mellow grooves follow as we learn Olivia’s boy takes her out to dinner and talks a fine talk but he won’t love her up the way she wants. She implores to him, “I’m the one you want/that’s all I want to be/so come on baby make a move on me/got nowhere to go/All my time is free/so come on baby Make A Move On Me/I can’t wait/I can’t wait.”“Landslide” is my second favorite song off of the Physical album. I love it! It’s the first track on the album and was the third single released in the US. It was released in UK instead of “Make A Move On Me” and made a bigger impression there, but it should’ve been a hit worldwide.Again using the pop formula of all the songs she did during the time, it’s the lyrics and delivery that make this one interesting. Plus it contains an Olivia yelp at the end, and I have to say anytime she does that, it makes me smile with glee.Starting out with a screaming guitar and jungle drums, the song moves into a slower beat as Olivia sings, “Cold winds rarely blow/here at the end of the rainbow/guess it’s hard to believe/I’d be willing to leeeaave…” but alas she will leave her paradise because “someone walked up behind me/seemed to find me/I saw him standing there/I turned around and saw the face of an angel/I fell/it wasn’t fair/it just wasn’t fair…” and we learn, “He took my heart it was a landslide/my head was saying this is the man/my heart agreed/my minor desires turned into major needs/my needs won’t be denied/it was a landsliiiide…” How I can relate to that!

Olivia didn't record another full-length album until 1985’s Soul Kiss. By this time a few other women had upped their world into the world of rock and pop. A certain girl named Madonna was using sex as her weapon knocking out such strong contenders as Pat Benatar, Deborah Harry and our Olivia. This didn’t stop Olivia from making her most sexual statements to date. Where “Physical” both song and album may have talked about sexuality it was done either with humor or at least subtlety. Either despite or beacuse of that, Soul Kiss had only one song which did any kind of chart action was the title track which includes the repeated line, “I get down on my knees and thank you baby/I get down on my knees…” Needless to say I love the album and the song. It’s another one most compilations seem to miss but I’d be damned if I didn’t put on song where I get to drive around singing, “I get down on my knees and thank you baby.” After Soul Kiss, Olivia again took a long time off from recording. She came back in 1988 with The Rumour which I think is her best album to date. For most of her career Olivia relied on the work of outside writers and producers. Though this obviously paid off for her, you always had to wonder if she was singing from any kind of personal experience or if she was just a voice for other people’s ideas.With The Rumour, she co-wrote almost every song. The album includes songs about divorce role reversals in marriage, the environment, AIDS and other social commentaries. For the first time in her career, I wasn’t just listening to Olivia for entertainment purposes; I was feeling for her and relating to her. Recently, an Australian record company called Festival Records (Olivia’s only Australian label for her entire career) remastered all of Olivia’s albums including The Rumour. If you can find it (or the original CD version of it) I strongly recommend you get it. You won’t be disappointed.Despite the heavy themes on the album, there were some catchy little moments. None so brilliant or entertaining as the album’s final cut, “Tutta La Vita”. Set to an Island rhythm the song begins with keyboards and horns and Olivia’s cry, “Twice in a lifetime/if you’re really really lucky/you may discover/why you were brought here/tutta la vita/try to find your destination/search for the truth/try to make communication/all of your life..” the song continues telling the tale of how we all look for purpose in life, but according to Liv, “it’s not on a map/so we all have to muddle through/you can’t get there in a car/not even your BMW..” Incidentally tutta la vita is also “not a mansion in Malibu or a face lift at forty.” The songs ends with hoops and hollers and horns as we discover, “twice in a lifetime/you’ll know the answer/once when you find love/once when you give love to another…” and the whole thing (like most of The Rumour) has Olivia yelping and screeching. I love it.. and just so you know the line about finding love twice is actually sung “once when you find loooooooooove” once again bringing a big fat tutta la vita to my life.

Olivia began with her country tunes in hand and scoring country music awards much to the chagrin of Nashville’s old farts – many of who left the Country Music Association and created their own branch. None the less, Olivia found success in this early venue but it was the cross overs that made her the star.The biggest song to come out of this early incarnation was “I Honestly Love You”. Tacked onto her 1974 If You Love Me country album, the Peter Allen/Jeff Barry song shot to number one on country and pop charts and though it’s sweetness is tooth decaying, it’s actually a tragic little song about two lovers who can’t be together because “there you are with yours and here I am with mine.”Knowing that Peter Allen was a grade A homosexual kind of gives new meaning to this song for me. Wondering if perhaps this is one of the songs where Olivia is speaking from the heart – someone else’s heart nonetheless – and telling us a true tragic story of star crossed gay lovers who can’t be together because of 1974 Hollywood stigmas. After the success of “I Honestly Love You” Olivia began to branch more to the adult contemporary foray. The next big album Have You Never Been Mellow spawned the title track that I love so. "Have You Never Been Mellow" tells the tale of someone who keeps moving too fast and won’t slow down to take in the world. It makes me want to smoke pot and perhaps that’s why it was such a big hit in 1975, I’m probably not the first person to feel that way. In fact, Olivia’s vocals make me think she may have even been toking in the booth on that day.

Between 1974 and her starring role in Grease in 1978, Olivia released about six albums. Every six months it seemed she had new mellowness to bestow upon adult radio. The hits began to dry out but that doesn’t mean there weren’t some worthy moments. Of the mellow mid seventies Olivia, one of my fav songs is “Sam.” I knew a Sam when I was a kid so I was pretty impressed Olivia would sing a song about that Moeschler girl who lived across the street. I would later find out the song wasn’t about my Sam at all but I still think of that girl when I hear this song.In 1992 Olivia began coming full circle. She released a greatest hits album called Back To Basics that included a slew of new songs mixed in with old favorites. The album, new songs and the classics alike, combined the country flavors of Olivia with the pop dance stuff.One of the new songs recorded was “Not Gonna Be The One” which gives me a big thrill as it has what I call a breakdown in the middle of it. The music falls away and only Olivia is there singing, “Not gonna be the one that you call/not gonna take the fall/for all your indecision…” It’s catchy, it’s sassy, it’s fun.Lest we forget what brought me into the Olivia world and you into my endless rant for today, I tapped into that Grease soundtrack for Ultimate Olivia. The first single from the film was Olivia’s “Hopelessly Devoted To You” which finds our girl not only still holding onto her innocence in the film but also in real life Olivia holds onto her mellow 70s sound. Then with Olivia’s first real pop monster hit we get the duet “You’re The One That I Want” – it was the biggest hit of the 70s in Europe and I’m sure the sales from the record here Stateside did everyone involved a world of good. No matter how many times I think I’m sick of hearing this song, once that opening music starts I’m hooked and dancing around looking for those tight black pants I know I still have.

We return to an Olivia singing movie role for Ultimate Olivia’s final cut. The Del Shores movie (originally a play) Sordid Lives is about a southern Baptist Texas family on the cusp of a funeral. In LA, the main character discusses with his therapist how his family doesn’t know he’s gay while back home the whole family deals not only with their gay brother Brother Boy, but also the death of a family member who died while having an affair with a neighbor’s husband.Del Shores is a huge Olivia Newton-John and invited her to be in the movie playing a recently paroled lounge singer at the local tavern. Olivia, with a bad bleached dye job, smacks gum and sings country songs while speaking in a twang. The movie is a riot and so is the theme song so spiritually sung by our girl.It’s a pure country knock off with Olivia cursing and this fan loving every second of it - "Now who’s to judge who’s a saint and who’s a sinnerLord, it’s tough enough to drudge from brunch to dinner/We seek the light of truth between our white liesWe sleep away our youth under tattle tale skies” Then the guitar twang and the piano kicks in: “Now who’s to say who’s a sinner and who’s a saint/Who’s to say who you can love and who you can’t/Now it’s easy for the pot to call the kettle black/When they’re jealous of the hard and lustrous sordid lives they lack/ Ain't it a bitch sorting out our sordid lives/It’s a bitch when you come to realize/Get yourself a box of cracker jacks/Looking at a really shitty prizeIt’s a bitch sorting out our sordid lives.”And remember, “the Lord’s too busy trying to keep the world on its feet/He ain’t got time to give a damn about what goes on between the sheets…”And if Miss Goody Two Shoes Sandy Olsen can say that, then you can all bet it’s the God’s honest truth!

Track List:
01. A Little More Love 02. Heart Attack 03. Magic 04. Twist Of Fate 05. Xanadu 06. Have You Never Been Mellow 07. Hopelessly Devoted To You 08. Landslide 09. You're The One That I Want 10. Recovery 11. Totally Hot 12. Deeper Than The Night 13. Make A Move On Me 14. I Honestly Love You 15. Sam 16. Not Gonna Be The One 17. Physical 18. Livin' In Desperate Times 19. Tied Up 20. Tutta La Vita 21. Soul Kiss 22. Sordid Lives

bub 51 Tanya Tucker - ULTIMATE TANYA (2004)
The last in our Ultimate titled collection, we find yet another blonde and yet another country vixen. Sure Tanya went rock for a little while but she didn't find the success Dolly and Olivia had in other genres so Tanya took her whiskey soaked vibrato back to the country music she knew best and everyone was happy. This woman can take a lyric and turn it upside down and over, screw with it, play with it and leave it worn out all within in a 3 minute song, and it's not something she achieved after years, at the sweet age of 13, Tanya had a voice that sounded 20 years older and full of Kool cigarettes. Anything she sings you will believe she means it, whether it's a sad tale of Gothic drama, a sick love song about being left alone or a bitchy 'don't fuck with me fellas' type of fast frenzy. There isn't anything this woman can do - well she can't quit smoking cigarettes according to her hilarious Tuckerville tv show that ran last year, but as for singing; now that is something she can do with fervor.

Once again Ultimate Tanya started as a way to have all my ultimate favorite Tanya songs on one CD, but what was interesting as I came up with the track list is how many of them were actually hits as well; almost every song on here hit the top 10 country charts and since I have over 20 songs on here that's pretty damn impressive I think.

Trying not to capture little independant stages in the career of Miss T as I really had to have those original songs with her teenage voice right along side songs she did just a few years ago, I had to put the songs in strange sequence - no chronology here. Instead we open with one of the best songs she has ever done 1986's "I'll Come Back As Another Woman" all about, well coming back as another woman and making her man fall in love with her so she can fuck him up, I love it plus she has a growl on the bridge that is pure Tanya and pure sass. Then we slow it down and go to sweet Tanya with "Strong Enough To Bend" a lovely little lullabye from 1988 before flushing back to teenaged Tanya with the bitchy "Don't Believe My Heart Can Stand Another You" from 1976 when she was but 16 years old. I love this stuff. It's amazing to hear how great her voice was even back then.

Switching between her years as a teenager on the rise, her teenage and early 20's as a hellion and her renewed comfort and trauma in her 30's and up to her sobriety of her 40's Tanya has been pulling this stuff out for over 30 years. The earliest song "Delta Dawn" stands right up to her vocal on "A Memory Like I'm Gonna Be" from 2002. It's not to say her voice hasn't changed or she never grew, for you can hear the young vocal chords from the stronger trained voice of later years but it's still amazing to hear those early tracks and realize how young yet talented she was. Her early stuff consists mostly of sad Gothic stories like poor Dawn, with it continuing into "What's Your Mama's Name?" and the surprisingly adult "Would You Lay With Me (In A Field Of Stone)"

Her later years were comprised of the subtle love ballad and the bitchy don't mess with me songs both of which are great - huge hits like "Walking Shoes", "Two Sparrows In A Hurricane", "Down To My Last Teardrop", "If Your Heart Ain't Busy Tonight", "It's A Little Too Late", "I Won't Take Less Than Your Love" and my fav ballad "(Without You) What Do I Do With Me" stand strong along lesser known tracks like another of my favorites "Girls Like Me" - the title track of her 1986 'comeback' album. The synth keyboard playing over Tanya's heart felt lyrics about not being the kind of girl who gets love, though she believes in those paperback novels, she just figures love will never to girls like her. It is probably very autobiographical from what I know about Ms. Bad Ass T.

One day I think I'll make a second part to this which includes lesser known hits and album tracks because I just love my Tanya and even these 23 songs just seem to scratch the surface of her career. She is one of the only country singers where I have to buy every CD she releases, there are over 10 little Tanya CD's right up on the shelf with Tegan & Sara and Wheatus, and she fits into my musical world just perfectly.

Track List:
01. I'll Come Back As Another Woman 02. Strong Enough To Bend 03. Don't Believe My Heart Can Stand Another You 04. Texas (When I Die) 05. Walking Shoes 06. Girls Like Me 07. It Won't Be Me 08. We Don't Have To Do This 09. Delta Dawn 10. One Love At A Time 11. Oh What It Did To Me 12. Can I See You Tonight 13. I Won't Take Less Than Your Love 14. Would You Lay With Me (In A Field Of Stone) 15. It's A Little Too Late 16. Highway Robbery 17. (Without You) What Do I Do With Me 18. What's Your Mama's Name? 19. Two Sparrows In A Hurricane 20. Down To My Last Teardrop 21. Soon 22. If Your Heart Ain't Busy Tonight 23. A Memory Like I'm Gonna Be

bub 52 Bette Midler - UNFETTERED BOOB (2004)
Well hello have you met our latest diva? The divine of the divine, the Miss M? My sister loves Bette and I too have always been a fan. Unfettered Boob was originally made as a gift for my little sis but once I made the Bette collection let me just say I was very happy. Another diva with divine ta ta's and talent beyond most comprehension, Bette gets some flack I suppose for heading to the adult contemporary charts faster than Tina Turner with a run in her stocking, but in all fairness Bette was never a rock singer. From the very beginning Bette was cabaret and show tunes, I mean the woman got her start singing on Broadway and in the bathhouses of New York with her piano player Barry Mannilow. The thing about Bette is she is so talented it's almost unreal. Whatever might not come across on record (and there isn't much) can be made up big time if you ever watch one of her televised concerts, she will talk a mile a minute, dance and strut across the stage and turn up the loudest and longest note ever heard - all without missing a beat or a breath. It's really quite stunning and to think she can still do all this in hre late 40's is even more impressive, plus she's bawdy and who doesn't love bawdy?

As for her music, I will admit her later recordings are a tad tedius in the smooth jazzy way and she spends more than her fair share of time on sappy ballads with Kenny G like back beats but between those songs there are always a ton of gems to concentrate on and with a career spanning back to a debut album in 1972 there is plenty to let shine.

Unfettered Boob, named for Bette's own love of her mamalia, opens up with the round of b-bop sing alongy "One More Round" from her 1990 album Some People's Lives and gets the momentum off to an interesting little start. Also showing up from what would end up being one of her biggest albums is the single that launced it "From A Distance" plus the awesome jump swing version of Cole Porter's "Miss Otis Regrets" which is by far my favorite recording ever of this classic song. The story of poor Miss Otis who takes a gun to her lover after the she is chastised for being a little loose, it's a perfect vehicle for Midler's style and quirkiness.

All of Bette's big hits are here from her amazing rendition of Bobby Darin's "Do You Want To Dance?", the longing and though popular still beautiful "The Rose", her overplayed "Wind Beneath My Wings" (but in the context of this album it really is a great song), even her more recent songs appear including the lyrical "My One True Friend" and her hilarious and moving mambo cover of Kirsty MacColl's own mambo "In These Shoes?"

It seems though Midler is known mostly for her big band/swing and adult contemp songs it should be noted the woman can belt out like Janis Joplin should she be called to do so. On two of my favorite cuts she rocks like a pro. From the soundtrack of The Rose comes her bluesy version of "When A Man Loves A Woman" and also included is her cover of the Rolling Stones' "Beast Of Burden" from 1983 which, to me at least, she pulls off quite brilliantly.

The bulk of Unfettered Boob is made up of my favorite album tracks that the divine one has recorded. Her rousing rendition of "Delta Dawn" is a forgotten classic from her debut album The Divine Miss M, but it's actually the reason Tanya Tucker recorded it. Miss T was set to record "The Happiest Girl In The USA" as her debut single until she saw Bette sing this song on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.

I have a huge fondness for the film Beaches and its subsequent soundtrack so a lot of those songs show up here including the hilarious "I've Still Got My Health", the horribly touching "I Think It's Going To Rain Today" and "The Glory Of Love" plus the opitime of the hilarity Miss M can possess in "Otto Titzling" the story of the man who really designed the bra or "over the shoulder boulder holder," as she so profoundly exclaims.

Other soundtracks are represented here as well including the decades spanning For The Boys with it's 40's swing songs like "Billy-A-Dick" and "Stuff Like That There" to a very genuine cover of the Beatles' "In My Life" and then there's the ultimate in strange yet really good when Goldie Hawn and Dianne Keaton join Miss M for "You Don't Own Me" from The First Wives Club.

But the most interesting and touching song on this set has to be "Hello In There" a slow ballad telling a tale of lonliness from the perspective of an elderly woman whose husband doesn't do too much, whose children are all gone and whose life seems to be standing still; "You know that old trees just grow stronger/and old rivers just grow wilder everyday but old people they just grow loneslome/waiting for someone to say 'Hello in there'/ Hello/so if you're walking down the street sometime/and you should spot some hollow ancient eys/ do't you walk past them instead as if you didn't care/ say Hello in there/Hello..." It's terribly sad and tragic but very well done. In fact that damn Bette can pull your heart strings and your funny bone all within the frame of a song, so anyone who passes by that discount Bette CD becaue of her adult contemporary label, don't pas it by, say hello instead and bring yourself home some of that unfettered boob.

Track List:
01. One More Round 02. Chapel Of Love 03. Wind Beneath My Wings 04. Beast Of Burden 05. Delta Dawn 06. Stuff Like That There 07. Do You Want To Dance? 08. From A Distance 09. I Know This Town 10. In My Life 11. I Think It's Going To Rain Today 12. When A Man Loves A Woman 13. Billy-A-Dick 14. One For My Baby (And One More For The Road) 15. Hello In There 16. I've Still Got My Health 17. Miss Otis Regrets 18. My One True Friend 19. In These Shoes? 20. The Glory Of Love 21. The Rose 22. You Don't Own Me (with Goldie Hawn & Dianne Keaton)

bub 53 Pat Benatar - RED VISIONS (2004)
Oh don't you even roll your eyes at me, this is a collection that had to be made! A combination of album tracks and rarities of my goddess Mrs. Giraldo. Red Visions was originally made around 1999 when Patrick and I made the Deborah Harry singles collection (bub01) but I redid the track lists, I changed pictures, then I redid the track list again and now all the collections of Pat contained in the Bubbatunes catalog work together nicely, from the Singles collections to the live CD, the choicest of cuts, rarities and now album tracks.

Some of Pat's best cuts are not necessarily the hits she's known for and with a million and one hit compilations I thought it was time that those songs got the attention they deserve.

Titled after "Red Vision" an album cut from 1985's Seven the Hard Way, this compilation comes up with the best way to incorporate some rare tracks from singles and b-sides along side those album cuts not always given their dues. Some of these are my ultimate favorites from the albums they come from - 1979's "Rated X", "Diamond Field" from 1984's Tropico, Crimes Of Passion's "Out-A-Touch", 1982's power ballad "Fight It Out" from Get Nervous, "Lipstick Lies", a rocking synth keyboard driven track which was the only other studio track (other than "Love Is A Battlefield") recorded for the other wise live set Live From Earth, and the title tracks from 1988's Wide Awake In Dreamland and 2003's Go.

Also included are remixes of album tracks like "The Outlaw Blues", the b-sides "Here's My Heart" and "La Cancion Ooh Ooh", plus alternate takes of singles like the A/C Mix of 1993's "Somebody's Baby", a live version of "Promises In The Dark" from 1993, a remix of "We Live For Love" recorded in 1985 from the UK 12" version of the We Belong single; and just for good measure two singles, the classic 1981 "Treat Me Right" and the 1997 single "Strawberry Wine". So as you can clearly see through that red vision of your own, this is a Benatar compilation that not only had to be made, it begs to be listened to as well.

Track List:
01. Wide Awake In Dreamland 02. Rated X 03. Somebody's Baby A/C Mix 04. Diamond Field 05. Fight It Out 06. The Outlaw Blues (Remix) 07. Lipstick Lies 08. Hard To Believe 09. Out-A-Touch 10. Here's My Heart 11. La Cancion Ooh Ooh 12. Evening 13. Strawberry Wine 14. We Live For Love'85 15. Treat Me Right 16. Red Vision 17. Go 18. Promises In The Dark Live '93

bub 54 Rachel Sweet - ..SO WELL (2005)
The first Bubbatunes collection of 2005, I put together my favorite Rachel Sweet songs to come up with an ultimate collection of her own.
By the time I had “discovered” Rachel Sweet, she had already released three albums. The first album Fool Around came out in 1978 in the UK and had a release stateside the following year. It was a fun little piece of pop/punk/country with Rachel being dubbed by Stiff Records as the “Little Girl with The Big Voice.” They were really pushing the “little girl” boundaries as well as they tried to pass her off as a Lolita type and hyped her age of 16 a lot. The songs she did were a hybrid of just about everything but the fact no one could ignore was the girl could sing.The album did fairly well and gave her a UK single hit with “B-A-B-Y”. She toured on the Be Stiff tour and then did another album.1980’s Protect The Innocent is regarded by most as the definitive Rachel Sweet album. Still clinging to some of the country punk she had on the debut, most of it was new wave to the extreme. Critics are still talking about it, saying if Britney Spears had as much sex appeal as Rachel delivered, the Brits would’ve never been aired on television. The following year came ...And Then He Kissed Me, which moved Rachel into more mainstream rock than her previous endeavors. Included on the album was the original version of “Shadows Of The Night.” Yes, that “Shadows Of The Night” by my girl. It also included Rachel’s only US hit, a sappy though not unbearable duet with Rex Smith (now he’s unbearable) on “Everlasting Love.”After that only one album came 1982’s Blame It On Love, which included that “Voo Doo”, I heard so long ago. Since then Rachel, a high school drop out, went to college, earned her degree, and as acted in sitcoms, and with the persistence of John Waters recorded a few nuggets including the theme song to his movie Hairspray. No matter the lack of material for such a long period of time, these songs just floor me every time I listen to them.

…So Well (named after that brilliant line from “Voo Doo”) begins with “Fool’s Gold” from the Protect The Innocent album. It’s a rocking little song that combines the best of Rachel's world - a little bit of new wave with a little bit of that old 60s girl group feel - “I’m a fool I supoooooose…” “but I would search the world for that Fool’s Gold.” It was a single that never quite cut it on the charts, but it’s one piece of lovely little pop.Rachel Sweet was the protégé of producer Liam Sternberg and he produced the brunt of the debut album. Stiff Records feeling his stuff may not get our girl a hit added a few extra ditties to the album including a Del Shannon cover “I Go To Pieces.” Rachel has a way with a lyric and she can sing anything. In this case, she makes up a one-woman girl group singing the 60s ditty with ferocity and pain, just as it should be. The debut album was so eclectic; you’d never recognize the songs all come from the same album.“B-A-B-Y” was the big hit for Rachel (in the UK #35). Again it’s a 60s cover but the song was launched with such an importance put on the fact it was a 16 year old singing about subject matter not normally sung by a 16 year old, the song got a lot of promotion. “Baby/ Oh Baby/ I love to call you baby/Baby, ooh my baby/I love it for you to call me baby/and I can’t stop loving you/and I won’t stop calling you baby…” Rachel’s almost throaty squeak filled voice fills the whole song against the horns and the drums, she really “can’t help it… B-A-B-Y, Baby/B-A-B-Y, Baby.”“Suspended Animation” has 1978 written all over it. You just don’t hear titles like that after 1983. The song was the B-side to the UK “B-A-B-Y” single. It’s a simple piece of new wave pop beginning with a rock guitar riff and a few horns. It’s a song the Waitresses could’ve written. “Why must it be me who must wait/what do the other girls got/that I ain’t got../ I’m down on my knees/I just got to please/all the desire I have for him…” Geez, no wonder she was pushed off as a Lolita.Four of the best songs from this time period have a punky attitude set to a more pop musical background. “Pin A Medal On Mary” sounds like a 1960s Rolling Stone song and with its lyrics, it could have been. Sounding similar to the Stones “Stupid Girl” this song is a hilarious bitch slap about a boyfriend who is seeing Mary on the side, “You said you were going to the bathroom/but you were gone for half an hour/You came back so disarranged/you hadn’t been there for a shower/Pin a medal on Mary/she’s the girl who tore our love apart/pin a medal on Mary/she’s the girl who stole your heart/you’ve been acting so scary/coming through the door/and looking so coy/Pin a medal on Mary/she will steal your boy.” As the song progresses into the second verse, “you said you were walking in the garden/but you were so long it seemed like hours/you weren’t taking in the air/and I know you weren’t picking flowers,” and a giant defiant “NO!” before the second chorus kicks in.In a similar vein is “Who Does Lisa Like?” whose title comes off sounding some kind of fluff a 16 year old may sing. But not this 16 year old. The song is set to a punk reggae rhythm and sure, the song is all about some teens wondering who or what Lisa is doing but its done so well, this isn't teen fluff at all. The song begins with the girls “sitting around in the Firestone parking lot but it’s all right…” The girls all wonder who does Lisa like? Since she’s wearing “flashy clothes/oooh ta ta ta” and the phone is always busy, “ooh ta ta ta…” Set to a reggae beat the song ends with some hilarious lines as the girls in the parking lot aren’t going to worry about real world events, “Nothing’s important/if that’s not important/so don’t change the subject…” For these girls know what the important things are, “People are starving in India/Fighting in Baghdad/but we don’t care/We ask ourselves but it’s not any of our business/besides we don’t dare/who does Lisa like?”The punkiest of these first Rachel Sweet tunes has to be “Cuckoo Clock” which is just an odd song all around. It’s also one that really grows on you. Perhaps the fact Rachel was signed to Stiff Records made the inevitable punky pop song a necessity. Written by Sternberg the song tells the story of the girl who lives in the “Cuckoo Clock.” “What’s in the cuckoo clock?/don’t leave the thing unlocked,” a drum beat comes in and we find out “I’m a toy singer/so don’t be alarmed/if I sound real/I look real/I am real…” Apparently Rachel didn’t understand the song when she recorded it and Liam instructed her to just scream so she did and it all came out as pure genius – silly genius, but genius none the less.The country twinged Rachel appears first in her take on Elvis Costello’s “Stranger In The House”. Not so much a homage to country music, this is a straight up country song. Rachel again finds her twangy voice and declares from the beginning, “This never was one of the great romances/but I thought you’d always have those young boy eyes/and now they’re giving tired and bitter glances/at the ghost of the girl who walks around in my disguise…” Like myself, Rachel has decreed Elvis Costello a musical genius and this was her first and only recorded Elvis cover, while Swivek launched “Girls Talk” upon the world. Either way, we were both way ahead of Linda Ronstadt’s god awful “Alison” from 1978. Fool Around didn’t just come up with country punk, new wave and 60s girl group to create its own sound, a little bit of jazzy reggae was thrown in as well. “It’s So Different Here” takes the reggae punk beat of “Who Does Lisa Like?” and tones it down a notch or two. A silky little groove drives the song where images of “women carry water jugs” and the heat of the island are felt thorough the speakers. “Women walk in the shade with water jugs/it’s so different here/so hot/no phones or cars/it’s so different here/it’s so hot in here….”Stiff scouts discovered Rachel when they visited Akron, Ohio – home to such things as Devo and Chrissy Hynde. RAchel joined the Akron Stiff tour and then joined the Be Stiff tour which was a roster of Stiff Records acts. Each one of those acts got the chance to record their own version of Devo’s “Be Stiff” – the unofficial anthem of Stiff Records. Rachel’s version is country twinged but it’s the alternative country so many hard rock bands attempted in the late 80s. She was ahead of her time all around. Rachel uses her best southern twang to add effect and as she hiccups, “Be Stiff/baby be stiff…” you can’t help but hiccup right along.

Rachel’s second album Protect The Innocent was the one that caught every critic’s eye. Unfortunately it didn’t catch anyone else’s. Containing less of the country punk flavor or 60s girl group than the first, it was mostly twelve songs of new wave pop.“Spellbound” was the one song closest to being a hit from Protect The Innocent hitting #107 on the US Pop Charts. It also happened to be one Rachel loved performing live. Set to a jumpy little new wave beat sounding almost similar to “I Eat Cannibals” with its dramatic beats but coming across just a little more accessible. The song tells of a failed love attempt, “I knew you were bad but I didn’t care/I just had to get next to you/they said you were dangerous/I knew that you could take me there/and I thought I could play your game/give my heart and get away again…” but alas she is “Spellbound/Spellbound/you stick pins in my heart…”Rachel’s annunciations through out the song make it an ultimate treat in a whole compilation of extreme treats. In almost every song Rachel sounds just slightly different and it all comes off so naturally it’s really unbelievable.“I’ve Got A Reason” is another of the new wave gems Rachel put on her 1980 album. A guitar driven little rocker, the song begins with a simple keyboard and Rachel’s booming voice, “I’ve got a reason/I’ve been feeling blue…” and from there it goes on as she begins screaming, “I’ve got a reeeeeeasson/I’m feeling this way/I’ve got a reason/and I’m going to make you pay.” Rachel continues her wrath as she’s going “to use very book in the book/don’t confuse me/don’t abuse now…” Now you just know how I love the revenge songs and the sassy female singer so this is an ultimate of mine.Dipping into the covers once again, Rachel chose Lou Reed’s Hollywood “New Age”. Again, it’s one of my favorite songs by Rachel, and it’s one of my favorite vocal performances from her. Beginning with a guitar riff and Rachel’s high pitched almost baby like voice, both almost inaudible, the song begins, “Can I have a autograph?…” and with each line the song gets louder and louder until, “You’re over the hill right now/looking for love…” Then the song kicks in with its chorus, “I’ll come running to you/darling when you want me…” Though the album didn’t have as much in diversity as the debut, Rachel was able to incorporate a few little nuggets of different musical styles. “Tonight Ricky” is just about two bars from being a jazz song. Smoky vocals tell the tale of Rachel’s midnight rendezvous with Ricky. This is the song that the critic noted coursed so much more sensuality of teenage lust than anything Britney could’ve dreamed of. And Rachel didn’t even take her clothes off…“I know we’re too young to stay up on Sunday night/but the innocent of youth must fall behind/I’ll call you when the coast is clear and everything is alright/oh, we’re too young to want to waste the time/tonight Ricky we can be alone/tonight Ricky there ain’t nobody home/tonight Ricky we can find out how we fell/Tonight Ricky it’s real…” At 17, wasn’t lust fun?Now for the reason Rachel Sweet began to intrigue me all over again – “Shadows Of The Night.” I hadn’t known Rachel actually did this song, all I knew was that an outside writer named DL Byron had written it and Pat Benatar recorded in 1982. When Pat’s box set came out in 1999, she mentioned that DL Byron sent her the song but never bothered to tell her or her label that Rachel Sweet had changed some of the words he wrote, and thus changed some of the words Pat was singing. Pat ended up changing lyrics as well and the real writing credits should be DL Byron/Rachel Sweet/Pat Benatar/Myron Grombacher, but only DL Byron was getting credit. That is until Rachel stepped in.It all worked out, but was a bit of a mess for Pat and the boys. Meanwhile, Rachel’s version recorded in 1981 was released as a single but didn’t do anything on the charts. This version begins with a piano and the opening lines, which are different from Pat’s new wave metal induced power ballad, “You said Oh girl, it’s a cold world/when we’re restless and we’re young/you said slow down/it’s a showdown/but our time will surely come/ransom your heart but baby don’t look back/cause Independence day has come…” Even the chorus is slightly altered as Rachel runs “through” the Shadows Of The Night while Pat opts to run "with" them. Nonetheless, Rachel’s version does turn into a rock ballad as it should be, and though I’m always partial to Pat, this is a really cool version of the song.…And Then He Kissed Me, also contained one of the cleverest ways of incorporating 60s covers. “Then He Kissed Me/Be My Baby” begins with a straight up cover of “Then He Kissed Me” but as the crescendo of that songs comes around, “He kissed me like I’ve never been kissed before/and he kissed me like I wanted to be kissed forever” and then she breaks into, “so I said, Be My, Be My little baby…” and the song goes into the Ronettes cover. Once again, it was released as a single that never really went anywhere. This was one clever overlooked 19 year old. My two favorite songs by Rachel Sweet also happen to be taken from that 1981 album. “Billy & The Gun”, written by Rachel, is a dramatic tale done to a piano with little instrumentation here and there, Rachel talks about her worrisome friend Billy who seems hell bent on destroying his life; “On a hot winter night there’s a single light burning from his room…” the song begins, “I yell but there’s no reply/I hold my breath as the seconds roll by/I run up with my heart in my eyes/we’re only having fuuun/billy and the gun…”The song just goes uphill from there as Rachel recounts Christine, “the beauty queen of the local high” whose “1,2,3 in Biology/drove the young boys wild,” including Billy. But Rachel reminds him that “One great love isn’t all it seems/why don’t you hand me that damn machine/we’re only having fuuun/billy and the gun.”The four verse song continues as Billy thinks about flying with the angels and taking that game with the gun a little far and in my ultimate favorite lyric Rachel tells him, “Oh Billy you don’t want a heart of steel/cause you won’t hurt but baby you won’t feel/and as long as the pain is real/we’re only having fuuuun/billy and the gun.” I love it… In fact I was so overcome with love for it Swivek did a cover on the Army Fatigue album - and if you don't own it yet go to Flexible Records and download a copy (that my friends is called a plug)

“Party Girl”, another song written by Rachel all by herself is another of my favs. The song starts with a drum roll and a piano driven rock beat and once again she is handing out big sister advice only this time it’s to the party girl of the title, “You want to be a party girl/a party girl tonight/you say you’re gonna be a party girl/a party girl tonight/” and the clincher, “Don’t let him touch your heart/don’t let him touch your soul/don’t let him know you save it up for rock and roll/don’t let him touch your soul baby/you’re the party girl…” I love it….After …And Then He Kissed Me, Rachel took the helm and produced her own record at the ripe old age of 20. Blame It On Love was again not much of a chart success and to be perfectly honest, I’ve yet to find a used copy of it I can afford. The one song I do know that came off the album was "Voo Doo." I loved this song from the moment I heard it. Completely 1982, the song was added to the Valley Girl soundtrack when it was released on CD and for good reason. Combining Rachel’s salty vocals, it is moody and fun all at the same time, the song did make it to #79 on the Pop Charts so it wasn’t a complete loss.It’s definitely a rock song and not the same type of music she did prior to 1981, but her vocals are great and the song is very to sing along with, which I always love, “If it’s Voo doo honey/who can tell?/with the Voo Doo that you do…so well.”

After retiring from her music career, Rachel went to college and began to do acting and writing to pay her bills. But John Waters, always intrigued with a Lolita and the off kilter, brought her back to the recording studio to record the theme song to his 1988 movie Hairspray and with it’s 60s beats, the hilarious lyrics and Rachel’s squeak, the whole thing came together beautifully.So it’s no surprise when John did his homage to 50s musicals in Cry Baby, the female vocal was done by Rachel. Though not in the movie, both Johnny Depp and his co-stars vocals are dubbed. In the female case of the big stand out, “Please Mr. Jailer” it’s Rachel doing the grind in the down and dirty ballad. Rachel also recorded vocals for the oh so dreamy 50s cover “A Teenage Prayer,” a fitting little song for someone who themselves was a teenage prayer for many a teenage love sick fool, and some dirty old men as well I’m sure. The last song on this compilation is the obligatory US hit single.

After Rachel’s Stiff contract ended, Columbia/CBS became her main label through out the world. They wanted Rachel to do a duet and she was all for it – hoping they’d call in Graham Parsons or her idol Elvis Costello. Instead she got flavor of the month Rex Smith. The song was almost as cheesy as her singing partner, “Everlasting Love” another cover. Gloria Estefan would again take it to the top ten years ago, but she’s pretty inconsequential to this story (or the world for that matter). Anyway, the song is one everyone seems to know, “Hearts go astray/leaving hurt when they go/I went away just when you needed me so,” and it’s Rex who starts the whole thing, but Rachel takes it from there until the shared chorus, “Open up your eyes/then you realize/here I stand with my everlasting love…” Set to a pseudo rock disco riff, it’s not a bad song, it’s just not a great song either and in the word of one critic, “Rex Smith sings it like a Hallmark commercial…” and in fact he really does. I guess it was his way of having something to sing when he did his stint as co-host on Solid Gold, after my boy Andy Gibb took a sabbatical from fame and that slut Victoria Principal who sent him on a downward spiral to death… but that’s a whole different story.

Track List:
01. Fool's Gold 02. I Go To Pieces 03. Shadows Of The Night 04. Spellbound 05. B-A-B-Y 06. Billy & The Gun 07. Suspended Animation 08. Pin A Medal On Mary 09. Party Girl 10. Who Does Lisa Like? 11. I've Got A Reason 12. Voodoo 13. Then He Kissed Me/Be My Baby 14. Tonight Ricky 15. Cuckoo Clock 16. Be Stiff 17. Hairspray 18. It's So Different Here 19. A Teenage Prayer 20. New Age 21. Stranger In The House 22. Please Mr. Jailer 23. Everlasting Love (w/ Rex Smith)

and now you have lived through another bout of the long winded Bubbatunes vaults, but stay tuned we have two more posts coming as we head to the front of the room and our more recent releases.

posted by swivek @ 5:36 PM