Showing posts with label
Themetime Themes Anomalous Instrumentals and Unsung Covers.
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Showing posts with label
Themetime Themes Anomalous Instrumentals and Unsung Covers.
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So... some of you (assuming that there is a "you") are probably wondering what happened to the "unsung covers" part of the title of this mix, which I added after the beginning. I think that you (assuming that there is a "you") will think well of your patience, after you hear these instrumental covers of previously vocally-enhanced songs. "When You Walk In The Room" was a hit for Dusty Springfield, and The Searchers, too. You'd never know there were vocals missing if you heard The Ventures' (Live in Japan '65) version first.Donovan's "Colours" was a hit in the UK, but I prefer this non-hit instrumental version released by Van Dyke Parks on his Song Cycle LP. And finally, we have one of the most wonderful pop songs ever invented -- try playing it on the instrument of your choice if you don't believe me -- The Beatles' "Please Please Me", as codified (why re-invent the wheel?) by Link Wray. I mean, honestly... what more could you want?Lick It Up
OOO-kay... so I have been away for a while... but, then, I'm probably only talking to myself. Continuing, then, where I left off before the Christmas freakout...Here's three movie themes which I plan to feature prominently in this mix. The Casino Royale theme from the 1967 movie was written by Burt Bacharach, and has been a part of my internal soundtrack since I watched the movie on acid in 1972 or '73. The instrumental version of the Repo Man theme has been a part of that same soundtrack since I walked into the movie on a whim back in 1984. It always pissed me off that the official soundtrack didn't include the throbbing, sans-lyrics version that accompanied the opening credits of the movie, so here is that version, ripped from the DVD. Iggy Pop is credited -- but this site claims, with considerable credibility (in my opinion), that the music was largely written by Steve Jones, former guitar player of The Sex Pistols, with Nigel Harrison and Clem Burke of Blondie on bass and drums.And finally, we have the delicious goulash that is Jack Nitzsche's ending credit theme for The Hot Spot. I say "goulash" because, though it is credited to Nitzsche, I don't see how it could have been written. The musicians on this jam are supposed to be, roughly, Miles Davis, John Lee Hooker, Taj Mahal, Roy Rogers and Tim Drummond. Go argue with that!Movie Madness!
Careful readers will notice that the title of this mix has changed; I was doing some general tag housekeeping and decided to go ahead and rename this mix to indicate some similar material that I want to include later (coming soon). Meanwhile, here's some tunes that fall under the "anomalous instrumentals" part of the heading. I don't think any of them did much more than fill up space on albums -- I've certainly never heard any of them performed live -- but I like all 3 a lot. Rockin' InstrumentalsSong List:01. Shonen Knife - Milky Way02. Kimberley Rew - Alice Klar03. The Dictators - Channel Surfing
I remember all 3 of these tunes as themes for television shows back in the '60s. #1, "A Swingin' Safari," introduced, I think, The Match Game. #2, "The Syncopated Clock," signaled the beginning of more than one channel's late movie. #3, "Java," opened a hosted cartoon show in Los Angeles, the name of which I can no longer remember (I also tend to confuse #s 1 & 3 with "Baby Elephant Walk" and several tunes by The Tijuana Brass, which may also turn up here eventually).Television swing!
Some things just go together -- trust me, this will work. Themes for movies and TV shows have to stand out -- they are introductions, they need to be ingratiating and set a tone to the proceedings. They establish leitmotifs, for heaven's sake! Anomalous instrumentals are the tunes that appear somewhere in otherwise vocally-oriented musical proceedings -- they stand out by their very nature, yet they exist only according to the whim of the artist. Usually, they fill a space that would otherwise be blank, or filled by an unfinished vocal number. These things work together, in some weird way; I hope to prove that here.Introductory ThemesSong List:01. Oingo Boingo - Hercules Family Theme (from Forbidden Zone)02. Ben Charest - Belleville Rendez-Vous (French) (from The Triplets of Belleville)03. The Real Tuesday Weld - Bathtime In Clerkenwell
So... some of you (assuming that there is a "you") are probably wondering what happened to the "unsung covers" part of the title of this mix, which I added after the beginning. I think that you (assuming that there is a "you") will think well of your patience, after you hear these instrumental covers of previously vocally-enhanced songs. 
