Looking Out My Back Door

Conversion

Ha, bet you thought this would have a religious bent, right? Nope. I'm talking about media conversion, specifically from vinyl to compact disc and from VHS tape to DVD. An extremely talented friend of mine has all the hardware and software necessary to make these conversions. Here's what I gave him this weekend (note: none of these are available on the updated media, so it's just a transfer of something I already own onto a format not available in any store. Nothing illegal.):
ALBUMS
Tootsie (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). "It Might Be You" is one of the prettiest songs I've ever heard. Written and performed by Stephen Bishop (who also composed the soundtrack), it's definitely on the list of songs to be played when first dancing with your new husband. (OK, I may not have the husband, but I have the list!) Here's some little-known trivia about the song: it was performed in the wonderful movie "Waiting to Exhale" by Roberta Flack (all four of the stars sing along with it in the car in one of the last scenes of the film). Unfortunately, it's not on the soundtrack, and I have to find out if it's on one of Flack's CDs.

Mannix (Original Television Soundtrack). Mannix was one of the great detective shows of the late 1960s. It also had a killer soundtrack by famed composer Lalo Schifrin. A great jazz musician and composer, Schifrin used a variety of styles on the soundtrack, and it kicks butt. The last track, "EndGame," is a dynamic, driving and exciting piece of work, punctuated by horns and amazing drumming. We used it for many years at my mother's dancing school, and I finally stole it one year when I noticed it hadn't been in use. It's a classic. A CD version was released a few years ago, but to my extreme disappointment, all the tunes had been "updated" and "rearranged," and, frankly, they sucked compared to the original. Although my purloined copy is very scratched up (the dancing school staff was never very careful with the albums, which drove me nuts, especially when my mother would sneak some of MY music to the studio), my buddy's got the technology that should smooth things out. Yay!

Jack Wagner, Lighting Up The Night. Jack Wagner is best known as an actor on soap operas, as well as prime time and tv movies. When he started on General Hospital in the mid-80s, he was a singing soap star, and I was one of many who bought his albums and went to his concerts. It didn't hurt that he was drop-dead gorgeous! Anyway, his first couple of albums were on Quincy Jones' Qwest label, and were never reissued on CD. I was able to find a (very expensive) Japanese version of his first album, but not the second (Lighting Up The Night). When I met Jack at a signing about 10 years ago, I asked him if the first albums would become available on CD, and he said that Jones owned the rights to them and didn't seem inclined to reissue them. Well, Mr. Jones, I usually get what I want...and I will have Lighting Up The Night on CD this week!

Concert for the People of Kampuchea (Various Artists). This is a great double album from a concert organized by Paul McCartney to raise money for the people of Kampuchea. You may remember the country's original name as Cambodia. Anyway, a wonderful gang of artists (The Who, Elvis Costello, The Pretenders, Ian Dury, The Clash, Queen, and Paul McCartney among them) did this fundraiser around 1979 (or so), and it was never released on anything other than vinyl. Boy, would I love to have a DVD of this show! I'll settle for a transfer to CD, and be very, very happy.

Times Square (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). This movie, produced by Robert Stigwood (Grease, Saturday Night Fever), was probably an attempt to do for punk what those other two films did for '50s music and disco. Didn't quite happen that way. Tim Curry was the biggest name in the film, which introduced Trini Alvarado and Robin Johnson as "The Sleaze Sisters," trying to survive and thrive in the sleaze capital of the world -- NY's Times Square. It has a killer soundtrack, with music from Joe Jackson, The Ramones, The Pretenders, Lou Reed, Talking Heads, and other great bands. Now I'll be able to listen to it in the car!

VHS TRANSFERS
If Looks Could Kill. This 1989/1990 era movie starred Richard ("21 Jump Street") Grieco as a teenaged James Bond-type, playing spy throughout Europe. Lots of fun, but not available on DVD...until now!

Liza Minnelli Live From Radio City Music Hall. One of her first big comebacks (1992), and a terrific show.

Frank, Sammy and Liza: The Ultimate Event. This was a concert tour filmed for HBO in 1987, starring the incomparable Sammy Davis, Jr., Liza Minnelli and Frank Sinatra. All were in great voice and it's a wonderful two hours. My friend Mike played trombone in the orchestra (also in the Live From Radio City Music Hall concerts), so I asked him why The Ultimate Event had never been released on anything, and I believe his answer was because of copyright/performance complications, which makes sense, unfortunately. I can't wait to see it on DVD!

Looks like I'll be glued to either the tv or the stereo this weekend!

posted by Hopster @ 12:14 PM