Put a little love in your heart

So I just watched Scrooged for the first time. Not good.

I think we all remember the Annie Lennox/Al Green collaboration from the film. I, for one, was rocking the 45 back in the day.

Would Annie and Al the final word on this song? Hardly. How about Donna Summer, Olivia Newton-John, The Bee Gees, The Fonz, and more 70s stars than you can shake a stick at….

True to form, Andy Gibb brings this sing-a-long to a grinding halt. The randomness of this is definitely worth checking out.

“Put A Little Love In Your Heart” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeJcePrcRDs

 

We Are What We Are

Another internet rabbit hole leads me to The Other Ones’ follow-up to their modest hit, “Holiday.” I’m loving this!

The Other Ones – “We Are What We Are”

My Middle School Holiday with The Other Ones

So I bought this album in 7th grade and every morning during the Fall of 1987, I’d listen to this every morning before catching the bus. Because. It. Is. Awesome.

The Other Ones – “Holiday”

Sheena Easton’s Halloween moment

Here’s a little Halloween moment courtesy of the one and only Sheena Easton.
 
Sheena Easton – “Telefone” 
 
Sheena’s Prince ties are well known. He wrote “Sugar Walls” for her, a randy number that was one of the songs that incited the PMRC in the 80s. She also dueted with him on “U Got The Look” (and the lesser Batman single “The Arms of Orion”). But he also wrote a couple songs for her Lover In Me album. One of these tracks, “101,” is a fevered and furious screed from a spurned lover which goes from simmer to typhon in the space of 4 minutes. Prince did a remix that improved upon the original (can’t find it anywhere, sorry) but I was surprised in my youtube hunt to find a “101”/Madge mashup that works surprisingly well (despite a rocky beginning). Check it out here.

Pia Zadora!!!

So in an online hunt I stumbled on a batch of late 80s tracks by Pia Zadora. One album –a Jam & Lewis production that must’ve cost PZ (or wait, didn’t she have a rich husband financing this wacky endeavor?) a fortune.

“Dance Out Of My Head” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h13AibLgk0

This song was from her follow-up record, helmed by Whitney Houston’s late 80s-era producer, Narada Michael Walden. Video is a sight to behold.

“Heartbeat of Love”

The description on youtube says it all: “This is the music video for Pia Zadora’s 1989 single Heartbeat Of Love. Song written and produced by Narada Michael Walden. I don’t know who directed it. This video has everything: Pia, wet perm, dry perm, ripping off a David Fincher/Madonna music video, shirtless men, bad rapping and snow.”

You really couldn’t get closer to an “Express Yourself” rip off if you tried. Oh wait, I think they did. I’m actually shocked at how clos they are…considering they both came out the same year. “Come on girls do you believe in love?” (*note – synth production sounds an awful lot like Jody Watley’s “Most of All,” which incidentally was written/produced by Madonna mainstay Patrick Leonard).

ohmygod….youtube will be the death of me.

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

Brit synth-poppers OMD are back with a new album History of Modern and below are some choice cuts.

  OMD – “History of Modern Pt. 1”

  OMD – “History of Modern Pt. 2”

  And yes….here’s their take on an Aretha classic… 
OMD – “Save Me”

  OMD – “The Future, The Past, And Forever After”

Belinda Carlisle Binge

So my previous Belinda post was inspired by the fact that i just finished Carlisle’s autobiography, Lips Unsealed. It’s a quick read and I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that a huge amount of time wasn’t spent on the music. Drug use is discussed at length and it’s juicy stuff (how much did she do, you ask? A lot)…but the memoir really misses a more thorough discussion of her addiction and her talent. Most of her troubles are blamed on a lack of confidence. And while I don’t discredit her reasons, you do wish she had the guts to go a bit deeper.

For some reason I’ve always been a fan of hers. So here’s a good reason to chronicle a few more of my under-appreciated favorites.

Belinda had a massive success with Heaven on Earth with global hits “Heaven Is A Place on Earth” (that’s a fail on the video, Diane Keaton), “Circle In The Sand” and my personal favorite (with a simmering pre-Madonna Tony Ward) “I Get Weak” all peaking in 1987/1988. She eked out another hit from her follow-up record Runaway Horses with “Leave A Light On For Me” but things dried up for her stateside after that. Also from RH, I think this was the album’s shining moment…

“Summer Rain” 

And there’s this song too. Let’s hear it for swoony/girly pop with big choruses.

“Valentine”

She returned in 1991 with Live Your Life Be Free and was completely ignored in the US. But it’s one of my favorites. And speaking of big choruses, they don’t get bigger than this.

“Live Your Life Be Free” 

In the late 90s, the chorus was sampled in this groovy track that still gets me moving. Total euphoria. I remember hearing it out somewhere and excitedly saying that it was Belinda on vocals. I was mostly met with blank (ok, maybe drunk) stares.

Live Element – “Be Free” 

And the album had a couple other gems, “Do You Feel Like I Feel” and the 60s inspired “Little Black Book,” co-penned by Shakespear’s Sisters’ Marcella Detroit.

“Do You Feel Like I Feel?” 

“Little Black Book” 

1993’s Real was a snooz. But I like this track, penned by New Radicals’ (“You Get What You Give”) Gregg Alexander.

“Here Comes My Baby”

And then if you zip to 1999 (you heard me!), there’s “Feels Like I’ve Known You Forever.” It’s not known very well (and I discovered it a little late myself) but it has some special connotations and nice memories for me. Seek it out if you can. 

I’ll stop with Belinda now. 🙂

More! O! N! J!

Two other olivia gems we can’t soon forget.

 

Charlie’s right not to let this gem slip through the cracks.– “Twist of Fate”

  

 

And I’d be remiss to not highlight this track with its HIGH production value video…it’s not “Total Eclipse of the Heart” – but it’s in the same realm….

“Landslide”

Olivia’s Soul Kiss

*disclaimer/guilty pleasure*

Post-Grease, Olivia’s star rose and rose with a series of winning early 80s tracks (the endless #1 reign of “Physical” would be chief among them). Most songs have been forgotten as discardable pop of the era. Can’t say I totally disagree but amongst the “Xanadu”s and “Magic”s that we all know so well, there are a couple other guilty pleasures that are worth a listen.

Still in her prime, this 1979 track is hard not to love.

ONJ – “A Little More Love” 

And this single was a worthy follow-up to “Physical.”

ONJ – “Make A Move On Me” 

By 1985, a string of flop films had ONJ scrambling and her Soul Kiss album apparently put the nail in the coffin of her US sales (though Elton John would help resuscitate her – a bit – with “The Rumour” in 1988). Some online searching reveals that folks were a bit scandalized by the album’s more sexual content and she never really found her footing again here. The album’s intended third single, “Culture Shock,” was actually never released in the US. An extremely awkward ode to polyamory – it is just plain b.a.d. See the video below and groan for yourself. Those lyrics!

ONJ – “Culture Shock” 

Explicit content or no, I can’t help but love the album’s title track.

ONJ – “Soul Kiss”

Jersey Sabattical

Ok ya’ll — I’m hitting the shores of Jersey so I’ll be checked out for a bit. In honor of the locale, how about some over-the-top pop/rock from one of Jersey’s own. C’mon, don’t judge.

  Bon Jovi – “Lay Your Hands On Me”