Ramin Djawadi Fright Night 2011 Soundtrack

The assault on music continues with the genericness of Ramin Djawadi's Fright Night 2011 Score. There is no doubting his talent as a composer, however, this score is full of generic mediocrity and containing none of the original's charm or sexy sleazyness.  A reasonable movie is aided by a rather crappy score. What else did people expect? It all seems very boring and uninspiring.

Full of the standard brass, and generic drones and the same old tired crap that we've heard for the last 16 or so years, frankly, you would be better off listening to traffic noise.


The original featured sleazy synthesizer themes and iconic music, not just the score, but the pop and rock songs actually featured in the movie in key scenes. In this remake, you hear all sorts of ear raping sounds which make you long for a day out train spotting, its that bad.

Considering the original 1985 score has never been released in any format, how this new remake score managed to get released is astonishing.

The only decent thing about the remake is David Tennant, at least Doctor Who got his Hollywood break.

Bubba Smith - The Vintage Workout - Police Academy says farewell

He was an NFL star and then became the classic "High Tower" opposite the rest of the crazy Police Academy crew, but he was also a workout specialist too.

Check out this vintage workout by Bubba Smith, showing you how to get in real shape.

Fright Night 2011 Comic Con Panel & Interviews

It looks like Colin Farrell loves his remakes. Not only is he in Fright Night, he is also in Total Recall, and did both panels at Comic Con 2011.  The original Jerry Dandridge also has a cameo in this new remake.  Watch the interview with Chris Sarandon for more information.  No information though on what the music score sounds like though, so let's wait and see.  It does sound like that they have incorporated some homages to the original in this remake so it may turn out better than expected, but you never know, as Sidney Prescott says in Scream 4 to the villian, "You forgot the first rule of remakes: Don't fuck with the original".  Nevertheless, this movie has got the legendary David Tennant aka Doctor Who so its bound to be good whenever he is on screen.

Check out these videos.

Lost Classics - Keta Bill - Hold On (1987) - Beverly Hills Cop 2 - Hef Loves It

Another lost classic, it beggars belief how this one has never been released, given the fact it features during the infamous Playboy mansion scene in Beverly Hills Cop 2.  This is the original version of "Hold On" by Keta Bill which is a million times better than the Corey Hart version.

You can picture the funny guy in the tuxedo pulling off his hilarious dance moves with the playboy bunnies while Axel tells his pals to follow their dicks and find the bad guys.  Even the dirty old Hef makes a cameo in this classic piece of cinematic extravagance.

Both versions are featured in the movie, you can even hear Corey Hart's version very faintly during one of the scenes with the 3 main characters.

As to why this legendary classic has never been released remains a mystery.  The best song from the movie and its not even on the soundtrack.  Worse than that, none of Harold Faltermeyer's scores have been released for either the first or second movie which is unnacceptable.

Anyway, enjoy this lost classic, its not perfect quality, but Keta Bill herself gave this out a few years back, so the fact we even have this is a miracle in itself.

https://www.box.com/shared/lzih2271kt

Lost Classics: Looking For Love - Shakedown (1988) - Jonathan Elias

Isn't it stupid how great songs are never released? This is a good example of a song which features at the end of Shakedown (1988), also known as Blue Jean Cop, and a movie starring Mr Robocop himself,  Peter Weller. 

The music score was done by Jonathan Elias (Vamp, Tuff Turf), and had some great tracks on there.  The end credits song however has never been released in any format.  It was composed by Jonathan Elias himself and features some unknown singer "Nikki Ryder" on vocals, in fact most people aren't even sure if its a female or male voice on vocals! Sounds like John Waite.

Here is the track though ripped from the dvd to enjoy, a classic soundtrack song.

http://www.4shared.com/audio/3aQ2GwaH/Nikki_Ryder_-_Looking_for_Love.html

Lost Classics: Willy Finlayson - On The Air Tonight

Here is a classic song by a Scottish artist named Willy Finlayson, released in 1984.  A cover of a Pete Barden track,  it's a haunting synth ballad, and seems to have been totally forgotten by most people.  Featuring great synths and a haunting sound, this is a real gem.  It was also featured in Nightmare on Elm Street 2 way back in the 80s.

Joseph Williams - Classic Soundtrack Music

If you remember those great movies of the 80s, you will always come across a few gems that are being played in the background of key scenes.  One of my favourites is this track by Joseph Williams from the Goonies soundtrack.

A brilliant song, great synths, guitars, melody and captures the mood perfectly.

And he also had a few tracks in the classic movie "Space Camp". Brilliant music.

Vince DiCola - The Legend

The Legend, that just sums up how good this composer is, a true pioneer in synths.  From Rocky IV to Transformers and his legendary synth solos, this man is a true powerhouse of motion picture soundtracks.  As to why he was never offered more soundtrack scoring work? Probably due to ignorance and a lack of appreciation of his skills.

True fans though know how iconic his music is.  Just listen to his version of Bill Conti's Rocky Theme which he used as a demonstration for Stallone to showcase his abilities for the Rocky IV soundtrack.  This version was never released until 2010, when the entire original score was released for the first time on Intrada records.

Stallone decided not to use DiCola's version of the "Gonna Fly Now" theme in Rocky IV, instead using the Training Montage theme that DiCola came up with. I guess Stallone felt he wanted something slightly different for this movie, but it would have been great to have it somewhere in the movie!   

Apparently Stallone was so impressed, he hired him immediately, and with Jeremy Lubbock, they both created a synth/orchestral masterpiece that still holds up today.  You only have to listen to "Hearts on Fire" and the way it changes into "Up The Mountain" to hear how good he is.

You could say he mastered the art of motion picture soundtracks way before Hans Zimmer went and generically shat on everything in the 90s (Not that Hans Zimmer is bad! But much of 1990s scores and onwards have been very generic).

The last I heard on the scoring front was the one he did for a movie called "Sci Fighter", but other than that, there hasn't been much activity.

Here are some of Vince DiCola's greatest tracks.

Mummy Calls - Classic Synthpop from the 80s

One of the best and underrated albums of the 80s,  this classic self titled album by Mummy Calls, a British band featuring lead singer David Banks was released in 1987.  A collection of amazing synthpop and power rock, this is one awesome album.

I picked this up more than a decade back, a true classic of British synthpop.  I didn't realise someone had already posted their songs up on youtube, so I decided to write this post to let people know about this great band. 

I can guarantee almost everyone who reads this post will have heard there most famous song at least once in their life. Remember the movie "The Lost Boys" from 1987? Well you might recognise the distinctly British accent vocals of David Banks when the haunting song "Beauty Has Her Way" is heard in the movie.  Quite the masterpiece, this album features that legendary song along with many more classics.

Check out these lost classics.  Never released on CD as far as i'm aware which is a disgrace.

Enjoy these tracks.  Highlights are "Sexual Desire", "Kiss Me", "Deadly Night" and "In The Darkness".