Digital Roundup: 8/27/14
New this week in the Rhino Room at iTunes:
The B-52’s, The Video Album: You’ve gotten your groove on to the music, but now’s your chance to dance this mess around while watching the videos! There are 15 videos included on this compilation, and since we know you’re wondering what they are, we won’t force you to wait another minute: you’ll get “Rock Lobster,” “Song for a Future Generation,” “Legal Tender,” “Girl from Ipanema Goes to Greenland,” “Channel Z,” “Love Shack,” “Cosmic Thing,” “Roam,” “Deadbeat Club,” “Good Stuff,” “Tell It Like It T-I-IS,” “Is That You, Mo-Dean?”, “Hot Pants Explosion,” “Revolution Earth,” and “Debbie.” It’s a full-on party in convenient video form!
Rick James, “This Magic Moment / Dance with Me”: Depending on how long your memory may be, it’s not impossible that you might remember this track from Warner Brothers’ 1989 compilation, Rock, Rhythm & Blues, which also featured covers by Elton John, Michael McDonald, Chaka Chan, Howard Hewett, Manhattan Transfer, Randy Travis, the Pointer Sisters, Christine McVie and Friends, and El Debarge. Why did this track get a single release? Say, you don’t think maybe it’s to continue with the Rick James revival we tried to start a few weeks ago by issuing his Kickin’ album at long last, do you? Yeah, that’s the ticket!
Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – School Ties: Maurice Jarre’s name is prominent on the cover to this soundtrack, but of the seven tracks on the album, he’s only responsible for four of them: the title track, “David,” “School Moments,” and “The Last Word.” Interspersed between them, please enjoy contributions from The Robins a.k.a. the Coasters (“Smokey Joe’s Café”), Fats Domino (“Ain’t That a Shame”), and Patti Page (“Let Me Go Lover”).
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – Bopha!: Morgan Freeman’s only directorial effort to date features a score from James Horner, and the music is, as is only appropriate, just as moving as the film itself.
Original Score – Mr. Saturday Night: Some of you young whippersnappers out there may only known Marc Shaiman for his work on Broadway – Hairspray, to be specific – but he’s had a long history of working with Billy Crystal, starting with Saturday Night Live, and he’s continued to provide music to a couple of his stand-up specials, When Harry Met Sally, City Slickers, and, yes, Mr. Saturday Night. In addition to Shaiman’s work, you also get tracks from Louis Armstrong (“Fantastic, That’s You”) and Louis Prima (“When You’re Smiling”).
Original Score – Used People: Rachel Portman’s score to the Shirley MacLaine / Marcello Mastroianni romance takes up the majority of this particular album, as you might expect, but smack dab in the middle of the proceedings, you also get “The Sky Fell Down,” by Tommy Dawson and Frank Sinatra. When it comes to things that’ll keep your listening experience from getting at all monotonous, you can’t say that Sinatra isn’t an effective way to combat that problem.
Trans-Siberian Orchestra, The Christmas Trilogy / Lost Christmas Eve: Deluxe Edition: Prog-rock meets the holidays with these particular efforts. The Christmas Trilogy features Christmas Eve and Other Stories, The Christmas Attic, and The Lost Christmas Eve, but if for some reason you feel like the only one of the three albums that’s an absolute must-own, then bully for you: you can pick up a deluxe version of Lost Christmas Eve all by itself. Thing is, if you’re a fan of the band, you’re probably just going to haul off and buy the whole trilogy and be done with it. Still, if you opt out of going that route, they’ve got you covered.