Digital Roundup: 8/3/15
New this week in the Rhino Room at iTunes:
Pearl Harbor and the Explosions, Pearl Harbor and the Explosions – Power pop fans, rejoice! This self-titled album by one of San Francisco’s greatest musical imports of the early ‘80s is likely best known for the single “You Got It (Release It),” but the whole thing is as catchy as all get-out. Plus, really, how can you go wrong with a band whose singer goes by the name Pearl E. Gates?
Andre Previn, Dead Ringer: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – No, not David Cronenberg’s Dead Ringers. This one is singular: the film was released in 1964 and starts Bette Davis, Peter Lawford, and Karl Malden. Davis does play twins, though, so if you saw the title and said, “Oh, is that the one about the twins?” we’ll still give you half-credit. Anyway, this score may not have been one of Previn’s most memorable, but if you like Previn’s work at all, you’ll still want to hear it.
Various Artists, City Heat: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – As a film, City Heat seemed like it was going to be the greatest team-up of all time, with Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds going head to head, but it ultimately proved to be kind of a bust. Still, the soundtrack’s got some good stuff on it, including contributions from Al Jarreau, Irene Cara, and Eloise Laws, a score by Lennie Niehaus, and a song called “Montage Blues,” performed by Mike Lang, Peter Jolly, and Mr. Eastwood himself.
Gabriel Yared, Message in a Bottle: Original Motion Picture Score – If you know anything at all about the works of author Nicholas Sparks, then you already know that Message in a Bottle is a pretty schmaltzy film. This in turn gives you an idea of what to expect from the film’s score, but you can’t say that Gabriel Yared doesn’t give the production exactly the music it needs.
Debbie Gibson, The Studio Album Collection 1987-1993 – When it comes to the career of Debbie Gibson, most folks are aware of her debut album, 1987’s Out of the Blue, and her highly successful sophomore effort, 1989’s Electric Youth, but after that their memories either start to get a little hazy or they have no memory of Gibson’s subsequent two albums for Atlantic Records because they’d tuned out altogether. That’s why this set is so perfect: you get the stuff you loved, plus you get educated on Gibson’s musical evolution as she began to grow up and branch out on 1990’s Anything is Possible and 1993’s Body Mind Soul.
The Mitchell Trio, Alive! – You need look no farther than the cover of this concert album by The Mitchell Trio to know that these were three cool cats, bedecked in their finest suits and ready to harmonize their hearts out. Okay, so maybe they didn’t necessarily rock, as their take on The Beatles’ “She Loves You” confirms, but they sure sound great.