Betty Davis (Miles Davis’s ex-wife) was a true funk pioneer. She released some terrific but unheralded albums during the early-to-mid 1970s. Seattle’s terrific Light in the Attic record label (who also recently re-released Sixto Rodriguez’s classic early albums) re-released a lot of her stuff a few years back. Much of it is still available, but Davis’s “Nasty Gal” album no longer appears to be in print. In any case, this is well-worth tracking down.
1st runner up for my favorite horror movie music, Bernard Herrmann’s theme music from J. Lee Thompson’s sleazy but sublime 1962 thriller “Cape Fear” (as well as from the pretty stellar 1991 Martin Scorsese remake).
In honor of Halloween, this is my all-time favorite horror movie music! Composed for Dario Argento’s spectacularly creepy, disturbing, and psychedelic 1977 Italian horror film “Suspiria.” The movie is definitely worth checking out, but only if you have a strong stomach and aren’t under the influence of hallucinogenics.
A special request from my 7-year old.
Forget post-modernism or post-irony. Has there ever been an un-selfconsciously dorky band than The Honeycombs? If there is, let me know, because these guys (and gal) are AWESOME! Sweet lord, that percussion! That weird twangy organ / guitar / whatever in the background that could only have come from producer Joe Meek! This song was apparently a huge hit in the mid-1960s, but I only heard it for the first time a month ago (on Sirius’s Underground Garage) and can’t get the damn thing out of my head. Discoveries like this make me happy that I can keep digging deeper into the past instead of reconciling myself to modern-day shite like Nickleback (I realize that people love to dogpile on Nickleback these days, which kind of makes me want to find something to like about them … but, seriously I can’t … they are so F–KING awful and gross!!!!! and not even in a cool and ironic way … they’re F–KING appalling!).
At one point in the distant past (over 30 years ago), director Robert Zemeckis was one of the funniest, weirdest, and raunchiest comedy film directors around. While “Back to the Future” sent Zemeckis and his co-writer Bob Gale onto greener commercial pastures, “Used Cars,” from 1980, was the highlight of Zemeckis’s (and Gale’s) career. An unapologeticaly politically incorrect tale of corruption and sleaze with a scumbag (albeit with a heart of gold … or at least bronze) as its hero. And seriously, F–K Snake Plissken! Kurt Russell was never better than he was playing sleazebag used car salesman Rudy Russo. Zemeckis and Gale split up professionally and Zemeckis involved himself with increasingly commercial, but blander projects (“Romancing the Stone,” “Forrest Gump,” “Contact,” and the extremely disturbing-looking computer animated film “Polar Express”). Yes, I’ll admit the first “Back to the Future” film has its charms, but “Used Cars” was THE BEST Zemeckis and Gale film. Let’s pour some wine on the ground in honor of what Zemeckis could have been as a director, a wonderful cross between Preston Sturges and John Waters (and if you don’t think that concept is golden, then f–k off!).
Dave's Strange World 