I’ve lived in Pittsburgh for almost eight years now, and it’s a decision that I can honestly say I’ve never regretted. I love this city. I love its crazy roads, obscene colloquialisms (Jag Off!), awesome food and legendary record stores.

I also love its cinematic history, mostly because it’s so weird. Sure, we got George A. Romero’s zombie flicks to lay claim too, but the greater Pittsburgh also played hosts to classics like The Deer Hunter and Flashdance, as well as “classics” such as Sudden Death, Striking Distance and Stigmata.

The selection of movies to be filmed in my adopted hometown are as idiosyncratic and quirky as the town itself, and the oddest of the bunch has to be the 1979 critical and commercial dud, The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh.

The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh stars basketball legend Dr. J as Moses Guthrie, the star player for the (fictional) Pittsburgh Pythons. The team sucks, until a spunky ball boy convinces Guthrie and the coach to cut everyone from the team except Moses, and replace them with players who share his astrological sign of Pisces.

Why?

Don’t worry about that. It just works, okay? It works so well that the team (renamed the Pittsburgh Pisces) goes on to win almost every game of the season, make the playoffs, and face the dreaded L.A. team in the Finals (spoiler alert: they win in thrilling fashion). Yes. It’s cheese, but its wonderfully aged cheese, made all the better by its amazing disco/funk soundtrack.

The soundtrack to The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh features performances by a variety of artists, it’s mostly the work of Thomas Bell. If you don’t know who Thom Bell is, you still probably know some songs he was involved with. During the 70s, Bell was one of the driving forces behind the Philly Soul sound, contributing as a songwriter/producer to some of the biggest acts of the scene, such as The Delfonics, The Stylstics and The Spinners (who are on this soundtrack). Bell produced, arranged and conducted every song on the record, and he wrote all the songs on the album as well, with the occasional assist from Leroy M. Bell (his nephew) and Casey James, the duo who made up Bell & James (who, not coincidentally, are also on this soundtrack).

The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh bombed huge when it came out in 1979 (I know, what a shocker) so the soundtrack was never even granted an official release. The few copies that were made were only issued as promos for radio stations. However, thanks  to Discogs, I know have one of those copies. So now, I am more than pleased to present to you the soundtrack to The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh, the finest soundtrack to a film about Pittsburgh basketball and its relationship with astrology that you’ll ever hear.

Thomas Bell Orchestra featuring Doc Severinsen – A Theme For L.A.’s Team
An odd starting number for the soundtrack, considering that the movie is about the team from Pittsburgh, but it still serves as a solid opening number that sets the vibe for the whole album. And hey, it has Doc Severinsen from The Tonight Show, so that’s something.

Phyllis Hyman – Magic Mona
In the film, Mona is the astrologer/spiritual adviser who helps coordinate all the players’ star charts so they’ll know their strengths and weaknesses for each game (sure, it sounds stupid when I say it like that). For her theme song, Bell recruited Phyllis Hyman, a soul singer with a powerful voice who was actually raised in Pittsburgh (but born in Philly). Hyman had a few minor disco/dance hits in the 70s and 80s, and even had something of an acting career going for a while, but she committed suicide in 1995 at the way too young age of 45. I don’t know much about her other than that (which I culled from her wiki page) but she sure had an amazing voice, even if “Magic Mona” is a silly song.

The Sylvers – Mighty Mighty Pisces
The theme song for the Pittsburgh basketball team was contributed to by The Sylvers, a family act of nine (holy shit!) brothers and sisters from Memphis, Tennessee. Maybe the popularization of birth control is one of the reasons why we don’t see bands like this anymore. This song is basically one long hook “Mighty mighty Pisces/now you’re making history!” with some inspirational verses thrown in. Just like the movie itself, it’s stupid as hell, but instantly charming and fun.

The Spinners – “(Do It, Do It) No One Does It Better
One of Thom Bell’s more memorable projects, The Spinners were a big name for a while, scoring a string of amazing soul singles throughout the 1970s. Their funky soul style doesn’t really shine with this track though. If you want to see just how awesome The Spinners were, check out this performance of “Rubberband Man,” one of the best soul tracks of the decade.

Bell & James – The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh
Thom Bell was burying the lead by making the title track the last track of the first side, because this song is amazing! It’s probably the main reason why I’ve fallen in love with the movie so much. It’s impossible to feel down or sad after hearing to this track, which is one of the most oppressively upbeat disco tunes I’ve ever heard, which is quite the feat when you think about how disgustingly upbeat most disco is.I dare you to find a better funk/disco track about a Pittsburgh-based basketball team. You won’t! Seriously though, it’s pretty incredible, if all music was this fun and exciting the world would be a much better place.

As for Bell & James, the short-lived duo never really scored a major hit on the charts during their short-lived career, although Bell recently reappeared on The X Factor recently, which is just weird. He was eliminated, but I bet if he would’ve won if he sang this track.

Frankie Bleu – Moses’ Theme
There’s a really odd romance subplot to The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh involving Dr. J’s Moses character and the big sister of the ballboy. The “seduction” scene pretty much involves her watching Moses play streetball by himself (in slow motion) while this slow jam plays. Download this song, try that out for yourself and report back to me.

The Four Tops – Chance Of A Lifetime
I really hope I don’t need to explain who The Four Tops are. I mean, they’re only responsible for “Baby I Need Your Loving,” “I Can’t Help Myself,” “It’s the Same Old Song,” “Reach Out I’ll Be There,” and “Bernadette,” (my favorite vocal group song of all time). “Chance Of A Lifetime” is less than a fraction of good as those tracks, but it’s still one of the best songs on the record. Like most of the best songs on the soundtrack, it’s upbeat disco with a “you can do it theme” that’s impossible not to like.

I need more motivational disco in my life. Wah-wah guitars make me feel like I can accomplish anything.

William Hart – Follow Every Dream
This soundtrack works best when it’s trying to be funky and semi-inspirational, so this love song by the lead singer of The Delfonics is kind of meh. It’s fine. But whenever I listen to it I usually stop it halfway though and play “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time)” instead.

Eubie Blake & Thom Bell – Ragtime
It’s a ragtime song…dude, I have no idea. It’s only a minute and twenty seconds long, just go with it.

Loretta Lynn & Frankie Bleu – Is It Love, Must Be Love
The Coal Miner’s Daughter was the last person I expected to see on a soundtrack that predominately features soul, R&B and disco, but if the 70s were anything, they were random. This is a cute 70s soft-rock style song, generic, but cute. I have no idea who the unfortunately-named Frankie Bleu is.

Now that I have a great turntable and pre-amp, I’ve been visiting the archives to see which albums and singles deserve to be re-recorded and re-posted. Obviously, the soundtrack to Urgh! A Music War was one of the first on the list. These new recordings sound light-years better than my last attempt, and I highly recommended you download them even if you have an older copy I posted.

I’ve talked about Urgh! several times over, so I’ll keep the intro brief. It’s an amazing document of a time period in music, when the punk rock influences of the 70s were starting to find their way into pop music; the white British kids were discovering reggae; and when people like Gary Numan determined that any musical problem could be solved with more synthesizers. I don’t think there’s ever been another movie like it, and there certainly hasn’t been another soundtrack like it. Let’s take a look at it, one side at a time.

Side 1
The Police – Driven To Tears
Wall Of Voodoo – Back In Flesh
Toyah Wilcox – Dance
Orchestral Manoeuvers In The Dark – Enola Gay
Oingo Boingo – Ain’t This The Life
XTC – Respectable Street
Urgh! starts out a little weak, with one of The Police’s more bland efforts serving as the opening track. Things pick up quick though, thanks to an awesome lesser-known number by “Mexican Radio” fans Wall of Voodoo, followed by a freak-out of a performance by Toyah Wilcox. OMD calm things down a bit with their mid-tempo ode to nuclear warfare, but the calm doesn’t last long thanks to Danny Elfmann and the rest of Oingo Boingo rocking out “Ain’t This The Life,” one of their best tracks in my opinion. Closing side one out is a live cut by XTC, delivered so passionately and powerfully that it makes that eventual retreat from live performances all the more heartbreaking.

Side 2
The Members – Offshore Banking Business
Go-Go’s – We Got The Beat
Total Eclipse – Klaus Nomi
Athletico Spizz ’80 – Where’s Captain Kirk
Alley Cats – Nothing Means Nothing Anymore
Jools Holland – Foolish I Know
Steel Pulse – Klu Klux Klan
Side two is polarizing for me. It has some of my favorite tracks; Go-Go’s “We Got The Beat,” and the crazy “Where’ Captain Kirk” by Spizz, but it also has many of the album’s lesser numbers (at least in my opinion). I’ve never enjoyed reggae, so I almost always skip The Members and Steel Pulse tracks, and Jools Holland’s little piano bit is just annoying to me. Still, this side does have the jaw-dropping Klaus Nomi on it, so in the end it’s more good than bad.

Side 3
Devo – Uncontrollable Urge
Echo And The Bunnymen – The Puppet
The Au Pairs – Come Again
The Cramps – Tear It Up
Joan Jett & The Blackheats – Bad Reputation
Pere Ubu – Birdies
Gary Numan – Down In The Park
If side three of the Urgh! soundtrack was a standalone release it would still be worth buying. Amazing tracks by legendary bands such as Devo, Echo and The Bunnymen, Joan Jett, Gary Numan and The Cramps! All back-to-back! Epic. The Au Pairs hold their own against these more well-known bands, with their fun and quirky song about getting off (or not), and Cleveland-born freaks Pere Ubu accomplish the impossible and out-weird Gary Numan’s offbeat performance of his best song from the time period. All awesome stuff.

Side 4
Fleshtones – Shadow Line
Gang Of Four – He’d Send In The Army
John Otway – Cheryl’s Going Home
999 – Homicide
X – Beyond And Back
Magazine – Model Worker
Skafish – Sign Of The Cross
Side four is kind of a let down after the jam-packed collection of awesome that is side three. Yes, it does have X and Gang of Four (wanna hear a secret? I don’t like them!) but it also has forgettable tracks by forgotten artists like John Otway and Skafish. 999 does save things a bit though with “Homicide,” the best tribute to murdering fools that you’re ever likely to hear. Also, while some of these tracks are kind of mediocre, none of them are bad or annoying (save maybe for the Gang of Four number – but don’t tell anyone I said that), so it’s still a worthy finale to a near-flawless record.

But wait, there’s more!

Did you know you can buy Urgh! now? It’s available to purchase via Warner Brothers’ Warner Archives site. It’s just a DVD-R, but it’s in anamorphic widescreen and it sounds incredible. It definitely looks and sounds better than my worn-down VHS tape.

As you may know, there are many tracks in the Urgh! movie that weren’t featured on the soundtrack. Here are those songs, ripped directly from the DVD’s audio track (except for the Slodgenessabounds tune, since that’s not on the DVD for some reason).

Non-Album Tracks Ripped from DVD (Slodgenessabounds taken from VHS)
John Cooper Clarke – Health Fanatic
Chelsea – I’m On Fire
Dead Kennedys – Bleed For Me
Surf Punks – My Beach
Invisible Sex – Valium
Splodgenessabounds – Two Little Boys
UB40 – Madame Medua
The Police – Roxanne
The Police –  So Lonely
Klaus Nomi – Aria from Samson and Delilah (End Credits Music)
Highlights here include John Cooper Clarke and his breakneck punk rock poetry slam; the Dead Kennedys’ Jello Biafra comparing the oppressive governments of Afghanistan to living in Nebraska for his intro for “Bleed For Me,” and the…I don’t even fucking know what of Invisible Sex’s “Valium.” The extended jam version of “Roxanne” by The Police isn’t that bad either (and I usually can’t stand that song).

Enjoy and I’ll see you all next week.

I live in Pittsburgh, and let me tell you, people in Pittsburgh love their zombies.

It’s all because of George Romero. The director of Night/Dawn/Day/Land/Diary/Survival of the Dead was born and raised in Pittsburgh, and he set most of the films in the series in and around the greatest Pittsburgh area.

George Romero is known for keeping a semi-constant cast of actors and behind-the-scenes people with him. Both Gaylen Ross and Ken Foree from Dawn of the Dead went to star on in other films by the director, and Tom Savini’s pretty much been his right-hand gore man since the beginning. He’s even had actors grandfathered into this films. “Chilly” Billy Cardille was in the original Night Of The Living Dead, and some 18 years later Billy’s daughter Lori was cast as the lead in Day of The Dead.

Another person who has stuck around with Romero over the years has been John Harrison. A friend of Romero, his work with the director goes all the way back to Dawn of the Dead, where he had the uncredited role of “Screwdriver Zombie.” A couple years later, Romero cast Harrison again for another bit part, this time in the drama Knightriders. From there, his work with Romero increased. He was credited as the first assistant director in both Day of the Dead and Creepshow, and more recently he served as an executive producer on Diary of the Dead.

But wait, there’s more! Harrison didn’t just work as an A.D. and bit-part cast member for Romero, he also worked as a composer (and I thought John Carpenter’s multi-tasking was impressive). Harrison composed the scores for both Creepshow and Day of the Dead. Unfortunately, both of those soundtracks are out of print and go for a damn fortune online, if you can even track them down. But hey, that’s why you come here, right?

 Creepshow – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Prologue/Welcome To Creepshow (Main Title)
Father’s Day
The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill
Something To Tide You Over
The Crate
They’re Creeping Up On You
Epilogue
Until Next Time…(End Title)
Creepshow is a pretty awesome movie, and one of the best examples of comedy/horror ever made. Each of the film’s five short stories work great on their own, and both as a larger conceptual piece that pays homage to the EC horror comics of the 1950s. It’s such a great movie that I don’t want to say that much about it just in case someone reading this hasn’t yet seen it. It’s on Netflix Watch Instantly, so if you have that, check it out and marvel at Adrienne Barbeau’s ability to transform herself into one of the most unlikable characters in the history of motion pictures.

The soundtrack to Creepshow is kind of a modern (well, modern for 1982) marvel. As the linear notes state, almost the entire thing was composed on a PROPHET V polyphonic synthesizer and a pair of grand pianos. While the score does have an undeniable electronic sound (which is one of the reasons why it’s so great), it also has a depth and complexity that deny its rather humble origins. Parts of this sound like they came straight from of an orchestra. It’s without a doubt one of the best synth scores of the 80s, and works both as creepy background music and as a standalone piece.

This recording is from my personal vinyl copy, which looks like it was well-loved by its original owner. There are some scratches in parts, but as a whole it sounds pretty good.

George A. Romero’s Day Of The Dead – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

The Dead Suite
Breakdown
Escape Invasion
The Dead Walk
If Tomorrow Comes
The World Inside Your Eyes
Deadly Beginnings
Diner Of The Living Dead
Dead Calm
Bub’s 9th
Dead End
In the five-plus years (holy shit!) years I’ve been writing here at The Lost Turntable, I’ve posted more than my fair share of rare and hard-to-find recordings. So trust me that it means something when I say that this soundtrack might be the rarest and most difficult to track down recording I’ve ever posted.

The Day of the Dead soundtrack was originally issued on vinyl and cassette in 1982 1985. It was comprised of six tracks, with “The Dead Suite” taking up the entire B-side of the record. That version of the soundtrack is rare enough as it is, and you can usually find it going for somewhere between $20-$40 online.

However, like many soundtracks made for vinyl releases at the time, the score to Day of the Dead had to be severely abbreviated to fit on one record. It was not until 2002 when the soundtrack would be re-released on CD, courtesty of Numenorean Music. As far as I can tell, Numenorean Music no longer exists, and in their brief existence they only issued three releases: a 2-CD remaster of The Dark Crystal soundtrack, a release of the score to the 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead; and this expanded edition of the Day of the Dead soundtrack.

Each of these releases were given extremely limited runs. They printed 5,000 copies of the Dark Crystal soundtrack, and only 3,000 each of the NOTLD and Day of the Dead soundtracks.

Today, these go for insane prices online, if you can find them at all. A new copy of the Dark Crystal score goes for almost $90 on Amazon, and for about $70 on Discogs marketplace. A copy of the NOTLD soundtrack is for sale for $70 on Discogs also, but the highest it has ever sold for is $32 bucks.

Then there’s this soundtrack. As of right now, someone on Discogs is trying to unload their copy for a whopping $425. They’re probably asking a bit much, but Discogs records show that the CD has actually been sold for as much as $112. I tried to find out if that price was an anomaly, but I couldn’t. I could hardly find anything about this release online. I don’t know how much it routinely sells for because, quite frankly, none of the 3,000 people who have a copy seem to be looking to let it go.

I don’t even think anyone has even ripped a copy and shared it online before, which means I’m making history here tonight!

So how is the soundtrack? It’s good enough. Unlike the score to Creepshow, it actually features some full instrumentation thanks to Pittsburgh band Modern Man. Two of the tracks also feature vocals by the awesomely named Sputzy Sparacino and a gospel singer who goes by the name Delilah. While the soundtrack to Creepshow is an awesome product of its time, parts of this score are a little dated, and the two pop songs are just downright silly in the context of an apocalyptic zombie movie. The 20-minute “Dead Suite” remains a highlight though, as do many of the other instrumental pieces on the record.

And in case you’re wondering how I got a copy of this bad boy, my mom bought it for me at a used CD store for 10 bucks. Go mom!

I love horror movies.

I also love their soundtracks. It always amazes me how many soundtracks to great (and…not so great) horror movies end up going out of print! A well-crafted horror movie soundtrack can be just as memorable and creepy as the movie’s villain. Think of a movie like Jaws or Halloween, those movies are scarier because of their amazing scores! It’s a shame that so many soundtracks to lesser horror films have become lost over the years.

While I’ll be the first to admit that none of the soundtracks I’m featuring tonight can hold a candle to the films I just mentioned, they are still worth mentioning and might serve as great background music to your Halloween party, if nothing else.

The Fog

Matthew Ghost Story
Main Title Theme
Walk to the Lighthouse
Rocks at Drake’s Bay
The Fog
Antonio Bay
Tommy Tells of Ghost Ships
Reel 9
Can anyone else name a director who also scores most of his or her films? I sure can’t think of one – John Carpenter walks alone. With awesome keyboards.

For a long time John Carpenter’s scores were nearly impossible to find, but over the past few years many of his best soundtracks have found their way back into release. Today you can easily pick up the scores to such classics as They Live, Prince of Darkness, Escape from New York,  and the first three Halloween films, complete and uncut! The soundtrack to The Fog was available on CD for a while too, but for some reason that version has lapsed back out of print. It’s a shame. It may lack some of the hooks or melodies that made Carpenter’s other scores so memorable, but I still enjoy it immensely. It has a atmospheric, brooding feeling that perfectly encompasses the slow dreadful feeling you get from the film as you see the zombie-filled fog slowly roll its way across the town, killing anyone who gets in its path. I haven’t seen The Fog since I was in high school, I really have to re-visit this movie. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it.

Just avoid that remake. Ugh.

It’s Alive 2 (AKA It Lives Again)

Main Title
Birth Traumas
Lamentation
Savage Trilogy
Nightmares
Beautiful and Bizarre
Revulsion
Basement Nursery
Evil Evolving
Living With Fear
Stalking The Infants
Climax
It Lives Again, the sequel to the only movie that I know of that put my mother into shock while she saw it (true story – Hi mom!).

Despite what my mother might tell you otherwise, the original It’s Alive is an awesome movie, and not just for its schlock and shock value. For a movie about a mutant killer baby, there’s a lot going on there! It talks about women’s rights, the environment, government corruption, prejudice, and tabloid journalism. Deep shit!

The movie was directed by Larry Cohen, a twisted genius of a filmmaker who also made The Stuff, a movie about killer ice cream, and Q: The Winged Serpent, an AMAZING movie about a giant winged serpent that lives on top of the Chrysler Building and eats people. Seek those movies out, they will change your life.

The score for It’s Alive 2 is just a slightly modified version of the score to the original film, which was composed by the legendary composer Bernard Herrmann. During his illustrious career, Herrmann composed the scores to countless classics, including Citizen Kane, Vertigo, Psycho, The Birds, Cape Fear, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Jason and the Argonauts and Sisters. The last movie to feature one of his scores to come out before he died was It’s Alive, his actual last score was for Taxi Driver, but that didn’t come out until after he passed away.

Of the three scores I’m featuring here tonight, this is my favorite. Just like a great horror film, it’s filled with mystery, intrigue and the occasional jump scare. I also love its subtle use of electronic instruments, something that Herrmann was known for as far back as the 1960s.

This recording sounds amazing too, because until about three hours ago, my copy was sealed and had never been played.

Killer babies!

Leviathan

Underwater Camp
Decompression
Discovery
One of Us
The Body Within
Escape Bubbles
Can We Fix It
Situation Under Control
It’s Growing
Too Hot
A Lot Better
In 1989, three underwater-themed horror/sci-fi movies were released in American theaters; The Abyss, Deep Star Six, and Leviathan. Of the three, The Abyss is rightfully the most remembered. It was directed by James Cameron, had a huge budget with jaw-dropping and revolutionary special effects, and a touching story that managed to simultaneously deal with small, interpersonal relationships as well as the dangers of the military-industrial complex and cold war paranoia (at least it did in the Director’s Cut).

Deep Star Six, on the other hand, is a horrendously awful underwater monster film by Sean S. Cunningham, the director of Friday The 13th. It’s only redeeming quality is it’s incredibly bizarre cast, which includes Nia Peeples from Fame, Miguel Ferrrer (The Stand) and that dude from B.J. and The Bear. Don’t see it.

Somewhere in between (although admittedly closer to Deep Star Six) is Leviathan.

Leviathan certainly isn’t a good film by any means, but it’s not horrible, and is definitely entertaining. One thing is for sure, it has a pretty stellar cast of B-movie stars and characters actors, including Peter Weller (fucking Robocop!) Ernie Hudson (a fucking Ghostbuster!), Richard Crenna (fucking Trautman from Rambo!) and Daniel Stern (fucking….Daniel Stern! Dude was in Home Alone! And CHUD!).

It also probably helped that the film had a halfway decent director in George P. Costomas, a work-for-hire director who churned out entertaining films of questionable quality during the 80s (Cobra, First Blood: Part II, Of Unknown Origin) before somehow scoring a gig directing Tombstone in 1993 (although Kurt Russell would later claim he ghost-directed that film). The man knew how to work with a limited budget, and manages to make the most out of the rather silly practical monster effects throughout the film.

The plot of Leviathan is almost identical to that of Alien, so it’s probably more than just coincidence that they hired the composer of Alien, Jerry Goldsmith, to do the film’s score. It’s not the most creepy of scores, but it does feature whale songs! So hey…that’s something I guess.

Random thought: Wouldn’t it be fucking incredible if the heavy metal band Mastodon made their album Leviathan to be in sync with this movie? Hey, you potheads out there, go find that out for me.

By the way, the babies in the It’s Alive movies could totally fuck up the monster in Leviathan.