Showing posts with label soundtrack. Show all posts
Showing posts with label soundtrack. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 26, 2022

Hedwig & The Angry Inch - Midnight Radio


 #Hedwig & The Angry Inch #John Cameron Mitchell #Stephen Trask #rock musical #movie soundtrack #hard rock #punk rock #glam rock #1970s retro

This song, to me, is about the fleeting thrills and glory of "ecstatic events" in one's life, be it becoming a rock star, playing a new record for the first time, winning a contest, or findng a perfect lover. "Midnight Radio” is a classic Rock & Roll Anthem for those of us that are, as Hedwig so eloquently states, "the misfits and the losers.” The pace and tempo of this song are as important to the meaning as the lyrics. "Midnight Radio" starts out slow and brooding, like that uneasy moment of anticipation before stepping out onto a stage, or that hesitant second before piercing the cellophane on a new LP (does anyone other than me even buy vinyl anymore?). Then the pace picks up a bit at the first chorus, and a hint of the "anthem" nature of this song starts to become apparent in the climbing scales and soaring sustains. Then the "Here's to" verse, really belts it out in true anthem spirit, ending with Hedwig practically growling out the word "tonight". And the "Yea, you know" harmony line is one of those rare musical moments that sends shivers down my back every time I hear it. This build to the climax of this song is, of course, representative of that glorious moment when those ecstatic events in one's life are peaking - the house lights come up to a roaring crowd, that first passionate kiss, the moment when the needle first drops in the groove of a new record and those first notes come from the speakers. And of course the finale "Lift up your hands,” repeating over and over again, is the trailing end of those ecstatic events, when the adrenaline rush is starting to taper off. The song gets louder, and then, although it still tingles with energy and power, it slowly fades out. Just like "real life.”  From: https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/68464/


Saturday, September 24, 2022

Leem Lubany - Peace Train


 #Leem Lubany #actress/singer #Israeli #world music #Cat Stevens cover #movie soundtrack #Rock the Kasbah

When noted film director Barry Levinson (Diner, Rain Man, The Natural, Bugsy, Wag the Dog, and many more) first read the script for his new film, Rock the Kasbah, he realized he needed the help of a pop icon: Yusuf Islam—that is, the singer/songwriter formely known as Cat Stevens. In this comedy (dark at times, sweet at times), which opens this weekend, Bill Murray plays a down-and-way-out LA talent manager who has but one act left in his falling-apart stable, a neurotic bar singer (Zooey Deschanel). Yet somehow he finds a gig for her: USO shows in Afghanistan. And off they jet to the war zone, where soon Murray’s only meal ticket abandons him, and he’s stranded in Kabul with no passport, no money, and no way home. Hijinks—and violence—ensue, as Murray falls into the world of sleazy arms dealers, cynical American mercenaries (including a tough guy played by Bruce Willis), and competing tribal warlords. But this is no adventure flick. It’s a tale of cultural and spiritual bridge-building—with laughs—because Murray, stuck at one point in rural Afghanistan, stumbles into a cave and discovers an Afghan teenage girl (Leem Lubany) singing beautifully. And the song she’s covertly crooning is Cat Stevens’ “Trouble.”
From here on, Murray has a mission: to get this Muslim teen on the Afghan version of American Idol, which has never featured a female performer. The film is based, as they say, on a true story, and the real-life Afghan woman who appeared on this television show, Setara Hussainzada, confronted tremendous opposition from religious and cultural conservatives; she even received death threats and fled Afghanistan for exile in Germany. Levinson’s film tracks a tale of female empowerment in the Muslim world, while — get this!— being respectful of the society it portrays. Most of the laughs it generates are at the expense of Murray’s character, not cheap gags aimed at the natives. As Levinson put it, he was looking to craft “a humanistic, dramatic comedy that dealt with the Muslim world in Afghanistan.”
The script, penned by Mitch Glazer (Scrooged, Great Expectations) had been knocking about Hollywood for years without being made, even though marquis-name Murray was attached to the project. “It was too foreign some said,” Levinson explains in a blog post. “Too much about that part of the world, not enough action, not a war film, too much about people, and in whispers, too much about Muslims.” But Levinson, Glazer, and the rest of the film’s team were able to get the movie going on a basement budget (just $15 million) — with the actors pocketing lower-than-usual rates — but they needed the okay of Yusaf Islam. At least, to a certain extent. Several Cat Stevens songs play a critical role in the movie, so much so that Stevens is something of an unseen co-star. And the film’s climax—slight spoiler alert—makes effective use of his anthemic “Peace Train.” So when Levinson read Glazer’s script and saw that it included these tunes, he asked, “Do we have the rights?” Not yet, he was told.
Usually, it’s not a big deal for a director to obtain the rights to use music in a film. The music supervisor contacts the folks who control the rights to a song and negotiates a deal. But it was not so simple in this case. Yusuf wanted to meet Levinson and Glazer. So on a spring afternoon in New York City, hours before Yusuf was to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he and Glazer met with the singer at his hotel. There was a bit of apprehension on the filmmakers’ part. If Yusuf said no, they weren’t sure what they would do. “We didn’t know what we could use instead, what would get us there,” Levinson says. The Cat Stevens songs were instrumental to the story. (After all, how many Muslim-Western mega pop stars are there?) Yusuf had been sent a copy of the script, and shortly after the introductions were done, Levinson and Glazer were relieved: He liked the story and was excited by the prospect of being involved in the project. “He wanted to make sure his music was being used appropriately,” Levinson says. “And he saw exactly what we were trying to do with the whole idea of an Afghan Muslim young woman so taken with his music that she becomes a pop star and remains a Muslim.” Islam gave them a green light. “It was a key element to get into place,” Levinson notes.  From: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/10/cat-stevens-rock-the-kasbah-bill-murray-barry-levinson/

Saturday, July 9, 2022

Hedwig & The Angry Inch - Origin of Love


 #Hedwig & The Angry Inch #John Cameron Mitchell #Stephen Trask #rock musical #movie soundtrack #hard rock #punk rock #glam rock #1970s retro

Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a rock musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Trask and a book by John Cameron Mitchell. The musical follows Hedwig Robinson, a genderqueer East German singer of a fictional rock and roll band. The story draws on Mitchell's life as the child of a U.S. Army major general who once commanded the U.S. sector of occupied West Berlin. The character of Hedwig was inspired by a German divorced U.S. Army wife who was Mitchell's family babysitter and moonlighted as a prostitute at her trailer park home in Junction City, Kansas. The music is steeped in the androgynous 1970s glam rock style of David Bowie (who co-produced the Los Angeles production of the show), as well as the work of John Lennon and early punk performers Lou Reed and Iggy Pop.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedwig_and_the_Angry_Inch_(musical)

Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a 2001 American musical comedy-drama film written for the screen and directed by John Cameron Mitchell. Based on Mitchell's and Stephen Trask's 1998 stage musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch, it accompanies Hedwig Robinson, a gay East German rock singer. Hedwig subsequently develops a relationship with a younger man, Tommy, becoming his mentor and musical collaborator, only to have Tommy steal her music and become a rock star. The film follows Hedwig and her backing band, the Angry Inch, as they shadow Tommy's tour, while exploring Hedwig's past and her forced gender identity. Mitchell reprises his role as Hedwig from the original production.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedwig_and_the_Angry_Inch_(film)