Music

Well, duh. Dummy me. Didn’t even realize that it says that, right there on the screen, about 15 seconds in.

When I first listened last night, I had other things going on, and so I wasn’t looking at the screen. Sorry.

DonDiego's favorite music is classical and motion-picture-soundtracks, the modern equivalent to classical orchestral pieces.

The composer of the music for the spaghetti-westerns which made Clint Eastwood a star was Ennio Morricone, one of DonDiego's favorites.
He has done a lot of composing before and after those: Ennio Morrecone Filmography

F'rinstance, he composed the score for John Carpenter's The Thing in 1982.

DonDiego's favorite Morricone score may well be that for The Mission in 1986. A film which is seldom seen on TV anymore. It's a shame.
From The Mission: Gabriel's Oboe

Enjoyed that, DonDiego. Thank you.

The oboe is a wonderful instrument. My wife played oboe in both high school and college bands, and plays it today, now and then, when the mood suits. When she plays, I just stand back, listen, and smile. The tunes are always beautiful, and often times just plain haunting.

She’s more into keyboards now, and she’s become very good at that, too, but I always look forward to the times she decides to dust off the oboe.

Here's the film's Main Theme conducted by Mr. Morricone himself, and with lots of Oboe.

Very nice, DD. clcjim and clcjudy say thanks.

My favorite Todd Rundgren song has been on my mind for a couple days, for a couple reasons. Some very large life changes begin with very small incidents...

There are some better youtube recordings of this song, but a quick search showed most of them to be part of an entire concert. This single is still a pretty good performance and recording. "The Runt" has always surrounded himself with exceptional backup talent.

For the want of a nail, a shoe was lost...

A little longer search yielded the same song cut from one of the full concert videos. Detail to full production value is all there!

The red head backup singer is almost the perfect woman! She looks a bit like Cassandra Peterson, aka Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, when Cassandra was in high school. I sat across a table from her for a full semester of study hall. I didn't get very much (school class) studying done in study hall that semester.

You sat across from Cassandra Peterson in study hall?? Lucky you. I sat across from Mary Lou Unglebach, with whom I never messed, because I was pretty sure she could kick the living daylights outta me.

Liked the Todd Rundgren song.

In 1976, two singles were released from vocalist/keyboardist Gary Wright’s 1975 album, The Dream Weaver. The first of these was the album’s title track, which most everyone remembers. Indeed, it did well on the charts, reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100.

As much as I liked Dream Weaver, my favorite was the second of the two, released four months later. It also reached #2 on the US charts:


Love Is Alive - Gary Wright (1976)


Both Dream Weaver and Love is Alive were synthpop. They were recorded in the studio by Wright, on vocals and keyboards, along with two additional keyboardists and a drummer. All instrumentation other than percussion was synthesized. There were no actual guitars, or anything else.

On a related note (get it?), one of my favorites from the movies is the theme from Mystic River. Composer: Clint Eastwood.

Si. Es bueno.

Clint Eastwood’s acting abilities are well known, and his directing abilities may be even more appreciated.

But how the hell did Rowdy Yates compose a score?

I've been slacking on this thread for more than a month...

clcjim, Cassandra was a year ahead of me in high school, but study hall was for all class years. Cassandra headed to California right out of high school to pursue a career in Hollywood. Her parents owned a costume and party supplies store, so she grew up sorta being able to create a new her every day. She had two younger sisters that I became much closer to back then. Cassandra was the most successful of the three, but she was the second-prettiest girl in that family.

A friend who was a DJ at the top rock station in town back in the 1970's and 1980's told me it took her a while to figure out why some girl kept calling her to request that she play a song called "Honest Lucille". The caller couldn't remember the name of the band... I didn't and don't care about any negatives expressed about the Go-Go's. They were a fun band with more talent than a lot of other bands hitting the charts back then. The confused (or stoned) song requester wanted to hear "Our Lips Are Sealed". I like that song too!

Honest Lucille (1981)

I like Head Over Heels even better. They had developed a much stronger stage presence by that time and you could see they were having fun on stage.

Belinda and the girls, Head Over Heels, still early (1984) in their careers

The sound mix couldn't be better than it is on this 2001 video. I'm going blind due to cataracts, but my earsight is still 20/20. I've worked more pre-concert sound checks than I can count. Most of the pro sound guys get pretty close. Very few get it perfect...

Head Over Heels 17 years later