What Are You Listening To Right Now?

[Dadrian]

How about one off one of my favorite albums? Absolutely stellar in every sense. From the year 1969. 

Tony D. you gotta love Eric Gale's guitar on this one!

 

Edited August 3, 2016 by Dadrian

[James]

4 hours ago, summer84 said:

1956 Italian song - We no speak Americano.

Haha, weird - I was listening to that last night. xD

[summer84]

24 minutes ago, James said:

Haha, weird - I was listening to that last night. xD

Yeah, it happens, I guess. 

 

Edited August 3, 2016 by summer84

[summer84]

To me there can only be one "Joker" in Batman and that is Jack Nicolson.

[James]

 

[summer84]

 

[ArtieRollins]

1 hour ago, summer84 said:

To me there can only be one "Joker" in Batman and that is Jack Nicolson.

I grew up watching Tim Burton's Batman films, but I never got see them in the movie theatre though, as I was too young. But then again, I have probably never watched a VHS title so many times as with Batman (1989) back in the mid 90s. The music, atsmosphere, characters everything was done to perfection. You really entered another world, not like in the new films that just look like every other city in the world, this was how Gotham should look like, frightening and very hostile, but not in the over-the-top disco/camp later on in Schumacher's two Batman films.

Jack Nicholson was great, as usual but over the years I was surprised to learn that Brad Dourif was Tim's originally choice as the Joker, which could have been epic, as he looked so much like the Joker (Mark Hammil) in the brilliant, Batman: The Animated Series 1992-95) but I guess the big money men in Hollywood didn't think he was a big enough box-office draw.

After watching Batman (1989) again, just a couple of days ago, I remember how truly frightening the young Jack Napier/Joker was, compared to the older one played by Nicholson. The sadistic grim on his face and voice: "Have you ever danced with the devil by the pale moonlight?"

I'd take the gothic/film-noir atmosphere and its much more memorable music by Danny Elfman in Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992) anyday, over the new Batman films.

Another great Joker is Mark Hammil in Batman: The Animated Series and Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993) he gave the character a much need "re-birth" and was just a charismatic and memorable as the one played by Jack Nicholson:

Edited August 3, 2016 by ArtieRollins

[Daytona74]

Guns N Roses were kind of the soundtrack to my late teens/early 20s. They were really on top of their game in the first half of the 90s.

It's a shame what happened to the band soon after. The two "Use Your Illusion" albums are still among the best rock albums ever recorded to me.

 

[MTVcops]

 

[ArtieRollins]

14 minutes ago, Daytona74 said:

Guns N Roses were kind of the soundtrack to my late teens/early 20s. They were really on top of their game in the first half of the 90s.

It's a shame what happened to the band soon after. The two "Use Your Illusion" albums are still among the best rock albums ever recorded to me.

I find it funny how there are always people out there who think that grunge/alternative rock along with Nirvana just suddenly killed off big 80s bands like Guns N' Roses in the early 90s, when they had both Use Your Illusion albums topping the charts at the same time, selling out huge arenas etc. Sadly, what in the end "killed" them of was probably because these guys were just natural self-destructive but man could they play rock n roll.

 

[summer84]

1 hour ago, James said:

 

Nice song! Never heard of the singer Yazoo.

Just a great new song, I discovered of Stevie Nicks.

[Daytona74]

vor 28 Minuten schrieb ArtieRollins:

I find it funny how there are always people out there who think that grunge/alternative rock along with Nirvana just suddenly killed off big 80s bands like Guns N' Roses in the early 90s, when they had both Use Your Illusion albums topping the charts at the same time, selling out huge arenas etc. Sadly, what in the end "killed" them of was probably because these guys were just natural self-destructive but man could they play rock n roll.

There was a documentary on TV here last night about Guns N Roses. Apparently, what really, really killed off Guns and Roses was that both Axl Rose and Slash were "wild children", but between the two of them, they were like chalk and cheese, and tempers would flare up constantly between them. So if you get two people like that in a band and they're not on the same page, then your band probably isn't going to last beyond your heyday years.

The Grunge movement wasn't against rock, it was against corporate rock and Reagan-era consumerism. It was the culmination of 1980s counterculture.

 

vor 12 Minuten schrieb summer84:

Nice song! Never heard of the singer Yazoo.

Yazoo wasn't a female singer, it was the name of a band project founded by Vince Clarke, formerly the keyboardist and lead songwriter of Depeche Mode. He quit Depeche Mode in 1981 because he didn't like the direction they were going, and then in 1983 he got together with Alison Moyet, and they formed Yazoo. Other hits by Yazoo include "Don't Go", and "Nobody's Diary". They disbanded after their first album, and Vince Clarke went on to form the synthpop duo Erasure with Andy Bell, while Alison Moyet had a string of Top 40 hits under her own name in the mid to late 80s. Yazoo tried their luck on the U.S. music market under the name Yaz (I think they felt it just sounded better), but they quit before they ever became successful in the States.

Edited August 3, 2016 by Daytona74

[ArtieRollins]

13 minutes ago, summer84 said:

Nice song! Never heard of the singer Yazoo.

Only You is beautiful, I think it is sung by Alison or Alice Moyet? and the music was produced by Vince Clarke, the original leader/writer of early Depeche Mode and they went on to became a sucsessful duo known as Yazoo.

I have lost count on how many time their song Don't Go have been remixed/remade/covered by dance, trance and techno acts in the late 90s/early 00s. Did not know then that it was a Yazoo tune before seeing Tango & Cash (1989) were a young and very stunning Teri Hatcher dances to it, in a night club:

 

 

Edited August 3, 2016 by ArtieRollins

[Daytona74]

Speaking of Yazoo, this little gem is right under "Yazoo" in my MP3 folder on my computer:

 

Yazz is/was a British singer who first gained success riding the coattails of increasingly commercialized acid house music in the late 80s. This kind of track is somewhat unusual for her, from that time.

[ArtieRollins]

6 minutes ago, Daytona74 said:

So if you get two people like that in a band and they're not on the same page, then your band probably isn't going to last beyond your heyday years.

The original line up, well most of it aren't they back together on the road, but for how long? After Use You Illusion 1 and 2, it has been Axl with guest musicians for the most part, and I don't think I have heard Chinese Democracy, so it is not right of me to write it off, but I remember Axl and his "new" Guns N' Roses were being hailed as about to having this big comeback on VMA 2002, and it was a really painful experience to watch, because I knew they were about to appear in the end, going through all these hours of crappy rap, pop and wannabe rock stars thinking they were great, then tons of horrible commericals just to hear some finally new Guns N' Roses material, and it just was an embarrassing episode, I'd rather forget, and I think I am not alone on that.

 

[summer84]

56 minutes ago, ArtieRollins said:

I grew up watching Tim Burton's Batman films, but I never got see them in the movie theatre though, as I was too young. But then again, I have probably never watched a VHS title so many times as with Batman (1989) back in the mid 90s. The music, atsmosphere, characters everything was done to perfection. You really entered another world, not like in the new films that just look like every other city in the world, this was how Gotham should look like, frightening and very hostile, but not in the over-the-top disco/camp later on in Schumacher's two Batman films.

Jack Nicholson was great, as usual but over the years I was surprised to learn that Brad Dourif was Tim's originally choice as the Joker, which could have been epic, as he looked so much like the Joker (Mark Hammil) in the brilliant, Batman: The Animated Series 1992-95) but I guess the big money men in Hollywood didn't think he was a big enough box-office draw.

After watching Batman (1989) again, just a couple of days ago, I remember how truly frightening the young Jack Napier/Joker was, compared to the older one played by Nicholson. The sadistic grim on his face and voice: "Have you ever danced with the devil by the pale moonlight?"

I'd take the gothic/film-noir atmosphere and its much more memorable music by Danny Elfman in Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992) anyday, over the new Batman films.

Another great Joker is Mark Hammil in Batman: The Animated Series and Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993) he gave the character a much need "re-birth" and was just a charismatic and memorable as the one played by Jack Nicholson:

I also grew up watching Batman as a kid on VHS. Don't think, I have the VHS tape anymore, I think it was thrown out last year. It was the right guys cast in the roles with Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson as Batman and Joker. Keaton had those characteristic lines in his face, which fitted well with the mask, he wore and Nicholson had just the right look and attitude for playing a lunatic with the never ending laughter. I believe, I read that Keaton didn't want to be in a second Batman movie in which George Clooney was chosen. And I agree the young Joker did appear more frightening.

I so remember that line " You ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"  It was great to see these videos again!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeOHFwpOS-c This video would only show up as a link.

Of the new Batman movies, I only liked "Batman begins." It was interesting.

And the movie, I have seen the most times on VHS is "Jumanji" with Robin Williams. It's crazy. Hahaha

[Daytona74]

vor 17 Minuten schrieb ArtieRollins:

The original line up, well most of it aren't they back together on the road, but for how long? After Use You Illusion 1 and 2, it has been Axl with guest musicians for the most part, and I don't think I have heard Chinese Democracy, so it is not right of me to write it off, but I remember Axl and his "new" Guns N' Roses were being hailed as about to having this big comeback on VMA 2002, and it was a really painful experience to watch, because I knew they were about to appear in the end, going through all these hours of crappy rap, pop and wannabe rock stars thinking they were great, then tons of horrible commericals just to hear some finally new Guns N' Roses material, and it just was an embarrassing episode, I'd rather forget, and I think I am not alone on that.

Sadly, Guns N Roses is really a band where all you can say is, time has moved on. To me, they were without a doubt to late 80s music what the Rolling Stones were to late 60s music, but that's in the past. I think I quickly listened into "Chinese Democracy" once, but it didn't wow me in any way at all. It was unremarkable self-plagiarizing in the hope of regaining former success.

[ArtieRollins]

48 minutes ago, summer84 said:

I also grew up watching Batman as a kid on VHS. Don't think, I have the VHS tape anymore, I think it was thrown out last year. It was the right guys cast in the roles with Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson as Batman and Joker. Keaton had those characteristic lines in his face, which fitted well with the mask, he wore and Nicholson had just the right look and attitude for playing a lunatic with the never ending laughter. I believe, I read that Keaton didn't want to be in a second Batman movie in which George Clooney was chosen. And I agree the young Joker did appear more frightening.

Michael Keaton and Tim Burton were such a fine team back in the late 80s, Beetlejuice and Batman really stands out as not only their best moments (for me at least) but some of the greatest films to come out of the 80s. Sadly Burton has since spent most of his time having made to many movies with Johnny Depp, and I have grown tired of seeing him play all these over-the-top weido roles for the past two decades, and if Burton decides to make a sequel to Beetlejuice without Michael Keaton, then I am truly finished with him as a movie director, but I guess to get a lead role in his films, you have to be either Johnny Depp or Helena Bonham Carter. 

In the later years Keaton has had a fine "comeback", even though as he said himself "Comeback? I have been here all the time" . I really liked Birdman and its little take on the more serious tone of modern Super Hero movies,, and hopefully Keaton will keep on doing great roles in the future.

The one scene from a Batman picture that truly gets it, when it comes to portraying the tragic and lonely figure that is Bruce Wayne/Batman more than anything, has to be the Bat Signal scene from Batman Returns. The music, lights and Wayne just sitting there all by himself in this huge gothic mansion, waiting for something to happen, anything and then boom, the Bat signal comes on and you know it means serious business.

Sadly as with most Batman films, the villains steals the show, and you don't get too many scenes like this, either in the old or new ones. Anyway, brilliant acting by Keaton. 

 

Edited August 3, 2016 by ArtieRollins

[MTVcops]

 

[ArtieRollins]

1 hour ago, summer84 said:

I believe, I read that Keaton didn't want to be in a second Batman movie in which George Clooney was chosen.

I think that was around 94-95, Burton went on to as a co-producer but Joel Schumacher was now the director and the movie was Batman Forever, which more or less was the beginning of the end for Batman and superhero movies in the 90s. A lot of criticism were directed at the dark and at time very violent two first films by Burton, (Batman kills a lot of people in those two) and so the big money shots in Hollywood thought that it was a great idea if they could do a more child proofed Batman movie, which meant more money and satisfied parents, sadly that backfired big time just two years later with Batman and Robin (A film I actually kind of like, Uma Thurman alone is good enough for me, but it is nowhere near as bad as many people say).

Keaton dropped out I think, because he and Burton did not like the plans for the third Batman movie, and in the end I guess he is relieved that he did not end up in two of the most "hated" superhero films of the 90s. There were though, some few good scenes in Batman Forever, involving Bruce Wayne as a kid, which made me think that maybe Burton had a bit more to do than just have his name in the picture credits:

In the end Schumacher did not want to direct a kiddie commerical, but a more serious Batman film, but instead he has gotten a lot of critic because of these two films, and I think he even went on to apologies for making them in one of the documentaries than was included in the 2005 double disc DVD version that came out around the same time as Batman Begins. Kind of strange how a man behind a movies such as The Lost Boys (1987), Flatliners (1990) and Falling Down (1993) suddenly goes from being a cool director to being famous as the one who "destroyed" the Batman series.

Edited August 3, 2016 by ArtieRollins

[MTVcops]

 

[ArtieRollins]

Sorry if anyone is getting tired of all this movie talk, so I'll take a little break for now and go on with the music part. I love movies so much, that I could probably talk about them for months or more. 

Anyway, this Prince song is beautiful and a perfect closer to the Batman film from 1989. Sadly Youtube probably will take it down before the day is gone, I was even surprised to find it there in such a good quality too. Hope it stays though, as Prince and his music deserves to be there for both old fans and new. 

[summer84]

 

[Tony D.]

Tony Bennett with Lady Gaga....

 

 

[MTVcops]

 

Edited August 3, 2016 by MTVcops