Movies: The Bedroom Window (1987)

With The Bedroom Window, it seems director Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle) set out to make the Hitcockiest movie Hitchcock would make if he and Alma were around in the mid to late 1980s. It’s so overtly Hitchcockian that you almost expect to see the old master walk by in one of the bar scenes or seated in the crowd in the theater scene, casting a knowing fourth-wall glance at the camera. 

It’s got the signature Hitchock ingredients of romantic intrigue and an innocent man wrongly accused and digging himself ever deeper a hole in a plot that involves the protagonist Terry (Steve Guttenberg) doing the boss’ wife (Isabelle Huppert), who witnesses an assault of a woman from her lover’s bedroom window in the middle of the night after hearing screams. To cover up the affair, Terry, rather than his paramour, goes to the police. In terms of plotting, it’s a clever idea that sends our protagonist into a series of mishaps and errors.

Currently available to stream on Amazon Prime, The Bedroom Window often does look like a Hitchcock film in style and staging, and there are a few scenes in which Huppert, dolled up to the max, is framed like a ‘40s vixen. It generally doesn’t look much like an ‘80s movie; the bar scenes, however, with Mario Brothers and Ms. Pac Man video games in view and ‘80s music playing, are exceptions. A curiosity that struck me is a song that plays in both bar scenes — a repetition of music that seems intended as a harbinger of the villian's presence. Particularly in '80s movies, I'm always trying to identify the music, and, in this case, it’s a third-tier Robert Palmer single, "Hyperactive," that many viewers probably wouldn’t even notice had been played in the earlier scene. "Hyperactive" was a single of the time; it crawled to #33 on the Hot 100 on the coattails of its #1 predecessor, "Addicted to Love." Why not use a more identifiable tune or a bit of ominous orchestration that recalls Bernard Hermann?

Most of the movie is a fun watch as Terry gets on the trail of the villain and begins to make a mess of things, but the movie’s final act is rather unimaginative. I think Alma would call for a rewrite.

RIP Roxette's Marie Fredrikkson

From about 1988 to 1992, Roxette were masters at both big, shiny power pop such as "The Look" and "Dangerous" and also devastating pop ballads like "It Must Have Been Love," "Spending My Time" and "Fading Like a Flower," the latter of which I recall even drew praise from my father. Marie Fredrikkson, who was half of Roxette with Per Gessle, passed this week after a very long battle with cancer that had not deterred them from making music. Many casual listeners might be surprised by the hefty body of work left behind by Roxette — they were workhorses, and the quality is generally there throughout, although some albums are decidedly stronger than others. There's lots of Roxette music worthy of exploring beyond Look Sharp and Joyride — one I definitely recommend is Room Service (2001), and I think their final album, Good Karma (2016), was the best since their chart-topping heyday.

My top 10 played Roxette tracks weaves an enjoyable mix of hits and deeper cuts:

Top 7 things about Classic American Top 40 on iHeartRadio

We’re counting down now to my top seven thoughts about Classic American Top 40 from the 70s and 80s (I’m there for the 80s), back in the days when it felt like the charts really meant something, on iHeartRadio. And it doesn’t stop till we get to the top!

#7 Casey Kasem had a voice and charisma that made him perfect for counting down the hits. He was the best ... sorry, Rick Dees.

#6 It's always fun to rediscover good tunes that you forgot you knew. One of those that resides in my current playlist as a result of listening to these shows is Sylvia's hilarious country crossover hit "Nobody" (#15 in 1982). Your nobody called today / She hung up when I asked her name …

#5 The writers for this show had a curious obsession with the geographical identity of the artists. Born in Brooklyn, grew up in Queens, recording out of Nashville, vacationing in the Poconos ...

#4 I’ve always had an inordinate interest in music charts — I think it is somewhat tied to OCD tendencies. It's satisfying to know that both of The Motels’ substantial hits peaked at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 (or "the Hot Hundred" as Kasem sometimes called it), among endless other chart minutiae.

#3 Listening to the shows from the 80s, one thing that has struck me is how the big power ballad duets of that era, often teaming major stars, are a lost art. Songs like "We've Got Tonight" by Kenny Rogers and Sheena Easton, "Separate Lives" by Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin, and "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" by Aretha Franklin and George Michael. A number of them were movie soundtrack songs — another driver of the charts that has diminished in today’s music scene. 

#2 Another thing that has struck me is that there are some fine tunes from the first half of the decade that never resurface in 80s playlists or flashback radio shows. One such nugget that I recently playlisted is John Lennon’s excellent "Just Like Starting Over" from 1980, and there are countless others.

#1 If you listen with any regularity, you'll almost immediately begin to hear repeats, because a relatively small number of countdowns (considering how many there were) are in rotation. If you listen frequently, you'll be able to recite the long distance dedication letters along with Casey and sometimes know what song is coming next. I know there's one show in which Belinda Carlisle debuts at #30 with "Circle in the Sand," one in which Level 42 holds at #7 with "Something About You" and one in which Diana Ross moves 40-29 with a ridiculous song written by Michael Jackson called "Muscles" about unbridled desires for beefcake men (!) . It'd be great to hear some "new" old countdowns added to the rotation. I'd actually love to hear shows from the Shadoe Stevens era as well (Kasem departed in August 1988, so the tail end of the decade is underrepresented). Stevens presided until the 1995 cancellation, and there was still some fun left in the top 40 format into the first half of the 90s, although I pinpoint the beginning of the end to be somewhere around "Rump Shaker" (#2 in 1992).

Till next time, keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars!

Let's talk about The Bird and The Bee

When The Bird and The Bee released the rather quirky  Interpreting the Masters Vol. 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates nine years ago, I figured it would be their Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 — an outstanding album that would never see a second volume. Well, they've just proved me wrong with something that absolutely no one was asking for — Interpreting the Masters Vol. 2: A Tribute to Van Halen. However, we should've seen it coming, given that they signaled their love for VH with the not good song "Diamond Dave" on their 2008 album Ray Guns Are not Just the Future. Perhaps it makes a bit of sense, given Van Halen's somewhat atypical use of synthesizers in the hard rock genre. It's the one thing that made some of their music work for me.

At best, this covers album takes Bird and Bee (Greg Kurstin and Inara George) into some new and interesting sonic territory, particularly on "Ain't Talking 'bout Love," which sounds like Bird and the Bee dipped in dreamwave / synthwave / retrowave, and it's a very good thing. Another highlight is "Jump," which very cleverly transforms singer Inara George's lovely voice into that classic hit's infamous synthesizer riff. Album opener "Runnin' with the Devil" works well, as does "You Really Got Me" (which really ought to be disqualified from this exercise by way of originally being a Kinks song) and "Jamie's Cryin'."

"Eruption" is a roughly 90 second instrumental b-side cover, leaving us with nine actual songs, including the previously released "Diamond Dave." Overall, the song choices veer too far away from hit material for the casual listener; I would much rather hear Bird and the Bee tackle "Dreams" or "When It's Love" than most of what's here. At worst, they struggle with capturing the inherent silliness of some the originals, as in "Hot for Teacher."

FLASHBACK // Back in 2010, I said the Hall & Oates tribute worked beautifully, with "The Bird and the Bee's electro lounge pop marrying perfectly with H&O's pop chestnuts."

RIP Eddie Money

Eddie Money does not hail from the genres that I write most about here, but it occurred to me as I played some of his songs on Spotify that his smoky voice was often pleasantly around during the time frame in which my obsession with pop music emerged, which coincided with his later period as a hitmaker. Beyond the obvious tracks are numerous worthy listens, like "Walk on Water" (#9, 1988), "Endless Nights" (#21, 1987), "The Love in Your Eyes" (#24, 1989) and "Peace in Our Time" (#11, 1989, and originally recorded by Jennifer Holliday for the One Moment in Time Olympics album). Pressed to choose a favorite, I quite like "I Wanna Go Back" (#14, 1986), but I might have to go with the somewhat uncharacteristic and softer-than-usual ballad "I'll Get By," which was his final top 40 hit, peaking at #21 in 1991. It's got an appealingly dark quality with lyrics like Lately I've been thinkin' / I should move away / No reason left to stay / This house is haunted anyway. 

RIP Ric Ocasek

While most of the Ric Ocasek obits are understandably focused on the importance of The Cars and his role in their success, it’s one of his solo songs, "Emotion in Motion," that is one of my all-time favorites of the 1980s and among all pop tunes in general. There's a magical quality to the synth-driven ballad that really takes me somewhere. Released in 1986 as the lead single for his second solo album This Side of Paradise, which largely sounds like a Cars album, it was Ocasek's only U.S. top 40 single as a solo artist (#15 pop, #8 AC, #1 rock tracks). It's a sweetly romantic track, in a good way, and it sits at #16 on my all-time Last fm scrobbles chart. Ocasek's final drawing/doodle that has been featured in the news says "Keep on Laughin'," which is the title of the opening track on This Side of Paradise. It's a good tune, but the second-best track on Paradise is "Mystery."

Elsewhere among his solo albums, "Hang on Tight" from 1997's Troublizing, which featured some collaboration with Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins (not on this track, however), is also highly recommended, with an interesting evolution of the synth-pop-rock sound.

As for The Cars' body of work, the moody ballad "Drive" and "Magic" are divine slices of pop music.

Pet Shop Boys drop surprise single Dreamland with Years & Years

While giving this its first spin this evening, a distinct feeling emerged: This sounds like one of those Pet Shop Boys B-sides in which they are aping a specific artist, song or genre, or some combination thereof, such as in "The Ghost of Myself" (Britney Spears' "…Baby One More Time") or "Betrayed" (jungle). In this case, the imitated object would be the popular synthpop recording artist known as Years & Years. My first impression is that this new A-side is pleasant enough but not destined to be a favorite.

While it was known they'd been working with Olly Alexander of Years & Years, bonus points are in order for dropping the lead single from out of nowhere on a non-standard release date, accompanying the news of a greatest hits tour and the January release date for the upcoming studio album (it's been a long wait), which will complete the Stuart Price-produced trilogy. Here's to a new era of PSB.

Some things about the return of Press Your Luck

ABC is the new game show network …
Who saw that coming? Faithful reproductions of Pyramid, Match Game and, now, Press Your Luck. To Tell the Truth is a bit of a different vibe than the older versions, but it is quite good, as well. It's interesting to see ABC dipping deeper into the genre with Press and Card Sharks, and these are a real gift to classic game show fans as well as reminders of so much potential mostly squandered by GSN / the Game Show Network.

High tech is better?
The new "big board" is a stunning set piece, to be sure, and modern technology eliminates the possibility of anyone "cracking the code" like Michael Larson did on the old show. But that old big board was a marvel, with individual slides for all of the prizes and dollar amounts in each square. The slides in each square switched in unison and had kind of a cool morphing effect that is completely lost in the new computerized big board. Once in a while, some of the individual squares would get out of synch with the others, making the board look even more dynamic. It also had more stylized representations of the prizes compared to the somewhat generic look of the new board's graphics. The old board still rules.

WTF
We get the somewhat obscure and pointless "Across the Board" space but not the iconic and game-rocking "Double Your $$$ + One Spin"? Seriously? Doesn't seem like it would bust the primetime budget. At least "Pick a Corner" is there.

The hostess
Elizabeth Banks is giving it the ol' college try, but she's not a game show host. Peter Tomarken occasionally got a bit too goofy, but he had gravitas and knew how to run that game. "Roll the board!"

No deal
The new end game is a too-long drag that feels influenced by the overblown drama of Deal or no Deal (although I admit that I like the "chosen just for you" prizes). ABC should have stuck to its usual approach of not fixing what ain't broke. The ideal outcome for all this would be to drop the end game and give us a daily morning or afternoon network or syndicated show with returning champions, the way it's meant to be.

'It' is not a very good movie

Is it the extreme anticipation associated with a cultural touchstone? 

Something has to account for mediocre movies getting a critical pass — I'm thinking of The Force Awakens, for one, and a more recent example is the 2017 adaption of the classic Stephen King horror novel It, which is about as much of a holy grail as Star Wars for King fans. It's stunning to me that this movie sits at an 85/84 on Rotten Tomatoes, and I think a lot of horror movies in recent years — Insidious and The Conjuring among them — have been pretty grossly overrated. I mean, we know going into a horror movie that most of them are bad, but have we set aside all expectations at this point? 

Here, Andy Muschietti's big-budget treatment gets off to a quite promising start in the opening scenes as the paper boat floats down the street in the heavy rain and Georgie pursues it; when it goes down the drain and Georgie comes face to face with Pennywise for the first time, it's captivating to see the solicitous monster trying to push just the right buttons to lure in his prey. Bill Skarsgard nails it in that moment, and I'm ready to go along for the ride. Sadly, though, the movie quickly descends into the usual jump scares, noise and nonsense of modern horror movies; long before the silly final confrontation mercifully arrives, I just wanted it to be over (my viewing partner wholeheartedly agreed). As plenty of others have pointed out, a real bright spot in the movie is Sophia Lillis as Beverly; she displays a gravitas beyond her years that hints at great things to come. 

If I had to watch one of the two adaptations of It again, I'd opt for the slow-burn TV version. I recall that King once said he should have called the novel "sh*t." I don't know about that, but, when it comes to this movie, if the clown shoe fits …