a division of the Chersonian Institute

Category: Music (Page 25 of 34)

I’d Rather Believe that Cher is Not Trying to Deprive Us of the Joy of her 70s Warner Bros Albums

220px-Cher_-_I'd_Rather_Believe_in_YouCher’s Warner Bros albums have now completely missed two levels of music technology: cassette tapes and CDs. We’re now on to mp3s downloaded from iTunes and these four albums STILL are buried under a rock like a time capsule we buried back in 1978 and now can’t find. What the hell?

This awesome Cher scholar Joe Marchese reviews the gems of Cher's late-70s Warner Bros time period and daydreams about the absolutely necessary compilation that is missing from our lives.

How can Cher be taken seriously as 5-decades-long musical artist when some of her best tracks are hijacked in a closet under hundreds of pairs of shoes?

“We listeners don’t need a modest little Diane Warren power ballad to remind us that Cher isn't going anywhere.”

I love his line-up but would one-up the thing after reading about Neil Young’s Blu-Ray DVD set Archives. This is the kind of package Cher fans need, a really serious musical retrospective of her career.  Young's set includes three cornerstone live concerts, rare footage and his entire catalog. Sure it’s $300 but what Neil Young scholar wouldn’t eat it up.

Read the whole Warner Bros retrospective:

http://theseconddisc.com/2011/01/27/reissue-theory-cher-a-womans-story-the-warner-bros-years/ 

Speaking of Warner Bros tracks, Cher scholar Tom found the original version of "Island" on iTunes, recorded by Chunky, Novi and Ernie. Some Cher fans speculated that the song's writer Illene Rappaport was a psudonymn for Cher but this isn’t true. Ileen is her own self (although her name is Lauren Wood) and was alledgedly thrilled Cher recorded her song.

http://www.beyondrace.com/columns/catching-up/980-catching-up-with-lauren-wood

 

History: Dark Lady, Wooden Heart, David Letterman

Woodenheart

Wooden Heart

I believe Cher scholar Robrt sent me this rarity of Cher singing "Wooden Heart" circa 1965.

 

 

 

 

David Letterman 

Also, in the latest Entertainment Weekly (4.1.11) there is a on-page piece on shocking David Letterman Show moments (page 8) of which Cher’s 1986 "asshole" episode is included among other weird weird episodes like Madonna’s f-word opus, Joaquin Phoenix’s sham performance, Farrah Fawcet's ramblings, Drew Barrymore’s boob flashing, and Crispin Glover (who knows what that was about). The representative pic for Cher shows her arms folded defensively. But she loosened up later in the interview as these shots show.

Normal_tel1986letterman_04

Cherletterman

 

 

 

 

 

 

Luckily Cher had a change of heart about Letterman and has had many memorable visits since. 

 

Dark Lady

From: http://www.rttnews.com/Content/EntertainmentNews.aspx?Section=2&Id=1581411&SM=1

CherDarkLady

Cher reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with her "Dark Lady" on March 23, 1974.

The track was Cher's third solo chart-topper. She scored a number-one hit with 1971's "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" and repeated the feat with 1973's "Half-Breed." Cher would not return to the number-one spot for a quarter century, finally breaking her drought in 1999, when "Believe" topped the Hot 100.

Written by Ventures keyboardist Johnny Durrell, "Dark Lady" was the title track of Cher's 1974 album, which featured two other Durrell compositions, "Dixie Girl" and "I Saw a Man and He Danced with His Wife." The LP also included "Train of Thought" and "Rescue Me."

"Dark Lady" reached number one by knocking off "Seasons in the Sun" by Terry Jacks. After a one-week run, it was replaced by John Denver's "Sunshine On My Shoulders."

Wow…sandwiched between "Seasons in the Sun" (we had joy we had fun….this song was aCher%20Dark%20Lady n  earworm) and the drippy "Sunshine on My Shoulders" (I hugely prefer "Take Me Home, Country Roads" and "Thank God I’m a Country Boy" for my John Denver dollar).

Young heavy metal aficionados must have been pulling their hair out. God bless em.

Stan Ross RIP

Sonny%20cuts%20rebsml Cher scholar Rob alerted me to Stan “Choo Choo” Ross’ passing with this link: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=77834

"Stan Ross, Producer and Engineer co-founded Gold Star studios, famed for its 'Wall of Sound'

Stan Ross, who co-founded Hollywood's Gold Star Recording Studio, where producer Phil Spector perfected the innovative “Wall of Sound" technique, has died. He was 82. Ross died Friday at Providence St. Joseph's Medical Center in Burbank of complications following surgery.

More than 100 Top 40 hits were recorded at Gold Star, including such Spector-produced records as “You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" by the Righteous Brothers and “Be My Baby" by the Ronettes.

Other hits recorded at the modest building at Santa Monica Boulevard and Vine Street included Ritchie Valens' “La Bamba," Eddie Cochran's “Summertime Blues" and Iron Butterfly's “Inna-Gadda-Da-Vida." The Beach Boys also recorded most of their records there.

“Stan was born with a musical ear," said David Gold, who co-founded Gold Star with Ross when both were barely out of their teens. “He would come up with ideas for people who were recording, things that had never been tried before.""

Pic above is credited as Stan Ross, Sonny & Reb Foster. See many S&C pics from their time at Goldstar Studios: http://www.sonnycher.com/goldstar.html 

   

Cher Compilation Catch-Up

I've been avoiding reviewing a stack of Cher compilations, both old and new, that I've been picking up new on Amazon and at Amoeba Records in Los Angeles. May as well get it over with.

Allireallycover cher: all I really want to do: best of the early years
Microwerks, 2009

First, awkward cover photo. Both this one and the inside photo show off her gargantuan rings of the time. This is a modest solo compilation, not the most comprehensive or unique selection, not remastered, has the major hits ("All I Really Want to Do," "Bang Bang,"  "Mama," "You Better Sit Down Kids") and the almost hits or not-really-hits-by-cher ("Where Do You Go," "Alfie," "Needles & Pins"). The fillers are common compilation selections ("Behind the Door," "Hey Joe") and not-so-common ones ("Elusive Butterfly," "I Go to Sleep," "Don’t Think Twice," The Click Song"). Thankfully the packaging is somewhat green. Bill Dahl did the liner notes:

“a beloved entertainment icon for so long we can barely remember a time when Cher wasn’t basking in superstardom.”

How about 1964.

But these liner notes taught me that "Behind the Door" was penned by Graham Gouldman, later of the band 10cc. They wrote these 70s tunes: remember "I’m Not in Love" (Big boys don't cry) and "The Things We do for Love" (like walkin in the rain and the snow when there's no where to go and you're feelin' like a part of you is dyin').

"You Better Sit Down Kids unfolded from the male perspective…Cher’s legion of followers weren’t disturbed by the gender jumble, sudden tempo switches and jazzy sax interjections”

Cher Scholar’s husband was.

Icon CHER ICON
Geffen Records ICON series, 2011

The cover is a Herb Ritts chain mail photo…and that's all the photos you get, no liner notes, just a cheap series cash-in from Geffen.

Common of these Geffen releases, there's no "Believe," just "If I Could Turn Back Time" (without the parenthetical title), "I Found Someone," "After All," jumping back to "Half Breed," "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves" (spelled right and yet wrong), back forward to "We All Sleep Alone," back to "Dark Lady," forward to "Just Like Jesse James," back to "The Way of Love," up to "Love and Understanding," back to "Living in a House Divided," back up to "The Shoop Shoop Song." This thing gave me whiplash. For no good reason.

Classics Classics Sonny & Cher
Rhino imprint Flashback or Collectables Records (it was hard to tell), 2007

The artwork really annoys me in that it’s clearly a 60s compilation but it uses one 60s pic and two S&C 70s pics (inside) which says to me the person putting this together has no idea about the timeline of Sonny & Cher. This greatly perturbs me. It’s historically inaccurate. Scholars hate shit like this.

Also, here is a compilation without "I Got You Babe" which makes it one people are most unlikely to buy. The hit in the mix is "Baby Don’t Go;" nonhits are "Living for You," "500 Miles" (which I've always liked), "Let it be Me, "Unchained Melody," "Then He Kissed Me," "You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me" (tunes are heavily taken from the Look at Us album).

John and I listened to this one when we were heading up through the Chama Valley in New Mexico. I said "Unchained Melody" has always sounded to me like she’s singing from another room. And then there's that awkward splice at the end. Caesar and Cleo's "Love Is Strange" is also included as are Sonny’s "Laugh at Me" and "The Revolution Kind." We both agreed we liked "You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me" and I promised someday to play for him Cher and Gregg Allman’s version.

While in the car listening to these I was trying to explain to John how these reissues come to be, who picks the songs, what is the defining principle? Without liner notes you can’t usually tell. Hell, sometimes with liner notes you can’t tell either. My theory of creation is pure random sloppiness: seven monkeys in a room picking out song titles from a hat.

The one-page CD sleeve for this one has a very ugly advertisement for www.oldies.com on the back. The cover is very fugly and loud too. I hate this thing. It is trash polluting our universe.

Definitive Sonny & Cher The Definitive Pop Collection
Rhino/Atco, 2006

First of all this is a far cry from "definitive" although there are 2 CDs. On this one, I do like the cover art. Very mod. The thing is needlessly overpackaged but I do appreciate the Good-Times-era living room photo inside with Sonny pouring Cher tea. I don’t appreciate the 70s pic in the back of the booklet. No 70s songs, no 70s pics. Cher Scholar law.

Sheryl Farber’s liner notes have been reused from The Essentials: Sonny & Cher and are a good historical review on Sonny’s early efforts in the music business and meeting Cher as “a teen runaway…with dark, mysterious eyes and world-wise alto.”

“The (Phil) Spector presence is so strong on the fisrt S&C cuts…it’s as if the soundboard knobs used to record were still greasy from Spector’s corned-beef sandwich.”

Interestingly, Farber claims the song “Just You” is perilously close to The Ronettes' “Baby I Love You.” And she talks about early evidence of Sonny's politics in his lyrics:

“While the couple’s outsiderness was referred to in many of their songs, the future Republican Congressman Bono managed to keep that image in check by making sure the public knew they weren’t real radicals, but genuine patriots, in 1965’s The Revolution Kind.”

These 30 tracks havebeen digitally remastered and include the big duets: "IGUB," "Baby Don’t Go," "What Now My Love," "The Beat Goes On," and Cher hits: "All I Really Want to Do," "Bang Bang," "You Better Sit Down Kids." Side one is otherwise filler from Look At Us and Sonny’s Inner Views ("Laugh at Me," "The Revolution Kind") and the b-side "Have I Stayed Too Long," ending with filler from The Wonderous World of Sonny &Cher. Side two is filler from In Case You’re In Love with non-album singles "A Beautiful Story," "Plastic Man," "Good Combinations" and "Inner Views ("My Best Friend’s Girl Is Outa Sight") and two songs from Good Times ("It's the Little Things," "Don't Talk to Strangers").

Again…randomness.  My husband (who likes many Sonny songs) gafawed during Sonny’s French hamming in "Sing C’est La Vie." I told him I liked "Why Don’t The Let Us Fall In Love" (a favorite from childhood) and he was appalled when I told him "It’s Gonna Rain" almost beat out "IGUB" as the first Sonny & Cher single in 1965. It sounds so dated and lyrically inferior to "IGUB."  John likes "The Beat Goes On" and "Bang Bang" (who doesn’t) although he didn’t get the gypsy interlude in the western saga. We both snickered through the lyrics of "Monday" but I came to a new appreciation for Sonny's music and lyrics for the song "Cheryl’s Going Home." "Plastic Man" and "My Best Friends’s Girl is Outa Sight" (I don’t get the ending…did his friend get married or was the girl available at the end?) are both painful to sit through. John loves "It’s the Little Things" as do I.

"Good Combination" is manic, as John said many of Sonny’s arrangements were. I said, didn’t you know Sonny was a big proponent of the 60s movement called Speed Saxing? He said, "Really?"

And with a straight face I said, "Oh Yeah."

These compilations will never end; and they already feel dated without Cher’s latest hit from Burlesque: "You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me."

  

Back on Top: The Burlesque DVD and Various Accolades

1e9ec060ada01d6003221210_L One of the things I brought home from my Christmas trip to see my parents was some old, late-80s exercise tapes I found in my stuff still stored in their basement. 

For the last few years I’ve been doing pilates for my back and they always remind me of Doreen Rivera’s Stretch for Life tape I had back when I was doing aerobics. So not only did I get to re-explore that tape but tapes by Kathy Smith, Denise Austin and none other than fitness pixie, Jane Fonda. I used to favor the Rivera tape because the stretches made me feel good. In fact I hated the Fonda/Austin/Smith tapes and never did them. They were so chipper, so perky in that 80s happy-color way. And something about Jane Fonda’s voice used to annoy the hell outa me. My sister-in-law and I used to work out for years to Joanie Greggains records. I watched two Joanie Greggains tapes again last week and man, those were some really dangerous stuff we used to do. I can’t do half of it anymore but I throw my back out.

Surprisingly, now that I’m old, I loved the Jane Fonda, Kathy Smith and Denise Austin tapes. I decided Austin was very encouraging, Smith was challenging and the Fonda tape was most pleasant this time around. What the hell as happened to me?

The Golden Globe

So imagine my surprise to be having this new Fonda moment when it’s Jane herself who appeared last Sunday to do the somewhat awkward introducing of Burlesque for Cher at the Golden Globes. Jane called herself Cher’s friend and really gave a cheerful introduction to the dubious nominee. It was nice.

My friends thought the opening Ricky Gervais Cher joke was mean. How can tickets to a Cher show be considered a bribe, he asked. Do you want to see Cher in Vegas? No. Because it’s not 1975! I actually thought it was funny and athough a jibe, it diffused the drama somewhat. Besides the scholarly fact 70799173-songwriter-diane that Cher wasn’t touring in 1975, the point is…how big of a bribe was it? For real. 

I admit, it didn’t look good and I hope it doesn’t hurt her chances for an Oscar nod for best song. I know. I know. I am not a huge Diane Warren fan. Well documented. But I was really happy she won a Golden Globe award for the song and I was moved by her acceptance.

The Burlesque DVD

You can now pre-order the DVD or Blu-Ray which are set to come out March 1. I’m really pissed the special features are only rumored to come out on Blu-Ray, which I don’t have and won’t be getting soon.
According to Sony:

Blu-ray extras will include director's commentary, an alternate opening, a blooper reel, The Burlesque Lounge: Alternate Full Musical Performances and 5 featurettes (Burlesque is Back!, The Performers: The Cast of Burlesque, Setting the Stage:  Production Design & Performers, Inside the Dressing Room: Creating the Burlesque Look and The Set List: The Music & Choreography of Burlesque).

To Be Camp or Not to Be Camp

http://carpetbagger.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/piranha-3-d/

The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, a group of writers from publications like The Advocate and Us Weekly, which has announced that the winner for “Campy – Intentional or Not – Film of the Year” is “Burlesque.” It beat out worthwhile contenders like “Sex and the City 2” and “Piranha 3-D.” The win was especially notable because Steven Antin, the director of “Burlesque,” only recently told the Bagger that he didn’t care for the film’s reception. “It really wasn’t what I was aiming for, the camp,” he said of the film starring Cher and Christina Aguilera. “I wanted to make a fun film that was a throwback to Hollywood’s golden age of musicals, and people perceived it as camp for obvious reasons. I was surprised it was perceived that way.”

I am perplexed that Antin didn’t anticipate this.

Breaking the Record

So the big news last week was that Cher’s song from the movie, “You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me,” not only won a Golden Globe for best song but also topped the dance charts. This marked a very impressive chart record for Cher.

From the LV Examiner:
http://www.examiner.com/live-music-in-las-vegas/cher-farewell

With all that to celebrate how appropriate is it that at press time, Cher had just received a Golden Globe award for Best Song in her latest big screen event “Burlesque.” She told her audience after winning that award that the director for the movie didn’t even want to add the song into the film. But Cher did and she now has another statue to prove it.

And here that song has been the most successful piece of the movie. You can already download a karaoke version: http://www.amazon.com/Havent-Seen-Last-Style-Instrumental/dp/B004H4L3GU/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1295721359&sr=8-15

Cher now has the record for biggest span of time between two hot 100 number 1 singles and is the only act EVER to have a #1 hit song on the charts in each of 6 consecutive decades. [Note: this is a different achievement than the one my friend Christopher was hoping for–a top ten hot 100 single in five decades.]

From Billboard:
http://www.billboard.com/news/cher-shines-with-no-1-in-sixth-consecutive-1004139281.story#/news/cher-shines-with-no-1-in-sixth-consecutive-1004139281.story

On the Dance/Club Play Songs chart to be released on Billboard.com Thursday (Jan. 20), the song reaches No. 1, making the leading lady the only act to have notched a No. 1 single on a Billboard chart in each of the last six decades.

In fitting Cher style, she tells Billboard, "How can it be six decades when I'm only four decades?"
Written by Diane Warren, the ballad was remixed into an uptempo number for dance floors by the likes of Dave Aude, StoneBridge, Edson Pride and Almighty.

Cher collected her first leader on a Billboard list Aug. 14, 1965, when Sonny & Cher's "I Got You Babe" began its first of three weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.

In the '70s, she racked up a trio of Hot 100 No. 1s on her own with the story songs "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" (1971), "Half-Breed" (1973) and "Dark Lady" (1974). She notched another '70s No. 1 with Sonny, "All I Ever Need Is You," on the Adult Contemporary airplay chart in 1971.

Moving forward to the '80s, the AC chart continued to be a friend to Cher, as she locked up No. 1s on the survey in 1989 with "After All," with Peter Cetera, and her iconic "If I Could Turn Back Time."

In the '90s, Cher stormed back to the Hot 100, where she reigned for four weeks at No. 1 in 1999 with the title track from her album "Believe." The song would go on to finish 1999 has the year's top Hot 100 single. It also hit No. 1 on our Dance/Club Songs chart in 1999, as did two more singles from "Believe": "Strong Enough" and "All or Nothing."

In the '00s, Cher landed a further pair of No. 1s on Dance/Club Play Songs: "A Different Kind of Love Song" in 2002 and "When the Money's Gone" in 2003, both from her album "Living Proof."

The only. act. ever. Take that Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. [By the way, I just read an article on Sonic Youth in Newsweek and they don't think they'll ever get inducted either.]

  

Legitimacy

SONNY_AND_CHER_1970So the battle is waging to get Sonny & Cher into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On the fansite Just Plain Cher, I noticed a great, great opinion piece on the matter from Goldmine Magazine by Phill Marder.

By the way, over the years Goldmine has published some of best, most serious, retrospectives of Cher’s musical ouvre. So I'm not surprised to see a defense of her bid to legitimacy there.

Here are the article highlights:

 

Long before there was Joan Jett. Long before there was Madonna. Long long long before Avril and Pink. And lonnnnnnnnnnnnnng before there was Lady Gaga.

There was Cher.

In short, Cher was it. From top to bottom, Cher was the prototype of the female rock star, setting the standard for appearance, from her early hippie days to her later outlandish outfits, and her attitude – the perfect female punk long before punk even was a rock term.

Contemporaries Marianne Faithfull – the British bad girl with the angelic looks – and Nancy Sinatra – the rebel with the Playboy looks – did their part to advance feminine rebellion in the Rock world, but Cher led the way. Her schtick as near dominatrix over husband Sonny may have been a put-on in 1965, but Cher continued to force issues as she grew, not only with her stage costumes, but with her song selection as well.

With Sonny & Cher churning out hits, Cher’s solo career continued to soar, a rare occurrence in the music industry. Seldom does an artist score simultaneously with solo and group hits – Phil Collins is a recent example – but Cher did it…the very strange “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down), penned by Sonny, which came in at No. 2 in the U.S. and reached the top 10 in eight other countries, including No. 3 in the U.K. Later the same year, Nancy Sinatra did a smoking version, used in “Kill Bill,” and most recently The Raconteurs, led by Jack White, have been including a remarkably decadent cover in concert.

You’d Better Sit Down Kids, “Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves,” “Half Breed,” among others, followed, covering issues popular female singers weren’t known to address – divorce, prostitution, unplanned and underaged pregnancy and racism just for starters.

In 1974, we listened to it as “Dark Lady.” Today we watch it on the tube and call it “Snapped.”

[I had to include the "Dark Lady" bit because I love the show Snapped! Crazy ladies!]

Cher carried her success through to the new millennium. She starred on TV, won an Oscar and put records into the Top 10 in every decade from the 60s through the 90s, selling out shows whenever and wherever she appeared. In 1998, 33 years after her chart debut, Cher was No. 1 again with “Believe.”

Her album success also was substantial, 22 solo efforts reaching the charts in addition to 12 with Sonny. In the United Kingdom, Cher posted 10 top selling albums, hitting No. 1 twice in 1991 and 1992. Her singles numbers are staggering, 32 reaching the British Top 40 between 1965 and 2001, with her cover of the Betty Everett oldie “The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s In His Kiss)” joining “Believe” and “Love Can Build A Bridge,” a joint effort with Chrissie Hynde, Neneh Cherry and Eric Clapton, as chart-toppers. Seven efforts with Sonny also reached the U.K. singles chart, led off by the No. 1 “I Got You Babe.”

Cher has expressed disappointment in the Hall of Fame’s failure to recognize her accomplishments, but, diplomatically, she has put the emphasis on her late husband, noting particularly the great songs he composed. There would be no complaint here if the Hall of Fame was to induct Sonny & Cher. But realistically, Cher sustained her musical career over the years and has become a show business icon…Perhaps this is the main reason her contributions to Rock & Roll have been overlooked. She has transcended Rock.

But Cher always has been and always will be Rock & Roll. Every female singer who followed her owes her a debt of gratitude. As does the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

http://www.goldminemag.com/blogs/rock-hall-of-fame-would-be-a-lot-sunnier-with-cher
    

Burlesque Updates for the New Year

This week Burlesque is #17 box office and Cher's song "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me" is #3 on Billboard's dance club play list.

"You Haven’t Seen The Last of Me" now has an "official" video:

I actually love this video with its lovely editing and montage of great Cher moments in the movie.

http://www.cherworld.com/news/?p=1600
http://www.starobserver.com.au/celebrity-2/2011/01/04/chers-club-comeback/41223

Nominated to be a nomination

Burlesque is on the list of possible nominations for a razzie award. That means it has been nominated to be a nomination.

The nomination ballots for the awards celebrating the worst movies of 2010 have just been mailed out, and "Burlesque" leads the pack, with nods for worst actress (Christina Aguilera), worst supporting actress (Kristen Bell and Cher), worst supporting actor (Cam Gigandet), worst screenplay, and worst director.

The glitzy musical was not, however, considered for worst picture, reports the L.A. Times. That distinction went to "The Bounty Hunter,” “Clash of the Titans,” “The Expendables,” “Grown Ups,” “Jonah Hex,” “Killers,” “The Last Airbender,” “Little Fockers,” “Sex and the City 2,” “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” “Vampires Suck” and “Yogi Bear.”

The official Razzie Award nominations will be announced January 24.

http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/04/burlesque-in-the-lead-for-upcoming-razzie-noms/

Sigh. If only the movie had the delicate gravitas and crisp emotional drama of the video…

If You Look at Half Breed in a New Light, You Will See That It Is a Punk Song

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Went to the Lancaster Pennsylvania for Christmas to see my parents.

Two things happened over my holiday break. First, on New Year's Eve John and I watched the Marx Brothers' movie marathon on TMC (saving Night at the Operafor a few days ago). John loves the Marx Brothers and watching TMC reminded me how fun it would be to see Cher host late night movies there.

Secondly, on the flight to and from Baltimore, I read a book my friend Coolia gave me for Christmas, Cassettes From My Ex, Stories and Soundtracks of Lost Loves edited by Jason Bitner.

I guess my generation (X) was the unfortunate cassette generation. I never bought cassette albums myself. My older brothers adamantly taught me that vinyl albums had a far superior audio quality. But blank cassettes I bought in mass amounts to do what my cassette generation did best: make mix tapes for ourselves and all our friends. I made a ton of them and received many in return, all of which I have treasured and saved.

And these days there are many books about our tendencies to make these personal eclectic mix tapes. This latest anthology of mix-tape-stories focuses on cassettes we received from our lost lovers and the love stories steal the show, both bittersweet and fond memories of lost teen-age and young-adult love affairs. I enjoyed every one. The mix tapes themselves were 99% alternative, indie and punk mix compilations.

So imagine my surpirse to find Cher represented twice on mix tapes memorialized in the book. "Half Breed" appears on the 1990 mix Vinnie Angel’s received from an old flame. And "A Cowboy’s Work Is Never Done" appears on a mix tape Gretchen Phillips received in 1982 from her girlfriend Teresa.

  

The Burlesque CD Review

Cher-You-Havent-Seen-Th-last-Of-Me Let me start by saying the soundtrack Burlesque made its Billboard debut at #18 this week. Not too shabby. Not at all. But I have to admit, I was more excited over the clip Cher scholar "Dishy" sent me last week of Cher singing a Christmas version of "One Tin Soldier" from the early 70s.

That's because this is primarily a Christina Aquilera CD. With the exception of Cher's two tracks, this is Aquilera's Yentl. More a star-vehicle than a musical.

Musicals have choruses, duets, themes, overtures. 

Entertainment Weekly liked Christina's tracks on this CD better than her earlier "misfire" Bionic. But they accuse Cher's of warbling and never again mention her tracks at all.

I had heard an early bootleg of Aquilera's track #9 "Show Me How You Burlesque" but it was titled "Spotlight" when I heard it. I thought it was a decent track but kind of emotionless and I was curious to see what kind of range the soundtrack would have.

The CD does have a bit of variety, comprised of a few Etta James inspired performances that Christina Aqulera yells through, alternating with camp, groove, and the musical pillars of the movie–dance tracks about burlesque ("Express", "Show Me How You Burlesque" and "The Beautiful People"), which are catchy but all kind of sound alike after awhile.

I think Aquilera has a powerful voice and I have always liked her song choices and overall articstic message. But I don't feel like these songs are the best of her best. I played the CD about three times in the first few days before seeing the movie and my husband John popped his head in to ask what all the yelling was about.

There's a lot of yelling.

But the truly stand out track is Aquilera's torch ballad "Bound To You" (the song to download according to Entertainment Weekly). In a way it's the only emotive moment in the soundtrack.

Then there are two Cher songs, which is the only reason I now own this CD.

"Welcome to Burlesque" – the lyrics to the chorus (according to Cher on David Letterman) were written by Moonstruck screenwriter John Patrick Shanley who did a polish on the Burlesque script. I like the sort of gypsy-sounding violin parts that wind around in the song, but the rest of the instrumentals behind Cher are plodding and mushy and it never quite takes off for some reason. Like the music drags it down and makes it sleepier than it should be. Cher might have been better served singing a copella.

"You Haven't Seen the Last of Me" — I was initially highly disappointed to hear Diane Warren was penning this. Her contributions to the Cher canon are not favorites as you may know. And her style is so bombastically unique that her song stands out like a toe among the Aquilera songs.

Which brings us to the point of mentioning how uneven the music to this "musical" is, how seemingly  haphazardly the songs were slapped together. Even though I'm not a Warren-fan, it would have been much better if either she or Aquilera had written an actual full score to the movie for musical consistency. 

All that said, this Warren song has gotten into my head like an earworm and stayed there. So maybe I like it more than I want to admit. Again, the music behind Cher on this track sounds murky and plodding, too. Which is why the bootleg remixes have been such infectious fun: http://www.youtube.com/user/InfoVectra#p/u/2/sri9f90JwS4

 

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