Sunday, March 23, 2008

Soundtrack Sunday – "Bull Durham" (1988)


When it comes to soundtracks, I'm constantly surprised about what is still in print and easily available.

As long as the film remains popular, the music from it will be perennially available, no matter how dated it might be. After all, what would all those aerobics classes do without being able to buy a new copy of the Flashdance (1983) soundtrack?

There are exceptions, of course.

You'd be hard pressed to find a more popular baseball movie than Bull Durham (1988). So many of its best lines continue to be part of the American cultural vernacular. And it's one of the few baseball films that appeals almost equally to men and women

The soundtrack from it is pretty damn good as well, mixing previously released classics from John Fogerty ("Centerfield"), The Blasters ("So Long Baby Goodbye"), George Thorogood ("Bad to the Bone") and Los Lobos ("I Got Loaded") with some original Bennie Wallace/Dr. John collaborations.

Play "I Got Loaded" by Los Lobos

And yet …

The damn CD is out of print. Look it up on Amazon and you'll find used copies selling for no less than $60.

Weird.

Fortunately, I have the vinyl version of the soundtrack. And today I'll include some of my first vinyl rips. Just be forewarned: Until I get the hang of this thing, their quality could be a little dicey.

Earlier this week, I dissed Belinda Carlisle while also highlighting the work of Jane Weidlin. Just to continue to show that I have nothing against the Go-Go's (just their Reagan-loving lead singer), I'll go with "Middle of Nowhere" by House of Schock, a great pop song sung by Go-Go's drummer Gina Schock for the band's first and only album that somehow wound up on this soundtrack.

Play "Middle of Nowhere" by House of Schock

Next, we'll go with one of the three Bennie Wallace/Dr. John collaborations on the album. Wallace, for those who don't know, is an accomplished hard-bop saxophonist then signed with Blue Note Records, but doing film music during that period for extra money. It's always fun to hear jazz saxophonists jam with rock and pop musicians. This outing is no exception with three solid songs that close the album: "Try a Little Tenderness," "All Night Dance" (with Stevie Ray Vaughan doing the guitar solo) and "Love Ain't No Triple Play." We'll go with the latter, as it is baseball-themed and features the good doctor duetting with Ms. Raitt. (It also is the one song that is difficult to find anywhere else: The Vaughn collaboration is featured on the 1985 Blue Note album, Twilight Time.)

By the way, there's an extra bonus for Southern rock fans: The heart of Little Feat's rhythm section, Kenny Gradney and Ritchie Hayward, provide the backing for this track.

Play "Love Ain't No Triple Play" by Bennie Wallace/Dr. John with Bonnie Raitt

There's probably a back story about why this soundtrack is out of print – one that has little to do with the quality of the music or the dmand for the music. Maybe someone out there can enlighten us.

In the mean time, I think I'll continue to scratch my head …

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great soundtrack, have it somewhere on an old bootleg cassette, and am still looking for the CD...

Anonymous said...

Everytime I see this movie on TV I find myself thinking about what a great soundtrack it has, and how the music is really used well. The other night, The version of Try A Little Tenderness (the Dr. John version--not Newk's version where he sings "Oh they may be wooly...) really caught my attention.

I finally decided to just go online and buy a copy of it. What a surprise--couldn't find it anywhere--unless I wanted to spend about $60. (It's good, but c'mon now.)

Anyway, thanks for the great blog, and the info about the soundtrack!

Rob said...

Ask nicely and ye shall receive. Check out the latest post.

Rob

AHW said...

Hey, I am trying to figure out the name of the song that plays in the beginning of the film when the pictures of Babe Ruth, Pete Rose, et. al are shown. It features an organ playing and I think the only words are a woman saying, "Yes, yes, yes" a few times in a long and drawn out way. Any idea the name and artist of this song?

Thanks!
Heather

Anonymous said...

Another great song not on the soundtrack is the song Annie and Max Patkin are dancing to early in the movie at the bar. Anyone know what that was?

Thanks, Navin

AHW said...

I'm pretty sure the song that Annie and Max were dancing to was "Only a Memory" by the Smithereens. The song is widely available.

Matt said...

@Heather,

That's a song that's made for the movie. I nabbed a copy off my DVD.

The one I keep having a hard time getting is All Night Dance.

Anonymous said...

I'm trying to find out what the piece of music being played as a background by a saxophonist is when Crash Davis visits Annie's house to say he's just been released??

Anonymous said...

Did you ever find out the name of that saxophone solo that is playing after Crash is released and he's walking to Annie's house? I cannot find out what that song is!

Ghostrider982 said...

Greetings everyones after a Long Exausting search over the Google,i found out and read all the posts in here and at the end of the BLog saw the question i want to ask that is not answered which still is:''What is the Name of an Saxophone solo performance,and my best guess will probably be Bennie Wallace but why his Solo was not posted in the Soundtrack of the Movie !???