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Pop Rock Nation

Tag: Out There!

  • Out There!- “It’s Christmas (All Over The World)” by Sheena Easton

    Guess who’s back, back again!  Mikey’s back, tell your friends.  I apologize for being gone for two weeks, but I’m now back to spread some joy and expose you all to some more obscure gems that shouldn’t be ignored.

    Now that Thanksgiving is over, it’s now that time again; the time when every time you turn on the radio and all you hear is Christmas music.  Even though I’m a Jew, I have a soft spot in my heart for a good Christmas melody, but I can’t tolerate listening to the same 25 songs over and over again.  You know the ones (Santa Claus Is Coming To Town by Bruce Springsteen, Christmas Wrapping by The Waitresses, Last Christmas by Wham! , and Jingle Bell Rock by The Singing Dogs just to name a few).  There is one particular pop song about Christmas that you will never hear, even though it’s sung by a relevant musician and the song has a terrific melody.  This tune I’m about to unleash on you is the key song from the infamous Santa Claus: The Movie (a movie of which I am honest in revealing that I’ve never seen nor have the desire to).  It’s Christmas (All Over The World) sung by Sheena Easton.  The producers probably figured that if Sheena Easton could score with a hit song from a movie in 1983 (For Your Eyes Only), why not try and get her to contribute another movie classic.  Anybody out there know this great song?

    I have to give credit to my pal Jim for bringing this song to my attention about three years ago.  I had never seen the Santa Claus movie as a kid because my mom preached to me about not being excited about anything relating to Christmas.  I didn’t know about this song until my buddy gave it to me because he was shocked I didn’t have it in my collection.  Upon listening to it over and over again, I began to love it!  It’s a 5 star song, and is my personal #1 Christmas tune.  The song was never released as a single, although that shouldn’t mean that we can’t hear it in the same rotation as the plethora of other Christmas tunes.  It really irritates me that radio stations are too shallow and can’t think outside the box to expose us to different Christmas songs.  Perhaps if Rihanna covered this song, we’d be able to enjoy the great melody while stuck in traffic on a snowy December morning?  As for adding it to your collection, it’s tough but doable!  The 1985 soundtrack has been out of print for years, and it’s a not a song you can find on a Christmas compilation album.  People, we have been given a gift, and that gift is Peer To Peer!!!  You shouldn’t have a problem downloading on a P2P network!

    What’s great about the song is that it is totally 80s-sounding, but has a powerful chorus that could cause many Jews and Muslims to want to convert and celebrate Christmas  Come to think of it, I’m going to listen to the song right now and prepare myself for another winter filled with commercialism, Christmas  pop culture countdown shows, and tons of Santa Claus sightings in malls.


  • Out There! “Our Time Is Now (Looking Good)” by James Rolleston

    For this week’s article, I’m really going in a totally different direction.  I’m devoting my energy to my favorite obscure cheesy 70’s movie anthem, “Our Time Is Now”.  I’m sure you’ve seen The Bad News Bears, but have you ever seen the sequels?  The third movie entitled The Bad News Bears Go To Japan may be one of the top 5 worst movies of all time and is totally unwatchable.  But I will admit that I really love the second movie, The Bad News Bears: Breaking Training.  It’s total cheese, but I never get tired of watching it for all it’s campiness.  William Devane shines as Kelly Leak’s estranged dad who vows to coach the Bears in their big game at the Houson Astrodome.  The movie includes many classic scenes such as the crowd vowing to let the kids play, Kelly Leak getting so upset at his dad that the only thing he can do is run for five minutes, Scott Baio’s brother as Carmine the stereotypical Brooklyn kid who thinks he’s a real man and distributes porn to the team, and Tanner Boyle running away from the umpires at the Astrodome.  You probably have to have seen the movie to know what I’m referring to, but just memorable cinematic moments of my childhood.  But the one key ingredient that makes the movie so great is the theme song that is played throughout the movie.  It’s a song that may be cheesy and generic, but for some reason it’s also a bit inspirational.  “Life is looking good for you and me!”

    The song was written by Craig Safan (music only; I wonder if he is related to Marc Safan who sang “Win In The End from Teen Wolf”, hmmm!) and Norman Gimbel (lyrics) of TV songwriting fame.  The vocals were contributed by James Rolleston.  I wonder if Mister Rolleston wakes up every day knowing he sang such a gem!  I would give anything to meet him today and hear an acoustic version of the tune played for an audience of me and my brother.  The song combines funk and disco, but sounds like something you would never hear on Top 40 Radio.  It has a great piano melody, and featues the ominpresent 70’s funk sound that reminds me of Charlie Brown’s teacher.  You’ve probably figured out that this song was never released as a single and was never nominated for an Academy Award.  Also, finding the song is near impossible. Other than on a P2P server or ripping the audio from youtube, you aren’t going to find this song anywhere.  If the soundtrack actually was released, it was only available on vinyl or 8-track; both of which went out of print pretty quickly.  I couldn’t find out much about James Rolleston other than he was a session musician who played on Pure Prairie League’s second album which featured Amie.  Does anybody else out there have some facts about this guy?

    I’m not ashamed to admit I’m a fan of the song.  Look, the song isn’t a bona fide classic in terms of musical integrity, but it’s fun.  And isn’t that what music should be about, fun?  I have a soft spot in my heart for this great song, and it evokes memories when I was a young fella watching the movie and enjoying this song over the end credits.  Check it out below, if anything it will give you a good laugh!

  • Out There!- “The Measure Of A Man” by Elton John

    The Rocky Movies have given us some of the best music of the past three decades.  Bill Conti’s beautiful symphonies of Going The Distance and Gonna Fly Now, Eye Of The Tiger by Survivor, Hearts On Fire by John Cafferty, Take You Back by Sly’s baby brother (Frank Stallone), and No Easy Way Out by Robert Tepper  (I’m saving this one for a future article!)  Yet of all of the classics we’ve heard in Rocky movies, there is one song that stands out and is one of my top three tunes of all-time.  It’s the classic song “Measure Of A Man” by Elton John.  Elton John, you wonder?  Elton John didn’t ever contribute to a Rocky movie you might be saying.  But for those ten of us who enjoyed Rocky V as much as the other movies in the franchise, we all remember the anthem Elton John belted out over the movie’s end credits.  Besides the classic quotes of “Get Up you son of a bitch because Micky loves you” and “You knocked him, why don’t you try knocking me down” as well as the terrible acting of Talia Shire and Tommy Morrison, the final credits were an absolute thrill ride and the best part of the movie. We all thought it was the final closure of the Rocky Saga, but Sly Stallone fooled us with the sixth film in the series released in 2006.

    The Rocky V soundtrack came out in 1990 with little fanfare.  Unlike the other Rocky soundtracks featuring the dazzling melodies of Bill Conti or the rock sounds of the 80’s, this soundtrack featured mostly hip hop tunes.  The powers that be didn’t even realize they had another possible Top 10 Elton Hit on their hands, and instead released Go For It! by Joey B. Ellis as the first single with no success.  A more polished version than what was heard in the theaters did happen to be included on the album, but the soundtrack went out of print very quickly maybe due to the fact that the film was a financial disaster.   The song was never released as a single, and was an afterthought after the movie was critically panned.  I was dying to grab the song, but it was not included on any Elton John studio album nor his plethora of greatest hits albums.  I had to wait ten years to own the song for my collection. When I was first introduced to Napster in 2000, Measure Of A Man was one of the first songs that I immediately downloaded.  And I’ve been playing the song on itunes of my iPod at least once a week since.  It has also become my wife’s favorite song which of course helps the play count as she usually plays it over and over and over!  Capitol Records did reissue the album in 2006 thanks in part to the new Rocky Balboa movie, which made it a little easier to obtain the song. It’s also easily available for download on itunes.  Surprisingly, the Rocky Balboa soundtrack which featured the classics from all six films didn’t even include the Elton John tune!

    Measure Of A Man is probably the song that defines my entire life, and I use it when I put together photo montage of my life from birth to the pressent.   Every time I hear the song, I get a tear in my eye.   The song has a melody that I’ve never gotten tired of.  When I’m old and on my death bed, I need to make sure my family knows to play the tune at my funeral over the final montage ever of me playing on the big screen.  Elton John might be best known all of those Top 40 songs like Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, Your Song, Candle In The Wind, and plenty of others.  In this music fan’s eyes, I’m thankful for one of Elton’s lesser-known tunes which I think measures up to anything he has ever done.  I wouldn’t consider myself an Elton John fan in the least, but I am so grateful for Measure Of A Man which is such a powerful tune that I never tire of listening to.    Listen to this song, and I think you’ll agree that it’s a classic song that should have received more accolades.  How it didn’t even get nominated for an Academy Award in 1990 is beyond me.  I kind of like that it’s a tune that isn’t that mainstream, and something that my brother, my wife, and my friends all share.  Although I would love to own it as a ringtone, or be able to sing it for karaoke.

    “It’s the fire in the eyes, the light in your hands, that’s the measure of a man!”