Have the Time of Your Life

An interesting story perhaps best reported in my state newspaper: today sees a digital-only release of some archival material from the undying 1987 film Dirty Dancing.

As The Second Disc pointed out during a Friday Feature back in May, Dirty Dancing refuses to budge from the collective consciousness, some 23 years after it was released. The soundtrack has been reissued and remastered in a variety of ways, but none of them had these tracks: a handful of original demos of the film’s hits, including Oscar and Golden Globe winner “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” and “Hungry Eyes.”

The demos come courtesy of Franke Previte, a name early ’80s rock fans might recognize as the lead singer of New Jersey-based Franke and The Knockouts. It turns out that, after The Knockouts disbanded, Previte co-wrote “The Time of My Life,” and the original demo was what Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze danced to during shooting. (Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes sung the hit version of the song.)

Previte, along with co-writers John DeNicola and Don Markowitz, has released a digital EP of the original demos for “The Time of My Life,” “Hungry Eyes” (written by Previte and DeNicola and sung by Eric Carmen in the film), “Someone Like You” (a tune from a stage adaptation of Dirty Dancing) and a remix of the demo of “The Time of My Life.” As if the archival angle wasn’t enough of an impetus to download, proceeds from sales are going to the Patrick Swayze Pancreas Cancer Research Fund.

Get the tracks on Amazon here (they’re supposed to be available at all digital retailers but I had a tough time finding them).

Franke Previte, John DeNicola and Don Markowitz, Dirty Dancing: Original Demos (Knockout Music, 2010)

1. (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life (Original Demo) – Franke Previte and Rachele Cappelli
2. Hungry Eyes (Original Demo) – Franke Previte and John DeNicola
3. Someone Like You (from Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story on Stage, 2004)
4. (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life (Michael Lloyd Producer’s Remix)

La La Land’s New Releases: Monkeying Around and Going to Hell

Two semi-obscure scores are coming from La La Land Records today: one’s the music to an primate-oriented family film, the other is an early-’70s rock score.

First up, Miles Goodman’s complete score to Dunston Checks In (1996), the comedy about an orangutan in a fancy hotel. (Seriously.) It’s a nice comedic romp, despite the fact that the source material isn’t quite a classic, and it’ll be a nice little limited edition at 1,200 copies.

The label also has a reissue of the soundtrack to Hell’s Belles, an interesting little 1970 flick involving bikers and action. The score, composed by Les Baxter (whose Beach Blanket Bingo was recently unearthed by La La Land), was previously released on LP; this premiere CD release adds five bonus score tracks. This set also has a 1,200-copy limit.

Order each set here and here, and check out the track lists after the jump.

Dylan Goes Mono-Lite, Too

Excited about Sony’s new batch of Bob Dylan material? As if another entry in The Bootleg Series (with some additional live bonuses depending on where you buy it) and a mono box set wasn’t enough, Columbia/Legacy is also releasing The Best of The Mono Recordings, a single-disc teaser culled from that box set.

Of course, hardcore collectors are going to want to pick this set up in addition to the mono box; included on the 15-track sampler is the mono mix of a non-LP single, “Positively 4th Street.”

The set, due on the same day as the rest of the Dylan archival stuff (October 19), can be ordered on Amazon; the track list is after the jump.

C’est CHIC, Indeed: More Nile Rodgers Box Set Details Released

If you’ve followed the legendary producer/CHIC co-founder Nile Rodgers on Facebook or Twitter, you’ve no doubt realized that he’s been combing through his archives for some projects, including his autobiography and a forthcoming box set chronicling The CHIC Organization and its productions. Finally, news of the latter has broke from someone other than Rodgers himself: Rhino France, through their Facebook page, has issued the first details about Nile Rodgers Presents The CHIC Organization Vol. 1: Savoir Faire.

Due for release on October 18, the label promises to include music from CHIC, Norma Jean, Sister Sledge, Sheila & B Devotion, Diana Ross, Fonzi Thornton “and many more surprises to come.” In addition to a wealth of unreleased material spread over four discs, the set will include some new remixes by producer Dmitri from Paris; Rhino France has released a two-minute teaser of his new mix of Norma Jean’s “Saturday.” (Dmitri from Paris is a notable remixer because he usually eschews new instruments or overdubs for creative reuse of the existing material, so anyone fearing an overly revisionist remix has nothing to worry about, really.)

Not surprisingly, there’s no word yet on an American equivalent or release, but The Second Disc will surely bring you more info as it comes. Ahhhhh, freak out!

Some Like It Hotter: Kritzerland Follows “Promises” with Remixed “Sugar”

Kritzerland’s Bruce Kimmel wasn’t one to rest on his laurels over the Labor Day weekend. The soundtrack and cast album specialist label announced on Monday its latest two-CD deluxe release, a reissue of the 1972 Original Broadway Cast Recording of Sugar. For those who missed out on Kimmel’s Promises, Promises, don’t pass up the chance to hear this terrifically fun album in a new light. Sugar, the musical version of Billy Wilder’s seminal film Some Like It Hot, was assembled by a Broadway dream team. Music and lyrics were by two names who had already made major contributions to the Great American Songbook, Jule Styne and Bob Merrill. Both were theatrical pros, accomplished pop songwriters (Styne having given Frank Sinatra such songs as “Saturday Night (Is the Loneliest Night of the Week)” and “Time After Time” and Merrill the man behind “How Much is That Doggie In The Window?” and “Mambo Italiano”) and collaborators on Prettybelle and the enormously-successful Funny Girl. The screenplay by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond was adapted for the stage by Peter Stone (Charade, 1776) and the show was directed and choreographed by Gower Champion, of Bye Bye Birdie and Hello, Dolly! fame. Enlisted to star were Tony Roberts (a favorite sidekick of Woody Allen), Robert Morse (now a star of television’s Mad Men) and newcomer Elaine Joyce, now Mrs. Neil Simon.

Perhaps because any adaptation of Some Like It Hot was bound to suffer in comparison with that storied film, Sugar wasn’t the smash hit hoped for by legendary producer David Merrick. (Merrick also produced the other Billy Wilder adaptation released by Kritzerland: Promises, Promises!) Still, Sugar racked up Tony and Drama Desk nominations, and lasted a none-too-shabby 505 performances on Broadway. It spawned a now-beloved cast recording on United Artists Records (UAS-9905) which was reissued by Rykodisc in 1999 as part of Ryko’s extensive MGM Soundtracks series (Rykodisc 10760). Read more about Kritzerland’s plans for Sugar after the jump!