Last week, I presented a bracket of 32 movie soundtracks selected from the years 1976-85. Click here for that post and a printable bracket. What follows are my selections chosen to move on to the Sweet Sixteen. Most of the higher seeds prevailed, but I'll briefly explain the close calls and upsets.
The Siskel side of the bracket, which includes two upsets among the 8 match-ups:
Upset #1: Thank God It's Friday over Eddie Cruisers. A disco compilation vs. a Springsteen wannabe? No contest.
Close call #1: Sgt. Pepper over Car Wash. Even though the title track for Car Wash is wonderful and I placed "I Wanna Get Next to You" on The Greatest Slow Jam Mix Ever, neither song can compare to one of the greatest Beatles' covers of all-time: Earth, Wind & Fire's "Got to Get You Into My Life," which is the highlight of that movie.
Upset #2: The Blues Brothers over Ghostbusters. I love Ray Parker, Jr., but the title hit from that soundtrack was clearly plagiarized from Huey Lewis (they settled out of court but further litigation over disclosure agreements and royalties continue. Lawyers gonna lawyer.), while the Blues Brothers soundtrack includes Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, and James Brown.
Close call #2: Flashdance over The Muppet Movie. I've got many fond memories of that Muppet movie and 8th grade, but "Maniac" gives Flashdance the very slightest of edges. But the point is moot as this was only a contest to see who would lose to FM in the next round.
Upset #3: Vision Quest vs. Breakin'. Not a close battle as Vision Quest included Madonna's "Crazy for You" as well as John Waite's cover of "Change."
Check back soon for the quarterfinal matches.
Not bad - I missed yours on two of the Siskel bracket, but matched you note for note on the Ebert.
ReplyDeleteRound 2 matches:
Siskel: Saturday Night Fever (the better of the two disco records), Urban Cowboy (as much as I love the original SW it is a score...), Sgt. Pepper's (I much more prefer the musical to the film about running), and Footloose (that album was a monster hit).
Ebert: Grease (tough call here as I enjoy both films and albums), Flashdance (more original songs on this one), Xanadu (another tough one as I owned both on vinyl), and Purple Rain (clear cut winner here).
Mark and I disagreed on one entire branch of the bracket as he picked Chariots of over Street of in the FIRE vs FIRE branch and chose Sgt. Pepper over Car Wash just below in the sprawling double albums that could have been edited to a tighter more cohesive single disc category. EW&F do a phenomenal job and I also enjoy Aerosmith's "Come Together" but the rest of Sgt. Pepper blows despite the high-grade source material and the talents of the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton. It's like letting someone copy an A+ paper and they can only manage a D-.
DeleteThe Car Wash soundtrack is funky throughout with pauses for comedy, slow jams and dramatic emphasis. Even more remarkable is the fact that Car Wash is Rose Royce's debut album. You mentioned two songs but there is a third song often overlooked that is just as good: "I'm Going Down"
We appear to be of the same mind elsewhere.
Norman Whitfield produced a masterpiece when he designed that "Car"...
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