Bette Midler - The Best Of Bette (1978) + Bonus Track

(U.S 1965 - Present)

Bette Midler (born December 1, 1945, Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) American actress and singer who was known for her dynamic energy, comedic wit, and campy humour.

Midler was raised in rural Aiea, Oahu, the third of four children of a house painter and his wife. She began singing as a child, and her mother encouraged an interest in theatre. By the time she graduated from high school, Midler had performed in several amateur shows. She studied for a year at the University of Hawaii but dropped out in order to pursue acting. In 1965 she landed her first professional role, a bit part in the film Hawaii (1966). She accompanied the film crew back to Hollywood, where she worked and saved money in order to move to New York City.

Bathroom Betty

In New York, Midler gave her first major performance at the La MaMa Experimental Theatre in 1965. The following year she joined the chorus of Broadway’s Fiddler on the Roof, in which she was subsequently given the role of Tzeitel. After leaving the musical in 1970, Midler spent time honing her craft, taking singing and acting lessons, and she began performing at the Continental Baths, a bathhouse catering to gay men.  That same year she also made the first of several appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. It was during her time at the Continental Baths that Midler began to develop her bawdy stage persona, The Divine Miss M, performing songs from a variety of genres and appearing in sometimes outrageous costumes while telling off-colour jokes between songs. Those performances thrust Midler into the spotlight, along with her then-unknown accompanist and music director, Barry Manilow.

Her stage name even became 'Bathroom Betty'. 

In 1972, Midler released her first album, 'The Divine Miss M', produced by Manilow. The following year she received her first Grammy Award, for best new artist, and in 1974 she was given a special Tony Award for “adding lustre to the Broadway season.” She continued to release songs and albums throughout the 1970s, making frequent appearances on television and performing in nightclubs. In 1979 she appeared in her first starring role on the big screen, playing a rock star loosely based on Janis Joplin in The Rose. The film was a success with critics, and the title song, performed by Midler, earned her a second Grammy Award. Despite the acclaim, Midler was not immediately offered more film roles, and she struggled to establish a film career. After a strenuous concert tour in the early 1980s, she sank into a depression and suffered a nervous breakdown.

In the mid-1980s,  Midler turned to comedy, releasing the stand-up comedy album Mud Will Be Flung Tonight! (1985). About the same time, she signed a film contract with Walt Disney Productions’ new Touchstone Pictures, appearing in a series of successful comedies, including Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986), Ruthless People (1986), and Outrageous Fortune (1987). Taking a break from comedy, in 1988 she starred in the melodrama Beaches, which was produced by a company Midler had cofounded, All Girl Productions. Though the film was met with a lukewarm reception, its song “Wind Beneath My Wings ” (sung by Midler) became a smash hit, topping the Billboard Hot 100; it also won Midler a third Grammy, for record of the year.

Midler pursued her multifaceted career through the end of the 20th century and into the 21st, continuing to release albums and to act. Midler’s albums from this time included 'It’s the Girls!' (2014), a collection of pop classics by such female groups as the Supremes and the Shirelles. Midler was the recipient of a lifetime achievement award (2012) from the Songwriters Hall of Fame and a Kennedy Center Honor (2021)   [Extract from Britannica.com]

The 'Best of Bette' is the first compilation album by American female vocalist Bette Midler, released in 1978. This greatest hits album was issued in the UK, Continental Europe, Scandinavia and Australia to coincide with Midler's first world tour. Later editions released in 1979 also came with a free poster promoting her then upcoming movie The Rose. 

'The Best of Bette', confusingly released with near identical cover art to 1973's Bette Midler, featured songs from Midler's first four studio albums with the addition of one track from 1977's Live at Last, the studio recording "You're Moving Out Today". The version included on The Best of Bette is the rare single mix which features an extra verse that is not found on the Live at Last album or on many of the single releases worldwide.

This post consists of FLACs ripped from my pristine vinyl and includes full album artwork for both vinyl and CD, along with label scans. One track that is sadly missing from this great compilation (because it was released one year later), is the title track from her brilliant 1979 Soundtrack 'The Rose'.  I have therefore decided to add it here as a bonus track for your indulgence. Enjoy.

Track Listing

01 Friends 2:49

02 In The Mood 2:37

03 Superstar 5:00

04 Say Goodbye To Hollywood 3:02

05 Do You Want To Dance 2:56

06 Buckets Of Rain 3:54

07 Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy (Mono) 2:26

08 You're Moving Out Today 3:18

09 Delta Dawn 5:16

10 Uptown / Da Doo Ron Ron 3:2

11 Hello In There 4:15

12 Higher And Higher (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) 4:08

13 La Vie En Rose 2:59

14 I Shall Be Released 4:55

15 The Rose (Bonus Track)   3:49

Best Of Bette Midler (286Mb)

REPOST: Richard Clapton - Past Hits & Previews (1978)

(Australian 1972 - 2008)
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Richard Clapton is an Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist from Sydney, New South Wales. His solo top 20 hits on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart are "Girls on the Avenue" (1975) and "I Am an Island" (1982). His top 20 albums on the related Albums Chart are 'Goodbye Tiger' (1977), 'Hearts on the Nightline' (1979), 'The Great Escape' (1982), and 'The Very Best of Richard Clapton' (1982). 

As a producer he worked on the second INXS album, Underneath the Colours (1981).
In 1983, he briefly joined The Party Boys for a tour of eastern Australia and their live album 'Greatest Hits (Of Other People 1983)' before resuming his solo career. Australian rock music historian, Ian McFarlane described Clapton as "one of the most important Australian songwriters of the 1970s" [extract from Wikipedia]
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The following is an in depth interview conducted by Ed St.John with Clapton, for the Rolling Stone Magazine in Feb, 1978.
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Richard Clapton's Dilemma - Caught between the tiger and the edge
It's always Interesting to see a sensitive artist cope with commercialism Jackson Browne, for instance, is a fully competitive rock performer and still writes good songs. Richard Clapton, on the other hand, finds the necessary compromise a hard one. When I met him one recent Saturday night in Sydney he was in a genial and friendly mood, a perfect example of good public relations, It was only later, fatigued by a strenuous performance and other accumulated pressures, that his touchy alter ego came to the fore. I guess I should have asked you if you liked Spanish food", he laughed as we sat down to a meal of garlic prawns and Mateus Rose in a Spanish restaurant in King's Cross. In fact his tastes are somewhat cosmopolitan when working his constant companion is a bottle of tequila, and his favourite city is Berlin. As we ate we were Joined by Cleis Pearce and Greg Sheehan, the viola player and drummer on Clapton's latest album 'Goodbye Tiger'. They are no longer in the band, so when they ran into us another bottle of Mateus was called for and a small reunion was held.
About a quarter past nine we realised that the gig at the Stage door Tavern was due to start in three quarters of an hour. We made a hasty departure back to the motel and I returned to my car to find a parking ticket in the wiper. Later on, at the Stage door "Ladies and Gentlemen," yells Clapton In the darkness, doing a perfect imitation of a roadie Introduction, "would ya please Welcome next years King of Pop - Richard Clapton!" The lights come Up and the band swings into the first number. Clapton moves up to the mine, as if for the first time, and grins I may not look like the King of Pop, but...
In concert Clapton seems to tap an energy reserve which is unused during the rest of the day. He throws himself into the spirit of the song like few songwriters do, and with Diane McLennan pouting beside him on backing vocals they make quite an act. He later explained the reasoning behind this "I owe these people a lot, you know. They've gone and spent seven dollars on the album, and they've just paid four more tonight, so they deserve everything I can give." A pause. "But, ah, they certainty get their money's worth," he adds, quickly. The encore that night proved his point, as he swung from Water pipes in the ceiling and leaped about the stage whilst singing a Chuck Berry song, finally ending up in a tangled heap on the floor with Diane and microphone stand. All part, I suppose, of giving them their money's worth. Offstage Clapton is just about as slow moving as he is energetic on-stage. He is by admission a lazy person, and this combined with his dislike of interviews makes it hard to get him headed towards his motel so that we can get something down on tape. We finally agree to meet there and I am a little consoled to find that I can put my parking ticket back under the wiper and park in the same place.

By the time road manager, Neil McCabe, had gone down to the bar and bought drinks and Clapton had gone into the next room to fetch a tape recorder it was two in the morning, and as a result of the strain and the drink he had fallen into one of his notorious bad moods. I turned on the recorder, but before I had chance to ask a question he had launched into a marathon attack on competition, the record industry, the media, status, the money motive and people who don't think the way he does. In this mood he hates them all. In the course of it I gained the factual skeleton of his career, fleshed out with the outlook and prejudices of someone who was proving to be a fascinating, yet aggressively private, person.
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Born in Sydney, Clapton was part of the post war boom which became the militant generation of the Sixties. Having finished school, he moved to London in 1967 to study graphic art where he formed his first working band. Three years later his visa expired and he was forced to move to Berlin, a city which was to influence him greatly in his most formative years.
The people he lived with in Berlin had lived through much of the Sixties in the large German communes hotbeds of radical thought which spawned such diverse children as Tangerine Dream. The people he lived with, he says," were just coming out of it when I knew them. Basically I think they were growing up."

However he had much contempt for their idealism, a lot of the theory is still evident in his work. During this period he formed another band; and when a large recording deal was offered to them, they poured all their money into improvements, to be then told that the company wanted to buy songs only.
For the next six months Clapton lived almost at starvation point, having spent all his money. By the time he returned to Australia. In 1972, he had become very bitter about the entire competitive capitalist ethos, and to this day places little emphasis on material wealth. He quotes from George Orwell's Down And Out in Paris And London: "If you don't have a shilling, you don't have nothing to worry about. If you have a shilling you worry. Signed by Festival two days after his return, his first album, Prussian Blue, introduced Clapton to the Industry, but despite acclaim it didn't sell particularly well.

Of the title track he says 'Prussian Blue' was an unusual composition for me, because normally when I write it's all very spontaneous, a sort of stream of consciousness thing. I'm very influenced in this regard by people like Dylan Thomas and Sylvia Plath. But with "Prussian Blue" I spent months toying around with the words, perfecting it. Compared with the other stuff, the word games and everything are all a bit childish really. He chuckles to himself. "Most people said that was really advanced, but anybody can be complex and metaphysical if they want to." By 1975 there was more than critical acclaim when the title track of his new album. 'Girls On The Avenue', made it to the Top five. This was followed strongly a year later by
'Mainstreet Jive', finally assuring him of a firm position in the Australian music scene.
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In typical fashion he had been delaying an overseas trip financed by an Arts Council grant, so he rushed off his soundtrack contribution to surf film 'Highway One' and left in October, 1976 for a trip that took him to America, England and most importantly, back to Berlin, where he wrote most of the material for Goodbye Tiger. The trip proved worth while, for the first time in his life Richard Clapton is doing well out of his music.
If you average it out I haven't made that much. I could have made much more money in the Public Service and have a house in Lane Cove - but I don't." He pauses, taking a sip of his Bloody Mary and pulled back his curtain of hair. I live in motels ... I've got nothing. Who'd be stupid enough to work for nothing? 'which is virtually what we're doing, We make money, sure, but we spend it just as quickly trying to keep the vibe up. The emotion is evident in his voice. He pauses.
I don't think anybody should ever forget that what we're doing is art? You can never get away from that so it's a funny business ... marketing art," he laughs. "It's a paradox in itself.'
However, often people try to delve into his work in search of profound hidden meanings, Clapton insists that the superficial ideas are all that are intended. With the exception of rarities like 'Prussian Blue' the songs are not at all contrived. On the contrary, according to their writer, they are Spontaneous expressions of feelings, not designed to stimulate thought, national identity, pity or anything else. But if they do, he says, that's good. Or does he want to deter people from looking. They often find things that he didn't know about. Speaking of a review by Paul Gardiner in ROLLING STONE two issues ago, he marvels, I wasn't aware I'd written an album about Australia until I read it in Paul's review. The material was written in Germany but he's right all the same.

I find a great satisfaction in having Goodbye Tiger accepted," he says, referring to the album's rather startling sales figures. "Australians are so embarrassed by themselves that they refuse to admit to any identity and I think they should strive to find one, for better or worse." It's three o'clock in the morning, and as I take my leave a particular phrase keeps coming back to me, one which I felt seemed to capture the essence of what he'd been saying -
"I think that over the last few years I've learnt a lot about a lot of things, just finding out that simplicity is one of the hardest things in the world to achieve."
Richard Clapton is a man of contradictions. He considers the entire system of competition and stardom a farce, yet he continues to be considered as one of Australia's top rock performers. He says he doesn't understand the exact meaning of most of his songs, yet his audiences hail him as a sensitive and perceptive artist. Perhaps the strangest thing is that both he and the people are right.
(Interview taken from Rolling Stone 9 Feb 1978 - sourced from The Avenue / Richard Clapton)

This post contains a CD rip in FLAC format and includes full album artwork for both vinyl and CD formats. I have also sourced a live rendition of Clapton's biggest hit 'Girl's On The Avenue' taken from the 'Concert Of The Decade' compilation album, released in 1979.
'Past Hits & Previews' is the first 'greatest hits' album that Clapton released, although he also chose to release two new tracks alongside his classics at that time - "Stepping Across The Line" & "When The Heat's Off".
Also worth noting is that "When The Heat's Off" has never been issued on any other release (either Vinyl or CD) making this compilation rather special.
All other tracks were taken from his prior LP's, 'Prussian Blue', 'Girls On The Avenue', 'Mainstreet Jive', 'Goodbye Tiger' and the rare soundtrack 'Highway One'.

                        NEW IMPROVED RIP
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Track Listing
01 - Stepping Across The Line
02 - Girls On The Avenue
03 - Goodbye Tiger
04 - Capricorn Dancer
05 - I Wanna Be A Survivor *
06 - When The Heat's Off
07 - Deep Water
08 - Blue Bay Blues
09 - Need A Visionary
10 - Suit Yourself
11 - Girls On The Avenue (Bonus - Live)
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Band Members (1972-78):
Richard Clapton (Acoustic & Electric Guitars, Vocals)
Kirk Lorange (Slide guitar) Red McKelvie (Pedal Steel)
Gunter Gorman, Ritchie Zito, Red McKelvie, Mike McLellan (Guitar)
Michael Hegerty, Greg Lyon, Reggie McBride, Ronnie Peel, Phil Lawson (Bass)
Greg Shegan, Doug Bligh, Lain McLennan, Doug Lavery, Dave Ovendon, Jim Penson, Loppy Morris, Keith Barber (Drums)
Tony Ansell, Wayne Finlay, Lance Ong, Mike Perjanik (Keyboards)
Diane McLennon, Rita Jean Bodine, Lori Balmer, Michael Adler (Backing Vocals)
* Kevin Borich (Guitar)
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Richard Clapton Link (275Mb)
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Pat Travers Band - Crash And Burn (1980)

(Canadian 1976 - Present)

A native of Toronto, Ontario, Pat Travers picked up his first guitar after seeing Jimi Hendrix perform in Ottawa, and began playing in local bands Music Machine, Red Hot, and Merge beginning in his early teens. After his talents were witnessed by rock musician Ronnie Hawkins, Travers, while in his early 20s, was invited to perform with the artist, at which point he moved to London and signed a recording contract with the Polydor label. 

His self-titled album featured acclaimed bassist Peter “Mars” Cowling, who would become a mainstay in Travers' band for several years, and led to 1979's live album 'Live! Go for What You Know' – Travers' first album to crack the Billboard Top 40 – and a top-20 single in “Boom Boom (Out Go the Lights).” The blues-rock song “Snortin' Whiskey,” released on the 1980 album 'Crash And Burn', was also an instant hit for Travers, reaching the number-one position on request lists for numerous FM radio stations and becoming one of the artist's signature songs, eventually appearing on the soundtrack for 2004's Oscar-winning comedy Sideways.

Pat Travers

Over the past three decades, Travers and his bandmates have released more than three dozen additional studio albums, live albums, and compilations.

'Crash And Burn' was the Pat Travers Band's highest-charting release, peaking at number 20 on the Billboard album chart. As mentioned, the album featured the single "Snortin' Whiskey", co-written by Travers and fellow band member guitarist Pat Thrall. 

In the liner notes for Polydor's 4CD Box Set 'Feelin' Alright', Travers recollects:

"I wrote this in '79. We were rehearsing in North Miami at a studio there, for the 'Crash and Burn' album. And, rehearsals started at two o'clock every afternoon, but that wasn't hard and fast, 'cause I was usually working on something anyway. So, three o'clock came, and Pat Thrall wasn't there.. four o'clock, and still no Pat. Five, no Pat. About 5.30pm, the big studio door gets kicked open, and in comes Pat and his girlfriend, and they're looking a little rough.. And I said, "What have you been doing?" And he said, 'Snortin' whiskey and drinkin' cocaine'. I went, "Well, that sounds like a song" and I already had the guitar riff, so I wrote that in about seven minutes flat".

Pat Thrall

The album's title track was also issued as a single, but wasn't as successful as "Snortin' Whiskey". The song "Crash And Burn" was a departure from Pat Travers' usual guitar-oriented material, and was basically a keyboard song driven by the band's rhythm section of Peter "Mars" Cowling on bass, and drummer Tommy Aldridge.

Album Review (by Grampus - Rate Your Music, 2007)

'Crash And Burn' is my favourite Pat Travers album as it displays a greater versatility and diversity than his other work. He's beginning to sound as though he's tailoring himself to fit a George Thorogood-like character. The intermingling of jazz and blues into his normal hard rock brew certainly provides interesting opportunities for future development. The addition of journeyman drummer Tommy Aldridge (Black Oak Arkansas, Ozzy Osbourne, Whitesnake) has added greater depth and intensity to the overall sound and seemingly given Travers the confidence to experiment, although, even if it was a mildly successful single, I've never been comfortable with the version of Bob Marley's "Is This Love" A far better cover is the take on "Born Under A Bad Sign".

Mars Cowling

The album opens with the title track which contains a great bass-line groove. This is one of my favourite tracks from the album and it leads into a more orthodox blues rock number "Can't Be Right". Nothing wrong with stuff like this but you just can't escape the fact it sounds nothing more than filler. Luckily Travers picks the album up by its bootstraps with "Snortin' Whiskey" (and drinkin' cocaine) a killer original blues song that's one of the best things Travers ever wrote. Side one of the album is rounded off with the blues standard "Born Under A Bad Sign". First recorded (I think) by Albert King and written by Booker T. Jones and William Bell, Travers does a great job but tends to exercise the guitar swagger and braggadocio a little too much.

Tommy Aldridge

I can't help thinking that "Is This Love" was nothing more than a cynical attempt to gain wider acclaim by choosing a song as a single that people would recognise. Still it has a neat little guitar break in there. Crash And Burn doesn't finish all that well. "The Big Event" is a dead end instrumental, "Love Will Make You Strong" doesn't seem to know what it's trying to be and ends up being some sort of funk-jazz-rock mish mash while "Material Eyes" has such a weird psyched-out vocal it sounds as though everyone's pissed.

So 'Crash And Burn' is a front-loaded album but still a good one. Even though the musical quality steadily deteriorates it remains one of the better albums in Travers' catalogue.

This post consists of FLACs freshly ripped from my vinyl and includes full album artwork for both vinyl and CD format, along with label scans.  I distinctly remember the day I bought this album and where. I was in the Melbourne CBD in the early 80's and hitting the record import shops that I regularly frequented on my day off Uni. I walked into Gaslight records in Bourke Street and before I had a chance to start looking through the 'new arrivals' section, a thunderous wall of sound came booming out of the shop's speakers featuring a spectacular 'Guitar & Synthersier' riff. The band wasn't familiar to me, so I asked the guy behind the counter who it was.

Pat Traver's new LP 'Crash And Burn' was his response - shit hot title track, ain't it?   Now, have a listen to track 3 - it's called Snortin' Whiskey.

Of course, I parted with my precious $$ immediately and walked out thinking, that was the quickest purchase I've ever made.  Of course, I've never regretted it and still play this 'shit hot' album regularly.

No need to add bonus tracks this time folks - the album is perfect as it stands (irrespective of what Mr Grampus thinks) Enjoy!

Tracklist:

01 Crash And Burn – 5:21

02 (Your Love) Can't Be Right – 3:33

03 Snortin' Whiskey  – 3:26

04 Born Under a Bad Sign  – 5:50

05 Is This Love? – 5:28

06 The Big Event – 5:35

07 Love Will Make You Strong – 4:04

08 Material Eyes  – 5:53

Pat Travers Band Members / Musicians

Tommy Aldridge - drums, percussion

Peter "Mars" Cowling - bass guitar

Pat Thrall - lead & rhythm guitars, backing vocals

Pat Travers - lead & backing vocals, lead & rhythm guitars, keyboards

Dawn Shahan - backing vocals

Michael Shrieve - percussion

Pat Travers Link (232Mb)

W.O.C.K On Vinyl: Gerry Goldsmith's 'Papillon' - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1973)

Before things get too serious at Rock On Vinyl, I thought it might be fun to post a song at the end of each month, that could be considered to be either Weird, Obscure, Crazy or just plain Korny.

Based on Henri Charrière’s massively successful memoir of life in a French prison camp in Guyana, Papillon can boast the star power of Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman (the former giving one of his finest performances) and Franklin J. Schaffner’s film is an entertaining yarn, albeit one in which disbelief frequently has to be suspended (while Charrière almost certainly was imprisoned there, just about everything else has been disputed).

Jerry Goldsmith’s storied career featured many highlights – he personally considered his body of work for Schaffner (who gave the composer almost total freedom to do as he saw fit) as his best. Coming after Planet of the Apes and Patton, Papillon has not historically been placed on such a high pedestal as those two masterful scores – perhaps because the film, rightly, itself isn’t – but it’s always been one of my favourite works by Goldsmith (or any film composer) and I’d put it up on a pedestal alongside pretty much anything.

Jerry Goldsmith

The somewhat Debussy-like main theme, given a concert arrangement to start the album, is not really like any other in the Goldsmith canon: a nostalgic Parisian waltz, accordion and strings carrying the melody, constant support on hand from a harpsichord and the rest of the orchestra, it is I think one of the finest themes any film has ever received. Outrageously beautiful, instantly memorable, it is one of the most lyrical pieces ever written by one of cinema’s most lyrical composers.    The score itself gets underway with “The Camp”, with the abrasive theme for the prison making its first appearance, at the heart of some piercingly dissonant, cleverly claustrophobic material. While the outward intensity drops as the piece goes on, the emotional intensity keeps up, Goldsmith closing the piece by building up a dirge-like feeling, swirling around inside the head. This is in great contrast with the following piece, the beautiful “Catching Butterflies”, with fast-moving, impressionistic, floaty figures darting around; newly extended for this album, there’s now a much calmer coda to the piece, a distinctly sour feeling now entering.

The brief “The Dream” is an arrangement of the main theme for two accordions – no orchestra this time – and then comes the more substantial “Hospital”, which introduces a heartbreaking new theme representing the prisoners’ suffering, and also offers anguished takes on both the prison theme and the main theme, whose brief appearance is emotionally devastating. “Papillion (Theme Variation)” – a track making its debut here – is a simple solo accordion take on the main theme.

The first of three escape attempts chronicled in the film (there were many more recounted in the book) is represented musically by “Freedom”, which begins with a soaring orchestral burst but it soon takes on a more harrowing note, with the prison theme appearing in particularly brutal fashion. Particularly florid orchestration takes over as things take a darker turn before solemnity ensues, gently prodding winds over strings that eventually grow with some harsh cymbal crashes. There is a ravishing arrangement of the main theme for solo flute before a Latin American feeling takes over (as the escapees’ boat makes landfall). The florid, deeply personal style of the cue is a clear forerunner of a style Goldsmith would explore further in a later score for Schaffner, Islands in the Stream.

“New Friend” is the first of a pair of sensational action cues. Harsh and brutal, it’s vintage Goldsmith action, build on an ever more complex motif representing the character Antonio – and the second in the pairing is then “Antonio’s Death”. Both cues feature all the composer’s action hallmarks – the unusual meters, the low-end piano, the jabbing brass and percussion, the frantic strings. There’s just a hint of The Wind and the Lion at times. It’s scintillating music – not only has there never been a better film composer at writing action music than Goldsmith, in truth nobody’s ever come even remotely close.

After the action thrills comes the real centre piece of the score, the ravishingly beautiful “Gift from the Sea”, expanded for this album to eight minutes. It opens with a theme of great pastoral beauty, dancing around, as McQueen’s character enjoys – for a while – the freedom of life outside the prison. Evoking Ravel, Goldsmith’s music alone carries the joy of the sequence – which plays with barely another sound in the film, let alone dialogue – but it goes from melting the heart to breaking it, as things become increasingly anguished later on (and is that the Raisuli’s theme I hear?) It’s masterfully constructed, truly beautiful, and I’d put it up there with the composer’s finest individual pieces.

It wasn’t quite Raisuli’s theme, but it’s very close, and it then forms the basis for the very brief “The Pearl”. After this comes “Reunion”, deeply sad but very touching. Goldsmith is quoted in the liner notes as saying that the score starts complex and becomes simpler as it goes on, and it’s like he is stripping away the fat to leave the raw feelings exposed: when the main theme emerges with woodblock accompaniment, it’s just so tender, a beautiful expression of the bond between the two main characters. The theme returns in the little vignette “The Garden”, this time in much busier style.

The final four cues underscore the film’s finale. First is “Cruel Sea”, with the sad theme from “Freedom” expressing Papillon’s frustration as his latest escape attempt comes to nothing, but then hope returns in a set of variations on the main theme as he hatches his latest plan. The newly-expanded, two-part “Freedom” opens with the main theme from which a massive orchestral sustain launches itself as Papillon dives into the sea; then his theme rises, slowly at first, building to a rousing, glorious rendition to close.

For the end titles Goldsmith brings things full circle, with some dissonant strains accompanying images of the now-decaying, overgrown prison, the horrors of the past reflected in the music. Quartet’s new album adds a bit of new music (not as much as the running-time suggests: most of it’s previously-unreleased source music which nobody will ever listen to) but its real treasure comes in the sound, which is greatly improved over any previous release. The only demerit is that the beautiful French vocal version of the main theme from the previous Universal album isn’t present, but an English-language one from Engelbert Humperdinck – with its own kind of musical horrors – is here instead. Still, nothing can take away from the fact that this is an essential album, a luxurious presentation of a truly luxurious film score, the great Jerry Goldsmith at his magnificent best. [extract from movie wave]

The Storyline

Papillon tells the story of Papillon (played by Steve McQueen), imprisoned in the overseas penal colony of Caribbean French Guiana, on the northeast coast of South America. Papillon alleges that he is and always has been innocent of his charge (killing a pimp in France); nonetheless, France “has disposed of you,” we hear in booming tones from a man with a walrus mustache in the film’s opening scene. “The nation has disposed of you altogether.”

Papillon and his fellow prisoners are thus relegated to lives of hard labor, to brutal regimes of solitary confinement, and, in the end, either to forced colonization of French Guiana or to a final stretch of unsupervised years of imprisonment on a craggy island surrounded by sheer cliff walls, the prisoners sent there deemed too broken in body, spirit, and will not pose a risk of escape or violence.

Along the way, the carceral gymnastics of the early modern state command the mens’ activities. They arrive at the island on a trans-Atlantic steamer ship, kitted out inside with barred cells and prisoners’ hammocks, its dormitory lined with steam pipes that can be turned on at will to punish the men inside. They are introduced to the guillotine, that disciplinary apparatus of last order of the French state. “Make the best of what we offer you,” an anonymous supervisor says, after the guillotine’s blade has crashed down through a thick stalk of vegetation, demonstrating its raw power, “and you will suffer less than you deserve.”

While on the transport ship, Papillon meets Louis Dega, who has been sent to Guiana for selling counterfeit national defense bonds. “I have no intention of even attempting to escape,” Dega says. “Ever.” He is slightly smiling when he says this, bemusing Papillon, who soon becomes Dega’s paid protection (and long-term friend) in the camps.

However, learning of that friendship, a prison warden whose family lost their fortune in counterfeit defense bounds, sends Papillon and Dega off together to clear swamps with nothing but ropes and their bare hands.

Their various chores soon include the extraordinary scene of prisoners sent out into the jungle to capture exotic butterflies—an activity that is at least doubly ironic. Not only are captives being asked, in turn, to capture rare species (including one prisoner, Papillon, whose very name comes from the butterfly tattooed on his chest), but, in an awesome detail, we learn that these particular butterflies are valuable precisely because the pigment in their wings is used for inking U.S. currency.

That it is Dega who tells us this—the counterfeiter supreme—lends the whole sequence an incredible, if macabre, poetry. But there is also something striking in this revelation of the commodity chain, suggesting that U.S. currency contains the remains of exotic butterflies hunted in the jungle by French prisoners. All objects—even objects that stand for other objects—come from somewhere, including state currency literally printed with the bodies of captives, both human and animal.

But, after this point, the real imprisonments—and, of course, the escapes—begin.
Papillon attacks a guard to protect Dega from a routine beating, only to be forced to flee into the jungle—diving into the swamp and swimming off into the roots of mangroves—when he realizes that he’ll be shot on sight for his violation (in fact, he dodges bullets as he leaps into the murky waters).
Except, of course, he doesn’t make it; he is turned in by local manhunters (former prisoners turned professional trackers of escapees); and he is introduced to the cell in which a great deal of the film then takes place.

A brief note on the architecture of incarceration in Papillon. The cells have bars instead of roofs, allowing them to be watched from above by roving guards. However, this also means that the cell can be “screened”—that is, its only source of light can be blocked for six months at a time, something that soon happens to Papillon (who is reduced to eating roaches and centipedes in the darkness). 

The prisoners receive their rations through a small hole near the floor, which pops open everyday at the sound of a whistle (there is no speaking allowed in the facility, helpfully painted with the word SILENCE in black letters on the outside walls). And the prisoners must lean forward and stick their heads through holes in the cell door for things like hair cuts and lice treatments—but also for occasional interrogations by the warden and his guards.

While locked up in darkness, Papillon has a dream in which he confronts a makeshift judge and jury on the beach somewhere back in France. For whatever reason, I have always loved this scene. “You know the charge,” a faceless judge shouts at Papillon. “Yours is the most terrible crime a human being can commit. I accuse you of a wasted life… The penalty is death.” Horrified by the accuracy of the charge, Papillon wanders back the way he came, muttering, “Guilty… Guilty… Guilty…”

Papillon, Dega, and another prisoner called Maturette make a break for it one night over the camp wall. To make an extremely long story short, they must sail to freedom by way of a leper colony and increasingly rough seas; but, arriving safely in Honduras, they’re forced to split up. Papillon runs into the rain forest with a local prisoner they happen to bump into on the beach, and the two of them are then hunted through the jungle by Afro-Caribbean trackers hired by the state. Many more events transpire—booby traps, cliff jumps, pearl-fishing tribesmen—before Papillon makes his way to a convent in a local town center, seeking refuge and forgiveness. 

However, the church being, in effect, a wing of the state, mistaking ideological correctness for Christian morality, the nuns turn him in. I mention this also to indicate how, in the film, the state works: it relies upon—indeed, it cannot function without—local yet unofficial representatives, people it can hire (trackers) or who it can trust to volunteer (nuns) in the name of state continuity. In other words, the state puts out a call when a gap or blind spot arises, knowing there will always be someone who answers it.

So Papillon is sent back to solitary confinement, this time for 2 years. He barely survives this final incarceration and both Dega and Papillon are eventually sent off to Devil's Island to serve the remaining part of their life sentences.

I’ll just make two final points, while admitting that I’ve hardly grazed the surface of the film.

1) Papillon’s final escape comes from Devil’s Island, the aforementioned island of sheer cliffs where even guards are seen as unnecessary, the prisoners physically and mentally exhausted and thus believed to be incapable of investing in the effort of escape. But Papillon one day notices something in the waters of the bay below, a rhythm in the waves that allows for anything thrown into the water to avoid being crushed on the rocks and, instead, be dragged out to sea.

Devil's Island

He first experiments with some coconuts—and then, lashing together a makeshift raft, he throws himself into the seventh wave and makes his way to final freedom.

2) The movie closes with one of the most dramatically powerful end title sequences I’ve ever seen. To a haunting soundtrack by Jerry Goldsmith, we’re shown shot after shot of the actual penal colony in French Guiana, left abandoned and rotting in the jungle.

Regardless of the accuracy of the film’s many dramatic enhancements, the ruined buildings of Papillon have the benefit of context: when the film cuts to the roofless cells and overgrown courtyards of this horrible and violent place of exile, the futility of the entire escapade—the tragedy of anyone caught up in the empty colonial machine—becomes both obvious and crushing. It’s as if no one ever escaped from anything, because there was nothing there in the first place; we’re just left with empty and impotent buildings, dissolved in shafts of light. [extract from bldgblog]

This post consists of FLACs ripped from my vinyl copy of the Movie Soundtrack released by Capitol records in 1973, which I stumbled upon at my local flee market some years ago. My first exposure to this great story was via my father's book collection and then seeing the movie at the Drive Inn with my family in the mid 70's.  I was a big fan of Steve McQueen at the time, but Dustin Hoffman was a new name to me at the time. As a young teenager I was totally blown away by the story line and have since watched the movie multiple, multiple times and still get goose bumps during some of the dramatic scenes. Unknowingly, I now believe that a big part of the movie's appeal was its soundtrack and how it complemented the amazing scenery and acting.

While researching for this post, I was under the impression that my copy of this soundtrack was somewhat Obscure, however I since discovered that the soundtrack had been released on CD in 1988 and an expanded version in 2017.  Nevertheless, I have still decided to post it here, as it is such a great soundtrack and deserves to be heard. Because the vinyl release did not feature the 'Catching Butterflies' segment, I have decided to include it as a bonus track for your further enjoyment.

Tracklist

01 Theme From Papillon 2:15

02 The Camp 2:57

03 Reunion 4:33

04 New Friend 2:02

05 Freedom 3:53

06 Gift From The Sea 6:42

07 Antonio's Death 2:25

08 Cruel Sea 1:26

09 Hospital 3:46

10 Survival 5:20

11    Catching Butterflies  (bonus track) 2:57

Papillion Link (184Mb)

Elton John - Greatest Hits (1974) and Greatest Hits Volume II (1977)

(U.K 1962 - 2023)

The 'Greatest Hits' (1974) compilation, remains as the best seller album of Elton John's catalog. In the States, it became the first hits package to reach number one. In Canada, it’s one of few albums to ever ship one million copies. Volume II 1977 wasn't far behind but never reached the heights of its predecessor.

About Greatest Hits Volume I:

In 1974, there was no bigger music star than Elton John. His Greatest Hits collection came out at the peak of his career and not only topped the charts in the U.S. – a rarity for a compilation – but stayed there for 10 weeks. It captured many of the songs which still remain highlights today from "Your Song" to "Rocket Man" to "Crocodile Rock" to "Candle In The Wind". On the international version of the album, "Candle in the Wind replaced “Bennie and the Jets”. The 1992 reissue on CD included both songs.

It did skip over a couple of lesser hits from this era, most notably "Levon" and "Tiny Dancer", but added them to Elton’s next greatest hits collection - Vol 2 (depending on the version)

Track Listing (Australian Pressing):

01 - Your Song
02 - Daniel
03 - Honky Cat
04 - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
05 - Saturday Nights Alright For Fighting
06 - Rocket Man
07 - Candle In The Wind
08 - Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me
09 - Border Song
10 - Crocodile Rock

About Greatest Hits Volume II:

While it wasn’t nearly as successful as the first volume, this is as chock-full of hits, including non-album #1 singles Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, and Philadelphia Freedom. Also included is John’s version of Pinball Wizard, taken from the soundtrack to Tommy. In short, it’s an excellent continuation of the first collection, and taken together, they function as an ideal singles retrospective of the most successful singles artist of the early ‘70s.

The original international version replaced Levon with Bennie and the Jets. The 1992 CD reissue included Tiny Dancer and I Feel Like a Bullet in the Gun of Robert Ford.

Track Listing (Australian Pressing):

01 - The Bitch Is Back
02 - Pinball Wizard
03 - Grow Some Funk Of Your Own
04 - Somebody Saved My Life Tonight
05 - Bennie And The Jets
06 - Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
07 - Philadelphia Freedom
08 - Country Comfort
09 - Island Girl
10 - Levon
11 - Tiny Dancer (Bonus Track)

* Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (11/23/74, 1 US, 1 CL, 10 UK, 1 CN, 3 AU, gold single)

* Philadelphia Freedom (3/7/75, 1 US, 32 RB, 1 CL, 12 UK, 1 CN, 4 AU, platinum single)

* Pinball Wizard (3/20/76, 9 CL, 7 UK, 88 AU)

Bernie Taupin (Lyrics) & Elton John (Music)

Featured Albums on Greatest Hits Vol I & II

Elton John (1970)
Elton John’s self-titled album was a top-5 hit in the UK and U.S., largely thanks to Your Song, which was Elton’s breakthrough hit and has become one of, if not, the signature song of his career.

* Border Song (3/70, 92 US, 20 CL, 34 CN)

* Your Song (11/28/70, 8 US, 9 AC, 1 CL, 7 UK, 3 CN, 11 AU, 2x platinum)

Elton's Band

Madman Across the Water (1971)
This was another top-10 album in the U.S., but only peaked at #41 in the UK. Tiny Dancer wasn’t a big hit at the time, but has become an Elton John favorite.

* Levon (11/29/71, 24 US, 4 CL, 6 CN, 94 AU, gold single)

* Tiny Dancer (2/7/72, 41 US, 35 AC, 1 CL, 19 CN, 13 AU, 3x platinum)

Honky Château (1972):
This was Elton John’s first of seven consecutive #1 albums in the U.S. It peaked at #2 in the UK. In addition to the album’s two top-10 hits, it also produced the album cut “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters.”

* Rocket Man (4/22/72, 6 US, 39 AC, 1 CL, 3 UK, 8 CN, 13 AU, 3x platinum)

* Honky Cat (8/12/72, 8 US, 6 AC, 3 CL, 31 UK, 10 CN, 78 AU)

Don’t Shoot Me, I’m Only the Piano Player (1973):
This was Elton’s first album to top the charts in both the U.S. and the UK. It also produced Crocodile Rock, his first U.S. #1. In addition to the two hit singles, the album produced the popular cut “Elderberry Wine.”

* Crocodile Rock (11/4/72, 1 US, 11 AC, 1 CL, 5 UK, 1 CN, 2 AU, platinum single)

* Daniel (1/20/73, 2 US, 1 AC, 1 CL, 4 UK, 1 CN, 7 AU, platinum single)

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973):

The best-selling studio album of Elton’s career is also widely considered his crowning achievement. It was a #1 hit in the U.S. and UK. It gave him his second U.S. #1 song with Bennie and the Jets and Candle in the Wind become one of the biggest hits of all time when Elton performed it with new lyrics in 1997 as a memorial to Princess Diana.

* Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting (7/7/73, 12 US, 2 CL, 7 UK, 12 CN, 31 AU, gold single)

* Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (9/29/73, 2 US, 7 AC, 1 CL, 6 UK, 1 CN, 4 AU, 2x platinum)

* Bennie and the Jets (2/16/74, 1 US, 15 RB, 1 CL, 37 UK, 1 CN, 5 AU, 2x platinum)

* Candle in the Wind (3/2/74, 6 US, 2 AC, 2 CL, 5 UK, 5 CN, 5 AU)

Elton On The Muppet Show 1977

Caribou (1974):

This was Elton’s third consecutive album to top the charts in both the U.S. and UK. The 1973 Christmas single "Step into Christmas" was not on the original album, but was featured as a bonus track on the 1995 reissue.

* Step into Christmas (12/8/73, 20 CL, 8 UK, 44 AU) D

* Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me (6/1/74, 2 US, 3 AC, 1 CL, 16 UK, 1 CN, 13 AU, gold single)

* The Bitch Is Back (9/7/74, 4 US, 3 CL, 15 UK, 1 CN, 53 AU, gold single)

Elton John - The Pinball Wizard

Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (1975):

Elton John made history when this album debuted atop the Billboard album chart, the first ever to do so. It reportedly sold 1.4 million copies within the first four days of release. Someone Saved My Life Tonight was the only single featured from the album.

* Someone Saved My Life Tonight (6/23/75, 4 US, 36 AC, 1 CL, 22 UK, 2 CN, 54 AU, gold single)

Rock of the Westies (1975):
This was the last of Elton’s #1 U.S. albums. Like its predecessor, it debuted atop the Billboard album chart. It also gave Elton another #1 song in the U.S. with Island Girl.

* Island Girl (10/4/75, 1 US, 27 AC, 1 CL, 14 UK, 4 CN, 12 AU, platinum single)

* Grow Some Funk of Your Own (1/24/76, 14 US, 8 CL, 8 CN)

Thanks to Dave's Music Database for chart & album details

This post consists of FLACs ripped from my vinyl copies, both Australian Pressings. The Australian track listings are different to those of the US, UK and European releases, making them somewhat unique I believe. Both posts come with full artwork for vinyl - including label scans. However, I have only been able to source CD artwork for his first Greatest Hits album and suspect the Volume II was never released on CD in Australia. 

My only criticism of the Australian releases are that they did not include one of his most popular hits (and ratified by Elton himself, only recently), namely  "Tiny Dancer".

I am therefore including "Tiny Dancer" as a bonus track to rectify this huge oversight.

Nevertheless, I have always believed that Elton's first "Greatest Hits" album is one of the BEST and STRONGEST compilation albums ever released by an artist, hands down.  

Greatest Hits (1974) Link (220Mb)

Greatest Hits Volume II (1977) Link (355Mb)