"After Hours" soundtrack

Here's the third and final of my Martin Scorsese film soundtracks that were never released.

“After Hours” is one of my favorite Scorsese movies. The dark comedy is about as wacky as the director has ever done. If you haven’t seen the film, a man (Griffin Dunne) goes across town to meet a girl (Rosanna Arquette), loses his money, and has to deal with one crazy character after another in his attempt to get back home.

Howard Shore’s eerie electronic music adds to the bizarre atmosphere, while the collection of oldies is somewhat typical of Scorsese soundtracks. I still laugh every time I see the scene where Teri Garr’s character asks, “Hey, you like the Monkees!?”   

SIDE A

1. Symphony in D Major "No. 45" K. 95 I. Allegro (Mozart) – The Academy of Ancient Music and Jaap Schroder

2. 9 PM – Howard Shore

3. En La Cueva – Cuadro Flamenco

4. Sevillanas – Manitas de Plata

5. You're Mine – Robert and Johnnie

6. We Belong Together – Robert and Johnnie

7. Angel Baby – Rosie and The Originals

8. Midnight – Howard Shore
9. Last Train to Clarksville – The Monkees

SIDE B

1. Chelsea Morning – Joni Mitchell

2. I Don't Know Where I Stand – Joni Mitchell

3. Over the Mountain, Across the Sea – Johnnie and Joe

4. One Summer Night – The Danleers

5. 3 AM – Howard Shore

6. Pay to Cum – Bad Brains

7. Is That All There Is? – Peggy Lee

8. 6 AM – Howard Shore
9. Air Ouveture No. 3 in D Major (Bach) – Collegium Aureum

As with the previous two Scorsese soundtracks I have covered, you really have to do some searching to track down all of these songs. The Howard Shore music can be found here:

https://www.musicbox-records.com/en/cd-soundtracks/766-howard-shore-collector-s-edition-vol-1-after-hours-heaven.html

I had a terrible time tracking down the two classical works and ended up using different versions for my album for now.

The rest of the songs can be easily found on iTunes or Amazon. For the cover, I used a DVD cover I found online and cropped and altered it.

UPDATE: As noted in the comments below, I missed a song when I originally posted this: "You're Mine" by Robert and Johnnie. I've now added it above. But in checking on this, I discovered that I'm actually missing four other tunes: "Night and Day," "Body and Soul," "Quando, Quando, Quando" and "Someone to Watch Over Me." The film credits don't list who performs these, only that they're "courtesy of Warner Bros. Music." My guess is that they're all instrumentals from Warner Bros.'s vast music library that can be used as incidental music in films. So, you have choices here: 1) Ignore them; 2) Include versions of the songs (since they're all standards you'll find lots of them available); or 3) Track down the Warner Bros. library versions (and good luck with that). They should appear in the order listed above between "Sevillanas" and "You're Mine."

Frank Zappa -- "Zoot Allures" double album

An article in the Oct. 12, 1976, issue of Circus Magazine features Frank Zappa giving a track-by-track description of a test pressing for his upcoming double album. Eleven songs are described, including:

• Disco Boy
• Friendly Little Finger
• Wonderful Wino
• Night of the Iron Sausage
• Sleep Dirt
• Zoot Allures
• Ms. Pinky
• Filthy Habits
• Find Her Finer
• Black Napkins
• The Torture Never Stops

But when the Zoot Allures album was released only eight days later, it was a single album, three tracks were missing, and a new track was included. I don’t know when Zappa actually gave the interview for the story, but it’s quite clear that some drastic changes had been made between then and when the album finally came out. For one thing, due to a lawsuit with his former manager, Zappa's contract was temporarily reassigned from DiscReet Records to Warner Bros. This change may have affected the length of the LP.

Also, Zappa was a constant tinkerer, forever recording and editing, and this has led to some confusion on at least two of the tracks. First, no song has yet been released by Zappa or his heirs titled “Night of the Iron Sausage,” which was described as a live set piece "trimmed down to a basic guitar solo." Some speculate that this tune may have been retitled “Zoot Allures,” which became the title track of the album.

Second, many Zappa fans believe that the song titled “Zoot Allures” on the test pressing is actually the song “The Ocean is the Ultimate Solution,” which appeared on a later Zappa album, Sleep Dirt. This makes sense as the released song “Zoot Allures” is only a little more than four minutes, and that would give the album’s second side a total of less than six minutes, which of course is ridiculous (even by Zappa’s satirical standards). But “The Ocean is the Ultimate Solution” is more than 13 minutes long.

Finally, the fourth side of the album would have only come to 14 minutes total with the two listed songs. But if we add the one song from the released Zoot Allures album that wasn’t listed, “Wind up Workin' in a Gas Station,” the side is extended to about 16½ minutes, making it similar to the other three sides. And that gives us:

SIDE A – 17:37

1. Disco Boy

2. Friendly Little Finger

3. Wonderful Wino

4. Night of the Iron Sausage (Zoot Allures, Part I)

SIDE B – 16:40

1. Sleep Dirt

2. The Ocean is the Ultimate Solution (Zoot Allures, Part II)

SIDE C – 15:20

1. Ms. Pinky

2. Filthy Habits

3. Find Her Finer

SIDE D – 16:29

1. Wind up Workin' in a Gas Station

2. Black Napkins

3. The Torture Never Stops

I still think some of these sides are too short, especially the third side, but it's quite possible that Zappa trimmed down some of these songs in order to make a single album.

All tracks are available on either the Zoot Allures or Sleep Dirt albums. 

The original cover of Zoot Allures features Zappa and three other members of his “band,” but of them only drummer Terry Bozzio actually plays on the tracks. So in creating a new cover I tracked down a copy of the original photo, cropped out the others and rearranged the name and title (and whatever that little symbol is).

"Mean Streets" soundtrack

Here's my second of three Martin Scorsese film soundtracks that haven't been released. The film Mean Streets came out in 1973 and gave notice to the film world that a young filmmaker was on the rise.

SIDE A

1. Be My Baby -- The Ronettes
2. Tell Me (You're Coming Back) -- The Rolling Stones
3. I Looked Away -- Derek and The Dominos
4. Jumpin' Jack Flash -- The Rolling Stones
5. Desiree -- The Charts
6. I Met Him on a Sunday -- The Shirelles
7. Florence -- The Paragons

SIDE B

1. Those Oldies But Goodies -- Little Caesar and The Romans
2. Please Mr. Postman -- The Marvelettes
3. You -- The Aquatones
4. Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss) -- Betty Everett
5. I Love You So -- The Chantels
6. The Ship of Love -- The Nutmegs
7. Rubber Biscuit -- The Chips

SIDE C

1. Pledging My Love -- Johnny Ace
2. Baby Oh Baby -- The Shells
3. Mickey's Monkey -- The Miracles
4. Steppin' Out -- Cream

SIDE D

1. Addio Sogni di Gloria -- Giuseppe di Stefano
2. Canta Per' Me -- Giuseppe di Stefano
3. Munasterio di Santa Chiara -- Giuseppe di Stefano
4. Marruzella -- Renato Carosone
5. Scapricciatiello -- Renato Carosone
6. Ritmo Sabroso - Ray Barretto
7. Malafemmina -- Jimmy Roselli

A lot more songs were included in Mean Streets than Scorsese's debut, Who's That Knocking at My Door? But like that previous film, Mean Streets includes a lot of doo wop songs. This soundtrack also includes two Rolling Stones songs, as do many of Scorsese's films. Side C has the fewest songs because the Cream song is over 13 minutes long.

There are seven songs in Italian. While they work throughout the film for various scenes, I didn't think they worked on the soundtrack mixed among rock and pop tunes. So I included all the Italian songs on the fourth side of the album.

You have to do a fair amount of searching for some of these songs, but they're out there. For a cover, I found this image on the web and cropped it. I think it was originally for a DVD cover.

The Byrds - "20 c."

For the follow-up to The Byrds' The Notorious Byrd Brothers album, Roger McGuinn came up with a concept for a double album that would be a history of American music in the 20th century: bluegrass and Appalachian music, country and western, jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock. The album would conclude with futuristic electronic music, featuring a Moog synthesizer.

But before The Byrds could record, they needed new members. Gene Clark had left before The Notorious Byrd Brothers was completed, and both David Crosby and Michael Clarke had been fired. That left only McGuinn and Chris Hillman. They first hired Kevin Kelley as the band's new drummer. To assist with his album concept, McGuinn also wanted to hire a keyboardist with jazz experience. Gram Parsons was offered the job, but he was more keen on country music and convinced Hillman (who already came from a country and folk music background) that it was a better move than McGuinn's concept. With urging from Parsons, Hillman and producer Gary Usher, McGuinn eventually acquiesced. The band then recorded Sweetheart of the Rodeo.

The funny thing is, since Sweetheart of the Rodeo includes country, folk and traditional music, much of McGuinn's concept is actually on the album. For this re-imagined album, I look at what an album might have been if McGuinn had stuck with his original vision. Both Hillman and Parsons were gone soon after Sweetheart of the Rodeo was completed, so what if it hadn't been released and McGuinn kept working on the album, eventually incorporating songs that would end up on the next Byrds album Dr. Byrd and Mr. Hyde with new band members? Here's what I came up with:

SIDE A
1. Pretty Polly
2. I am a Pilgrim
3. Old Blue
4. The Christian Life
5. You Don't Miss Your Water
6. Hickory Wind

SIDE B
1. Nothing was Delivered
2. Your Gentle Way of Loving Me
3. Pretty Boy Floyd
4. Life in Prison
5. You're Still on My Mind
6. Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man

SIDE C
1. Nashville West
2. You Got a Reputation
3. Lazy Days
4. One Hundred Years from Now
5. Stanley's Song
6. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere

SIDE D
1. Candy
2. Child of the Universe
3. Bad Night at the Whiskey
4. King Apathy III
5. This Wheel's on Fire
6. Moog Raga

Using the chronological concept, I rearranged most of the songs from the two albums into a double album.

Side A starts off with a McGuinn/Hillman original that's very much a traditional style folk tune and then continues with mostly old traditional songs. Side B moves along in time, with Dust Bowl ballads, a song about Prohibition gangster Pretty Boy Floyd by Woody Guthrie, and the Bakersfield sound (including a Merle Haggard song, "Life in Prison"). Side C shows a bit more modern country and folk, and a rocker in "Lazy Days." The final side includes songs of psychedelic rock ("Bad Night at the Whiskey") and hard rock ("This Wheel's on Fire"). Finally, the album ends with the electronic piece that McGuinn had actually recorded during the sessions for The Notorious Byrd Brothers.

The result is that it still lacks jazz and blues. But other music forms are well represented: bluegrass, traditional Appalachian music, country and western, folk, country rock, hard rock/psychedelic rock, and finally an electronic piece recorded on a Moog. Honestly, I'm not sure The Byrds could have properly pulled off jazz and blues, but who knows?

For an album cover, I once again went with a design from http://idesignalbumcovers.tumblr.com/

"Who's That Knockin' on My Door?" soundtrack

This is my first in a series of soundtrack albums for three Martin Scorsese films that were never released.

Who's Knocking on My Door? was Scosese's first feature film, released in 1967. Not only was no soundtrack album released, but the songs in the film weren't even credited in the film.

Using the Independent Movie Database website, I found a full list of the songs used in the film to build the album.

SIDE A
1. Jenny Take a Ride -- Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels
2. I've Had It -- The Bell Notes
3. El Watusi -- Ray Baretto
4. Shotgun -- Jr. Walker and the All-Stars
5. Our Love is a Vow -- The Victorians
6. Don't Ask Me (to be Lonely) -- The Dubs
7. Ain't That Just Like Me -- The Searchers

SIDE B
1. The End -- The Doors
2. The Closer You Are -- The Channels
3. The Plea -- The Chantels
4. Who's That Knocking -- The Genies

The song selection is heavy on doo-wop. Whether this was because Scorsese really liked doo-wop or because getting the rights to use them in his film was cheap, I don't know.

I am a little surprised he got the rights to a Doors song. I wouldn't think that would be very economical for a low-budget film since the band was a very hot commodity in 1967. Due to the length of "The End," only four tracks are on the second side.

I used a picture from a DVD to make an album cover.