ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK RECORDING FROM "THE ADVENTURES OF FORD FAIRLANE" (1990) ELEKTRA ENTERTAINMENT

  1. Cradle Of Love - Billy Idol
  2. Sea Cruise - Dion
  3. Funky Attitude - Sheila E.
  4. Glad To Be Alive - Teddy Pendergrass and Lisa Fisher
  5. Can't Get Enough - Tone Lõc
  6. Rock 'N Roll Junkie - Mötley Crüe
  7. I Ain't Got You - Andrew Dice Clay
  8. Last Time In Paris - Queensr˙che
  9. Unbelievable (Theme From "Ford Fairlane") - Yello
  10. The Wind Cries Mary - Ritchie Sambora

'The Adventures Of Ford Fairlane' is one of my all time favorite movies. This 1990 action/comedy film, starring comedian Andrew Dice Clay as Ford Fairlane, a private detective whose beat is the music industry in Los Angeles, also featured Vince Neil (Mötley Crüe) in a supporting role. However, my only interest in the movie's soundtrack is the non-album track from Queensr˙che, "Last Time in Paris". This was initially only available as a B-side on a single, or on this soundtrack CD. Nowadays it is also available on the remastered reissue of 'Empire'. Thus, I seldom put this CD in the player anymore, as it doesn't feature many other artists I am interested in. Other than Mötley Crüe's contribution, "Rock 'N Roll Junkie", another exclusive track for this soundtrack that later on appeared on compilation albums from the band, and Ritchie Sambora's (Bon Jovi) cover of Jimi Hendrix' "The Wind Cries Mary", I don't like any of the other songs.

MUSIC FROM THE ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE "LAST ACTION HERO" (1993) COLUMBIA/SONY MUSIC

  1. Big Gun - AC/DC
  2. What The Hell Have I - Alice In Chains
  3. Angry Again - Megadeth
  4. Real World - Queensr˙che
  5. Two Steps Behind - Def Leppard
  6. Poison My Eyes - Anthrax
  7. Dream On - Aerosmith
  8. A Little Bitter - Alice In Chains
  9. Cock The Hammer - Cypress Hill
  10. Swim - Fishbone
  11. Last Action Hero - Tesla
  12. Jack The Ripper - Michael Kamen and the Los Angeles Rock And Roll Ensemble feat. Buckethead

'Last Action Hero' was a high profiled action/adventure/comedy that bombed with the critics, but was a hit at the box office nonetheless. I always liked the movie, despite all the obvious nonsense and bad acting. It's supposed to be an hour and a half of brain-dead entertainment, and not a lecture in neuron-science! One thing that appealed to me with the movie was the soundtrack. OK, you can't actually hear entire songs in the movie, but the snippets playing every now and again, and the AC/DC song, "Big Gun", playing over the credits, made me wanna check out this CD. Turns out this soundtrack is filled with great, (at the time) exclusive songs by several great artists. Favorites include the aforementioned AC/DC track, Megadeth's "Angry Again" and the live version of Aerosmith's "Dream On". Many of these songs were released as singles by the respective bands, and they sold well too. They have also been added to the bands compilation CD's, box sets and what not. But they appear for the first time on this soundtrack CD. And it's actually a very good listen from start to finish. Having Michael Kamen do the film score, and even add orchestral arrangements on the songs by Aerosmith and Queensr˙che gives the CD a returning "theme".

MUSIC FROM THE MOTION PICTURE "DETROIT ROCK CITY" (1999) MERCURY

  1. The Boys Are Back In Town - Everclear
  2. Shout It Out Loud - Kiss
  3. Runnin' With The Devil - Van Halen
  4. Cat Scratch Fever - Pantera
  5. Iron Man - Black Sabbath
  6. Highway To Hell - Marilyn Manson
  7. 20th Century Boy - Drain STH
  8. Detroit Rock City - Kiss
  9. Jailbreak - Thin Lizzy
  10. Surrender (Live) - Cheap Trick
  11. Rebel Rebel - David Bowie
  12. Strutter - The Donnas
  13. School Days - The Runaways
  14. Little Willy - Sweet
  15. Nothing Can Keep Me From You - Kiss

Being the Kiss nut that I am, I just loved the idea of a Kiss-related motion picture. Finally the band would remedy their total cinematic failure from 1978, the not-intentionally funny, 'Kiss Meets The Phantom Of The Park'. 'Detroit Rock City' is a coming-of-age/road movie about 4 teenage boys going to see Kiss in concert. The movie is set to happen during Kiss' initial heyday, back in the mid- to late '70's. Fittingly the soundtrack is filled with rock classics of that era.

So for the most part this CD brings immortal classics from hard rocks golden age. Kiss themselves deliver 3 tracks here, but there are 4 Kiss songs present, as the all female hard rock band, The Donnas, delivers their version of "Strutter". Kiss is also the only band represented with a brand new song. "Nothing Can Keep Me From You" is not only a new song, written exclusively for this movie, it also marks the first time the band has ever recorded a song penned in full by an outside songwriter (not counting cover songs). The woman behind this song is Diane Warren, also responsible for Aerosmith's hit from the movie 'Armageddon', "Nothing Can Keep Me From You". Other '70's heroes represented include Van Halen, Black Sabbath, Cheap Trick, Thin Lizzy, The Runaways, Sweet and David Bowie, all delivering iconic songs from the era.

The downside to this soundtrack happens in the instances where they seem to have failed to get permission to use the original songs, and landed on cover versions from then current bands instead. Everclear and Pantera do decent covers of "The Boys Are Back In Town" and "Catch Scratch Fever", but the original would have been preferred by a mile! And in the first case I can't really see why they opted for a cover version, seeing that Thin Lizzy is represented with another song here as well. The absolute lowdown comes when Marilyn Manson butchers AC/DC's "Highway To Hell". And Drain STH's "20th Century Boy" ain't much better.

All in all I enjoy this soundtrack, and as a Kiss collector it is essential for the exclusive track.