I am Jack's smirking....not that Ed Norton. Sorry.

"Honeymooners Rap" - Joe Piscopo & Eddie Murphy
Hope everyone had happy holidays! In 1985 Piscopo released the comedy album New Jersey (Bon Jovi had the same idea in '88) and this track was included as part of it. He and Murphy recorded the song during their Saturday Night Live days over at NBC. A lot of people think SNL went into the toilet after the original Not Ready For Prime-Time Players left but I disagree. Piscopo and Murphy were always must-see TV to me. Frank Sinatra even personally endorsed Joe Piscopo's impersonation of him and called him the Vice-Chairman Of The Board. Here's the tracklisting with Joe playing the role of Ralph Kramden to Murphy's Ed Norton of the classic Honeymooners TV show @320 kbs:

1 Honeymooners Rap (Captain Video Version)

2.Honeymooners Rap (King Of The Case)
3.Honeymooners Rap (Single Version)

P.S.- Anyone happen to have the New Jersey LP?
Download

Peng.

Rom Spaceknight Annual #2 & #47-48 Not the Knights Who Say Ni. This is more of Galador's finest. Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema are once again your creative team. <------- badass cover to your left for #47. Neee-Wom. Neutralizer. You can just feel me struggling for a laugh from you here.

Download

Download Comical to read the files after extraction

Silly Love Songs

"Your Wildest Dreams (LP Version) & "I Know You're Out There Somewhere (Remix)" - Moody Blues
Rarely does a song get a sequel, but such is the case here with this 1988 Moody Blues song. Your Wildest Dreams was a #9 hit for the band in '86 and told of a man's remembrance of his first love and wondering if she ever thought of him. In the latter song he says,"Wait a minute! I still got the hots for this chick!", and vows to find her. Sappy. Hollywood. Blah. But I still like the songs. This is the full album version of I Know You're Out There Somewhere that ended up as many a 12" single and labeled as a remix. The song reached #30 on the Hot 100 here in the USA and #50 in the UK. Your Wildest Dreams was edited down for radio by about a minute or so from this LP version. Next update: more Rom.

I Know You're Out There Somewhere (Remix) 6:38
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Your Wildest Dreams 4:52

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Ba ba ba ba ba... ba ba ba ba ba... ba

"Too Late For Goodbyes (Extended Version)" - Julian Lennon
The first son of John Lennon's debut album Valotte debuted in October of '84 and spawned 2 hit singles: the title track and this song which peaked at #5 in the US, #6 in the UK and #13 in Australia. Reportedly his father once called Julian a mistake and elaborated further that he came out of a whiskey bottle on a Saturday night. All Julian was saying was give him a chance(the lousy puns are back). As such, Julian hung out more with ex-Beatle Paul McCartney more than he did his dear ol' Da'. Julian was left out of his father's will after his murder. On a lighter note it seems Julian today has a peace treaty with his step-mother Yoko Ono and his half-brother, Sean. Yoko looks good, doesn't she?:

I kid, I kid.
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Rolling with it.

"Holding On (Dance Mix)" - Steve Winwood
Back today (finally) with a remix of Winwood's #11 hit from 1989 from the LP, Roll With It. Holding On also reached #1 on the Adult Contemporary charts and #2 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks. This almost 10 minute mix was done by Tom Lord-Alge who also engineered and mixed the entire album. Lord-Alge has worked with everyone from Sarah McLachlan to Marilyn Manson. Now that's a resume! I'm feeling a bit under the weather today and have been for most of the week so the humor factor is low today. TT: 9:52. Enjoy!

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The Living what?

Rom Spaceknight #40-46
Back with more Rom comics. The creative team remains the same: Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema. Doctor Strange turns up in #41 and 42 along with the Living Tribunal. Look for the Soviet Super Soldiers in this batch also as the Wraiths heat up the frigid Soviet Union. Same drill as before, download comical (if you don't already have it) and use it to open the files after you have extracted them. Enjoy!

Comical download 

Download #40-43

Download #44-46

Got my eye on you.

"Keep Your Eye On Me (Extended Version)" - Herb Alpert
Herb joined forces with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis (the force behind Janet Jackson's 80's fame and ex-Time bandmates) for the album with the same title as today's featured song in 1987. Jam and Lewis arranged this track as well as sang and played keyboards. Two other Time alumni, Jellybean Johnson and Jerome "Bring me my hat" Benton contributed guitar and vocals also, in that order. The trumpet is all Herb. Alpert was also the "A" in A&M Records until he and the "M", Jerry Moss, sold the company to Polygram in 1989. This song didn't blaze up the charts but I prefer it over later Billboard smash, Diamonds, with Janet Jackson. Running time 5:53.

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The secrets that you keep.

"Talking In Your Sleep (Special Remix)" & "One In A Million (Dance Mix)"- The Romantics
Hailing from Detroit, Michigan, these guys formed on Valentine's Day 1977. Yes, genius that's how they got their heartfelt moniker. Stand up if you've never heard What I Like About You. Sit down, wise-ass. How much hairspray do you think they consumed in the 80's? At least they didn't do a fancy Pepsi commercial with big fireballs shooting all over the place. Talking In Your Sleep hit #3 on the Hot 100 in 1983 and spent two weeks at #1 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart. One In A Million was also a top-10 hit the same year. Both of these tracks come from their most successful album, In Heat, and were remixed by John "Jellybean" Benitez with a running time of 5:35 and 5:28.

Talking In Your Sleep

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One In A Million

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Oh Brotherhood, where art thou?

Rom: Spaceknight #31-39 & Annual #1
At long last - here is the update that was supposed to come your way almost 2 weeks ago. I had a wonderful long vacation to the Bahamas over the holiday. Thank you Carnival Cruises for a fantastic trip! (no, I'm not getting paid to say that) More Rom brought to you by Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema again with the exception of the annual, which was penciled by Micronauts alum Pat Broderick. FYI: #31& 32 brings Rom into conflict with The Brotherhood Of Evil Mutants (whose membership at the time included future X-Man Rogue). Also look out for return appearances by the Torpedo and villain Hybrid. The Sub-Mariner guest-stars in #34 & 35 as our Galadorian Spaceknight goes on an undersea adventure. Shang-Chi, Master Of Kung Fu appears in the final two issues in this pack.

Download #31-34
Download #35, 36 and Annual #1
Download #37-39

Apologies.

I'm really sorry I didn't get to do an update yesterday. I was in the middle of packing for my vacation and time slipped away from me. The bad news is this will most likely be my last post until the 30th of this month (when I get back) , but I did want to let you all know in the short time I have right now on my laptop. Anyways, see you then and Happy early Thanksgiving!

Long was the fall that had no end.

"Little By Little (Remix Long Version)" - Robert Plant
Taken from Plant's third solo LP, Shaken 'n' Stirred. The album was released on May 20, 1985 and the song peaked at #36 on Billboard's Hot 100. Even though it wasn't a commercial success the album was applauded as a creative highlight of Plant's career. This was mainly due to the synth work by keyboardist Jezz Woodroffe that gave the album a New Wave kind of groove. Psst. What? Little By Little was featured on Miami Vice. Get right outta here?! Yeah it was, as a matter of fact. Glad you mentioned that. It was 2nd season episode Junk Love. This mix was done by Mark Saunders and Rob Dickins and lasts 5:10. Saunders also did remixes for Erasure, Depeche Mode, The Cure and Yazz. Back tomorrow with more Rom.

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Love...exciting and new.

"So In Love (Special American Dance Mix)" - Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
The first single from their album Crush in the early summer of 1985 was also the song that broke them onto the American charts. I know it certainly was the first tune I ever heard from this band. It peaked at #26.
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Rom: Spaceknight #24-30
Double update today. Galactus, Nova and the Skrulls show out in this batch. #25 is a double-sized issue, as you can see to the left, and the core creative team remains unchanged.
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Luke Cage, Wraith Killer.

Rom: Spaceknight #21-23 + Power Man & Iron Fist #73 

 Issue 21 starts a two-parter and features the return of Brock Jones aka The Torpedo, who finds out (minor spoiler) the Wraiths had a hand in the creation of his battlesuit.

The Heroes For Hire duo Cage and Fist also show up to help Rom in today's batch of comics too. There's cameos by a lot of other Marvel heroes as well during another two-part story that begins in Power Man & Iron Fist #73 and concludes in Rom #23. The Saga Of The Spaceknights secondary story concludes during all this too. Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema continue to do the story and art in Rom's title. The Power Man & Iron Fist book included here was written by Mary Jo Duffy and drawn by Greg LaRocque. Duffy was the former editor of the Rom comic (on the first 17 issues) and went on to also write Star Wars, Conan The Barbarian and Wolverine during her time at Marvel. LaRocque is probably most famous for his run with Mark Waid on DC Comics' Flash in the 90's.

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.

Schoolgirl fantasy.

The Police - Don't Stand So Close To Me '86 (Dance Mix)
The original version of this song was released in 1980. It broke the top 10 here in the USA and in the UK it was the best selling single of the year. It was re-recorded and changed quite a bit in 1986 for inclusion on The Police's greatest hits package titled Every Breath You Take: The Singles. Drummer Stewart Copeland had broken his collarbone and was unable to play on the song so it was decided to use a drum machine. Copeland wanted to use his own Fairlight CMI for this task, while Sting pushed for his own Synclavier synth to be used instead. Ultimately Copeland won but this little dispute was what, according to Copeland, "broke the camel's back" and lead to the group disbanding before this version was ever released. The track itself was written by Sting and tells the story of a teacher's student falling for him and his indecisive feelings about it. Sting denies the song is autobiographical despite the fact he was once a teacher. Hey, it's possible nothing like this ever happened to him. Not very likely, but possible. 5 bucks says he nailed her. C'mon.

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Rom-alicious.

Rom: Spaceknight #13-20

"Battlin'" Bill Mantlo and "Snazzy" Sal Buscema bring the spectacular Spaceknight to you again! Pretty good Stan Lee huh? No? Those of you who are alert (and by that I mean not stoned) will recognize Marvel's merry mutants (Must...stop...Stan-Leeing) with Rom on the cover to #17. Yep, the X-Men turn up for a couple issues in this next batch of Romics. There's also Fantastic Four baddie The Mad Thinker, the Space Phantom and the debut of recurring villain Hybrid. But wait there's more: the backup story "Saga Of The Spaceknights" revealing some of Rom's life before he came to Earth begins here. A couple of his fellow 'knights show up on Earth in #20, but are they friend or foe True Believers?!? Okay. I'm done. Enjoy.

Download Comical (You'll need it to open the .cbr files)

Download Rom #13-20 (2shared)

Turn on the light and see the floor show.

 

"Roaches" - Bobby Jimmy & The Critters                                            

Russ Parr (aka Bobby Jimmy) and his Critters released 3 albums in the 80's on Rapsur Records. He owned and operated the label himself. It's good to be the boss, eh? This song is from their second LP, Roaches: The Beginning. A parody of the hit song Rumors by the Timex Social Club, this one is probably their most famous and got quite a bit of airplay especially on the Dr. Demento Show. It was released in 1986 and this is the 12" version which I believe is the same as the LP version and runs about a minute or so longer than the radio cut. I thought and still think it's pretty damn funny.

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Random Ol' Memory?

Rom: Spaceknight #6 - 12                            Here's the next batch of issues from Marvel's Rom series. Bill Mantlo wrote the entire series and the artist on these six issues is Sal Buscema. Buscema first began working in comics in 1968 as inker to his older brother John's pencils on The Avengers and Silver Surfer. Before long Sal was doing his own pencil and ink work on Captain America, The Incredible Hulk and the Defenders. Bill Mantlo started out as a colorist at Marvel Comics before he became their go to guy for "fill-in" issues. A "fill-in" was a story that was published in the event that a series' regularly planned issue was interrupted by a missed deadline. By the time the 70's were over Mantlo had written stories for nearly every Marvel series. Not long after Rom ended he stopped writing comics full-time. He enrolled in law school  and became a Legal Aid Society public defender in New York City by the late 80's. Sadly, in 1992 while rollerblading, he was the victim of an automobile hit-and-run. The driver has never been identified. He will probably never recover and has been institutionalized ever since.

Issue #12 features Jack Of Hearts, a really interesting Marvel character that started out as a villain but under Iron Man Tony Stark's tutelage became one of the good guys. Check out that awesome cover to #8 by Michael Golden above.                                               

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Don't you look seedy.

"Let's Work (Dance Mix)" - Mick Jagger                  1987 brought the second solo album from the Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger titled Primitive Cool. The controversy surrounding the LP was anything but cool.  Jagger and Stones' lead guitarist/songwriter Keith Richards were in the middle of a very public verbal war. It all started after Jagger refused to tour behind the Rolling Stones' 1986 LP, Dirty Work, in favor of  working on this solo record. Richards was evidently pissed to the highest level of pisstivity and told anyone and everyone who would listen in the media. In response Mick wrote 2 songs on Cool dedicated to Richards: Kow Tow (with lyrics like I don't want you, I don't need you, I won't bow down, I won't kow tow), and Shoot Off Your Mouth (But now I'm back in town and feeling mighty fit,  I'm sick and tired of eating all your chicken shit). Neither song painting Richards in a good light obviously. Dave Stewart produced and Jeff Beck played lead guitar on the LP but it still was universally considered a flop. So much so that Jagger didn't even bother to tour in the USA or the UK for it, opting instead for Japan and Australia only. We all know how the whole Richards and Jagger love/hate thing goes.

This remix was done by Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero, who have done many, many such mixes for the likes of Tears For Fears, Madonna and Pat Benatar. Running time of 7:20. Back in the next few days with more Rom comics. No sittin' down on ya butt!

"Let's Work (Dance Mix)" Download - Sharebee

"Let's Work (Dance Mix)" Download - Rapidshare Direct Link 

"Kow Tow" Download 

"Shoot Off Your Mouth" Download                                     

Rom has come....evil is on the run!

Rom:Spaceknight #1-5                                 
 Today marks the day that The Eighties Refugee Camp expands to include more than just club remixes. "Oh, no!", you say. Wait, wait. They'll still be here too I promise. I just feel like there's a whole lot of other things that I could share here. Things from my 80's childhood like good ol' Rom here. I got my Rom toy the Christmas of 1979. Friggin' loved it. The red eyes, the accessories that glowed menacingly, the noises it made. Rom kicked many, many asses in battles with my other toys. Parker Brothers had only been known at the time for it's popular board games like Risk, Clue and Monopoly. Time Magazine featured Rom as part of it's cover the week of December 10, 1979. The interior article called the toy a flop for it's lack of articulation  Heh. They never saw the way Rom's Neutralizer would make G.I. Joe scream like that chick from Paranormal Activity.

The toy failed. Parker Brothers gave up on the whole action figure thing, but the comic book based on this big-no-moving-robot toy lived on for 7 years. Not too shabby, eh? I now bow to the man Bill Mantlo. Mantlo had also brought the Micronauts to life in their own Marvel series and he gave Rom more life than a D.O.A. toy like this deserved. He turned Rom into an epic story about alienation and the value of one's humanity. Rom was from the planet Galador and had been transformed into a cyborg along with many others to defend his homeworld from the evil and terrifying Dire Wraiths. They were promised their human bodies would be kept safe and returned to them when the Wraiths were vanquished. Since he was the first to volunteer for this program Rom was given the Neutralizer, which would banish the Wraiths to Limbo forever (where they kept the Joes and my sister's ocassional Barbie or two company). The Wraiths were evil, evil bastards who could kill and then assume the form of anyone they killed. Rom and his fellow Spaceknights chased the Wraiths back to their homeworld. A battle ensued, the Wraiths lost and in a desperate panic fled their world to hide amongst the other worlds of the galaxy. Rom follows them to Earth. This is where Rom #1 begins. In it's early days, the book seemed to keep to it's own little corner in the Marvel U. As the series progressed, it became a much bigger part as the Wraiths reign of terror slowly grew to a boiling point. Rick Jones, a character from The Incredible Hulk, became Rom's sidekick. I remember a crossover or two with the likes of The Uncanny X-Men and Power Man and Iron Fist.
I don't want to give away too many spoilers so just download and enjoy this classic comic. You'll need the Comical reader below if you don't already have it to read the books. Install Comical on your PC. Then extract the comic pack .rar, also below, and open the individual books with the Comical program and you're golden.
Comical download (Sharebee)
Comical Homepage (if you'd like to learn more about it)

Rom:Spaceknight #1-5 Download  

Rom #1-5 direct Rapidshare link

To pee with.

"Spies Like Us (Party Mix)" - Paul McCartney                                                                                        In late 1985 the movie Spies Like Us, starring Chevy Chase and Dan Ackroyd, was expected to be a huge hit. I mean how could it go wrong with those two guys in it, right? It grossed a paltry 22 million but lives on in 80's nostalgia. "What's a dickfer?".  The title song by Paul McCartney reached #7 and was also the last top ten hit for the former Beatle here in the USA. It's video was directed by the same guy who helmed the movie, John Landis (he of An American Werewolf In London, the Michael Jackson's Thriller video, Animal House, and Trading Places fame). This mix runs 7:07 and features dialog from the flick.

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How sweet and fitting it is

"In Dulce Decorum (Extended Mix)" - The Damned  
  
A poem written by Wilfred Owen in 1917 about World War 1 filled with gruesome imagery and condemnation of war, Dulce et Decorum Est, was the inspiration for this 1987 song. The final lines in Owen's poem were taken from another poem, Odes by Roman poet Horace, and included these words - Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori. Translated: How sweet and fitting it is to die for one's country.

I Damn Thee (insert obscure movie quote from The Jerk for stupid pun here) : The Damned were formed in 1976. In 1984 they performed on a little British show called The Young Ones (yay!). This song is from their '87 album Anything and was used in the Miami Vice (yippie!) third season episode, Walk Alone as well as featured on the Miami Vice II Soundtrack in it's shorter remixed and instrumental form. I never understood why it was played on the show with the vocals but not on the soundtrack. At any rate, this mix clocks in at 5:59.

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Shine the light on me.

 

"Sweet Freedom (Freedom Mix - Extended Club Version)" - Michael McDonald

Taken from the 1986 flick Running Scared starring Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal and Jimmy Smits (who got hacked up on Showtime's Dexter last year). McDonald was famously associated with the likes of Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers before striking out on his own in 1982 (Remember I Keep Forgettin'? Ha! You see what I did there?) Michael has since smoked reunited with the Doobies many times and also as recently as 2006 with Steely Dan. This mix runs 10:05.

Remember (aka Download)

You never know when it's gonna strike.

"Jeopardy (Dance Mix)" - Greg Kihn Band

The number 2 Billboard Hot 100 hit from early 1983 by the Greg Kihn Band in it's extended form is today's subject. It's from the band's 5th LP, Kihnspiracy. The video for this song's single version had the makings of a C-grade horror flick. Zombies (always a plus in my book), big tentacled monsters and burning skeletons. This mix runs 6:46 and you can watch that video down below.






Download mix here

I don't remember.

"Sussudio (Extended Version)" - Phil Collins

2 songs from a fantastic 80's album:
Born from an improvised lyric he thought up while diddling with his drum machine, "Sussudio" exploded on the charts the winter of 1985. '85 was a huge year for Collins due mostly to the success of the album this track is from, No Jacket Required. He also turned in a killer performance as a conman on the Miami Vice episode, "Phil The Shill" mostly opposite wannabe never-got-it-quite-right shiller, Izzie, played by Martin Ferrero. Collins also recorded  the number one song, "Separate Lives", with Marilyn Martin for the soundtrack to the movie "White Nights" starring Gregory Hines and Mikhail Baryshnikov.

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 "Take Me Home (Extended Mix)" - Phil Collins

 This song is about a man in a mental institution so Collins says and was inspired by the movie "One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest". Artists contributing background vocals on this track: Sting and Peter Gabriel. Sting also sang on the track "Long Way To Go" for the No Jacket Required disc and it along with this song were both featured on Miami Vice. I do remember this song being edited for radio to shorten it from its original LP version and this was the third version that was available to consumers in early 1986. Now go diddle a drum machine.

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Cream Of Nowhere

Back from the world wide web graveyard at last! I have returned! Is anyone still here? So I couldn't resist the urge to come back here and post a few frightening cuts from some scary 80's artists (Robert Smith, I'm looking at you).





First up: The Cure - A Forest (Tree Mix)
The Cure's first and only single from 1980's Seventeen Seconds. Also the creepiest of all of their catalog as as far as I'm concerned. I'm also cheating a little bit because this mix was released by The Cure on 1990's Mixed Up (an album of galdanged ol' remixes) as opposed to being a 'fugee from the Eighties. Did I just type galdanged? This mix paints a dark, dreary landscape for me each time I listen to it probably due to the mood of being swept up in David Lynch's Twin Peaks on ABC at the time. Wow Bob Wow.
Download here





The Cramps - Surfin' Dead
Ah, my favorite brain soup. Recorded for the soundtrack to The Return Of The Living Dead in 1985 by the horror-punk band The Cramps. Not much to say except love the movie, the song and the band. Send more paramedics!
"Now life is short and it's filled with stuff
So let me know baby when you've had enough
Oh do the dead, turn blue
Yeah the surfin' dead, as dead as you
There's nothing on the radio when you're dead
There's nothing at the movie show when you're dead
There's nowhere left for you to go when you're dead
Do the dead, yeah do the dead"
Download here

Thanks to everyone who continued to visit this blog long after it looked like it was dead. I'm still here and hopefully we can get back on track. Have a fantastic (and by fantastic I mean dark and gloomy) Halloween!