One of the purchases I made from Antone's Record Store was the double album soundtrack to the movie Roadie.
I love looking at the soundtrack section in a record store because it's inevitably amusing and bewildering. Most movie soundtracks that were released on vinyl were for movies I've never seen, but that's not because they weren't star-studded and/or bizarrely awesome. It's fascinating to get a glimpse of what films have stood the test of time (Grease, Saturday Night Fever) and what films faded into obscurity. I'm going to file Roadie under: faded into obscurity* (please correct me if I'm wrong and this film is well-known). This is the first time I've heard of this 1980 film starring Meatloaf and featuring cameos from Blondie, Alice Cooper, Hank Williams, Jr. and Roy Orbison.
Here's the trailer:
Of course, I didn't need to know anything about the movie to want to own the soundtrack. It's a staggering roster of cool artists with a few complete unknowns thrown in to keep us guessing. Check out the track list:
Side 1
- Cheap Trick "Everything Works If You Let It"
- Pat Benatar "You Better Run"
- Joe Ely Band "Brainlock"
- Alice Cooper "Road Rats"
Side 2
- Teddy Pendergrass "Can't We Try" (I've always felt a strange kinship to Teddy Pendergrass, as his name is similar to mine in sounds & syllables)
- Eddie Rabbitt "Drivin' My Life Away" (this song's second mention on AITNR)
- Stephen Bishop and Yvonne Elliman "Your Precious Love"
- Jay Ferguson "A Man Needs A Woman"
Side 3
- Styx "Crystal Ball"
- Sue Saad and the Next "Double Yellow Line"
- Blondie "Ring of Fire" (I've never heard this cover!)
- Alice Cooper "Pain"
Side 4
- Roy Orbison and Emmylou Harris "That Lovin' You Feelin' Again" (so much for my Emmylou moratorium)
- Jerry Lee Lewis "(Hot Damn) I'm A One Woman Man"
- Hank Williams, Jr. "The American Way"
- Asleep At The Wheel "Texas, Me and You"
The Texas connection is a special bonus for me. The synopsis:
A young Texas good ol' boy has a knack with electronic equipment, and that talent gets him a job as a roadie with a raucous traveling rock-and-roll show.
Songs from Joe Ely and Asleep At The Wheel are also a tipoff that it's Texas-centric, but the Shiner on the front cover is the biggest giveaway.
The art inside is pretty great too.
All in all, I consider this a pretty good score.
- Buy Roadie
(released on DVD in 2003) from Amazon.
*Not to be confused with Roadhouse, which is still going strong.