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Here are the latest entries in the "albums that influenced me" series I started writing in May 2020.
Note: Just because an album appears on this list doesn't mean I give it a blanket endorsement. Many of the secular albums on this list are mainly there because they wound up being spoofed by ApologetiX.
1444. Pretty Woman: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack - Various Artists
The soundtrack LP for Pretty Woman came out on March 13, 1990, just 10 days before the movie itself. It reached #4 on the Billboard 200 with U.S. sales of three million and worldwide sales of seven million. Three tracks released as singles hit the Hot 100: "It Must Have Been Love" by Roxette (#1 pop, #2 adult contemporary), "King of Wishful Thinking" by Go West (#8 pop, #7 AC), and "Wild Women Do" by Natalie Cole (#34 pop, #16 U.K.). Other cuts made other charts: "Life in Detail" by Robert Palmer (#7 mainstream rock, #14 alternative), "Show Me Your Soul" by Red Hot Chili Peppers (#10 alternative), and "Fame '90" by David Bowie (#28 U.K.). And don't forget the song that inspired the move, "Oh, Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbison, which hit #1 in 1964 and appears on this album. If you're a Peter Cetera completist, you'll also find "No Explanation," which was released as promo single in Australia only ... for reasons I can't explain. Fans of The Cars may also be interested in "Real Wild Child (Wild One)" by Christopher Otcasek, the son of Ric Ocasek. The Pretty Woman movie became Disney's highest-grossing film ever at the time. When I checked the statistics in 2024, it had slipped down a few notches ... to #76! I'm not here to promote the "virtues" of the movie — just to provide some background information for the soundtrack — but I will say this: I saw it on video many years ago, because somebody told me it wasn't what I'd previously thought, and if you're looking for positives, Julia Roberts' character did stop being a prostitute, and the Bible has a bit to say about God's redemptive love and forgiveness for prostitutes, notably in the Gospels and the Book of Hosea.
1445. Greatest Hits - Fleetwood Mac
The British rock group Fleetwood Mac first bubbled under the Billboard Hot 100 in 1969 with "Albatross" (#104), which was a #1 U.K. hit for three weeks. Their next U.S. hit, "Oh Well - Pt. 1" did much better (#55), but the Mac didn't get big on this side of the pond until they added Americans Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks in 1975. Greatest Hits (released on November 21, 1988) covers the action from '75-88, with 14 Top 20 hits: "Dreams" (#1), "Don't Stop" (#3), "Hold Me" (#4), "Little Lies" (#4), "Big Love" (#5 pop, #2 mainstream rock), "Sara" (#7), "Tusk" (#8), "You Make Loving Fun" (#9), "Go Your Own Way" (#10), "Rhiannon" (#11), "Say You Love Me" (#11), "Gypsy" (#12), "Everywhere" (#14), and "Over My Head" (#20). That's pretty impressive, but the completist in me asks why they didn't go the extra mile and include the group's other two Top 20 hits,"Seven Wonders" (#19 pop, #2 mainstream) — I song I loved so much that I bought the single when it came out in '87 — and "Think About Me" (#20), plus their only additional Top 40 hit during that era, "Love in Store" (#22). I guess the record company had to make room for the two prerequisite new songs, "As Long as You Follow" (#43 pop, #15 mainstream rock, #1 adult contemporary) and "No Questions Asked" (#37 mainstream rock). To be fair, those two tunes are both quite good. Greatest Hits only went to #14 on the Billboard 200, but it still sold eight million copies in the United States and almost a million in the United Kingdom. According to multiple sources, it was the last LP to be commercially released on 8-track tape. Since this album has 16 tracks, wouldn't that be like two 8-tracks? A later, more-comprehensive, Fleetwood Mac "best of" would include the three missing hits I complained about and so much more without sacrificing the two bonus tracks from Greatest Hits. I'd have to wait till the next millennium for that. You, however, will only have to wait until my next entry.
1446. The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac
Released on October 12, 2002, The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac contained 36 tracks, which is 20 more than the 1988 Greatest Hits LP. It charted slightly higher — #12 on the Billboard 200 — but sold "only" two million in the United States (compared to eight million for Greatest Hits), although it sold two million in the United Kingdom (compared to 900,000 for Greatest Hits). Perhaps the U.S. market was oversaturated; I don't know. Regardless, The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac contained all 17 of the group's Top 25 hits, although the version of "Big Love" is the fancy live version from when the group reunited in 1997 for an acclaimed MTV concert special and a #1 LP called The Dance. Sadly, it doesn't include the group's final Top 40 hit, "Save Me" (#30 pop, #3 mainstream), or "Love Is Dangerous" (#7 mainstream), both from 1990. I figured that was because those songs featured Billy Burnette and Rick Vito and came out during the period when Lindsey Buckingham was not in the band. However, The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac does contain "Skies the Limit" (#40 mainstream) and "Paper Doll" (#108 pop, #26 mainstream), lesser hits from the Burnette-Vito line-up. More importantly, it has these Mac essentials: "Monday Morning," "Landslide," "World Turning," "Second Hand News," "Never Going Back Again," Songbird," "The Chain," "Gold Dust Woman," "What Makes You Think You're the One," "Storms," and "Sisters of the Moon" (#86 pop) "Family Man" (#90 pop), plus live versions of "I'm So Afraid" and Buckingham's solo hit "Go Insane" (#23 pop, #4 mainstream). The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac also features a remix of the studio version of "Silver Springs," which originally appeared only on the flip side of the "Go Your Own Way" single in '77. A live version just missed the Top 40 (#41 airplay) in '97. Technically, Fleetwood Mac did have one last Top 40 hit I didn't mention before: Although "Dreams" first topped the Hot 100 in 1977, it re-entered the chart in 2020 and hit #12 after being featured in a viral video by Nathan "DoggFace" Apodaca. ApologetiX spoofed "Rhiannon" in 2015, "Landslide" in 2018, and "Don't Stop" in 2022.
1447. Eagles Greatest Hits Volume 2 - Eagles
Eagles Greatest Hits Volume 2 only went to #52 on the Billboard 200 but has sold 11 million copies in the United States alone. That's extremely impressive ... for just about any other band. You see, its older brother, Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975), topped the Billboard 200 for five weeks and has estimated worldwide sales of 42 million, including 38 million in the United States ... the most all-time in America, four million more than Michael Jackson's Thriller. Ironically, Eagles Greatest Hits Volume 2 was released the same month as Thriller, November 1982. I remember seeing it in stores, but I waited a decade before buying my copy, a used cassette version at Jerry's Records in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh. I bought it specifically to get the group's last hit single, "Seven Bridges Road" (#21), which had previously only been available on the 1980 double LP Eagles Live. I wanted to write a parody of that particular tune, which I did in 1992, but we never recorded it, and I'm not certain we ever performed it, either. However, ApologetiX did record parodies of three additional songs on Greatest Hits Volume 2: "Heartache Tonight" (#1) in 1992, "Life in the Fast Lane" (#11) in 1994 and 2009, and "Hotel California" (#1) in 1998 and 2001. The other charting singles on this collection were "New Kid in Town" (#1), "The Long Run" (#8), "I Can't Tell You Why" (#8). But the three remaining tracks were excellent also: "The Sad Cafe," "Victim of Love," and "After the Thrill Is Gone." Incidentally, four of the selections on Greatest Hits Volume 2 came from the Hotel California LP, which is third on the list of all-time best-selling albums in the United States, right behind Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) and Thriller, with 26 million copies. I've read quite a few Eagles books, but my favorites were To the Limit: The Untold Story of The Eagles by Marc Eliot (2004), Heaven and Hell by Don Felder (2008), and the most comprehensive of them all, Eagles: Up Ahead in the Distance by Rik Forgo and Steve Cafarelli (2022).
1448. Wingspan: Hits and History - Paul McCartney
Wingspan ... what a perfect title for an album that spanned the entire career of Paul McCartney and Wings. Released May 7, 2001, it reached #2 on the Billboard 200 and sold a million copies in the United States. As the second part of the title suggests, this 40-song double-disc set was divided into Hits and History. Having already owned Wings Greatest and the All the Best!, I was more interested in the History half. However, McCartney's surplus of successful singles resulted in some great second-tier hits spilling over onto the second disc — "Helen Wheels" (#10), "Venus and Mars/Rock Show" (#12), and "Take It Away" (#10). No sense going over all the big hits again, but I was pleased that this collection included flip sides from three McCartney 45s I used to own: "Too Many People" (from "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey), "Let Me Roll It" (from of "Jet"), and "Daytime Nighttime Suffering" (from "Goodnight Tonight"). I had quite a few McCartney/Wings 45s as a teenager, and the flip sides were almost always great. Some of my other favorite flips that didn't make it onto Wingspan included "I Lie Around" (from "Live and Let Die"), "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five" (from "Band on the Run"), "Sally G" (from "Junior's Farm"), "Cook of the House" (from "Silly Love Longs"), "Beware My Love" (from "Let 'Em In"), "Girls' School" (from "Mull of Kintyre"), "Backwards Traveller/Cuff Link" (from "With a Little Luck"), "Deliver Your Children" (from "I've Had Enough"), "Spin It On" (from "Getting Closer"), and "Odd Socks/Lunch Box" (from "Coming Up").
1449. Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting 1984-1994 - Sting
Released on October 31, 1994, Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting 1984-1994 went to #7 on the Billboard 200, selling two million copies in the United States and four million in Europe. It included two new songs, "When We Dance" (#38 U.S. pop, #9 U.K., #10 Canada) and "This Cowboy Song" (#15 U.K., #34 Canada), along with 12 previously released tracks. Four of those were Top 10 pop hits in the States: "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free" (#3 pop, #1 mainstream rock, #5 Canada), "All This Time" (#5 pop, #1 mainstream for seven weeks, #1 alternative, #1 Canada), "We'll Be Together" (#7 pop, #20 mainstream, #9 Canada), and "Fortress Around Your Heart" (#8 pop, #1 mainstream). Three additional tracks reached the Top 10 on one or more of the other major U.S. charts: "Be Still My Beating Heart" (#15 pop, #2 mainstream), "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You" (#17 pop, #5 mainstream, #4 alternative, #8 AC, #1 Canada), and "Fields of Gold" (#23 pop, #24 mainstream, #2 AC for five weeks). Three others hit the Top 40 on the U.S. pop and/or mainstream charts: "Russians" (#16 pop, #34 mainstream). "Englishman in New York" (#84 pop, #32 mainstream, #15 U.K.), and "Why Should I Cry for You?" (#32 mainstream, #38 France). The remaining two tracks were mildly successful in Europe: "Fragile" (#70 U.K., #29 Italy, #12 Netherlands) and "They Dance Alone (Cueca Solo)" (#94 U.K., #24 Italy, #27 Netherlands). For some reason, Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting 1984-1994 did not include "Love Is the Seventh Wave" (#17 pop, #19 mainstream, #20 AC), even though that single made the Top 40 on three major U.S. charts. My favorite solo hit from the former Police chief, "Brand New Day" (#103 U.S. pop, #8 U.S. Adult Top 40, #13 U.K., #10 Italy), was also nowhere to be found, but it didn't come out until five years after this album, so that takes the sting out of it.
1450. Hoodwinked - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
The animated musical movie Hoodwinked! opened in theaters nationwide on January 13, 2006. ApX bassist Keith Haynie saw it on the big screen, but my family had a couple toddlers at the time, so we waited until it came out on home video four months later. If you like CGI stuff that's entertaining and appropriate for both kids and adults, I highly recommend it. My family and I enjoyed it so much that we watched it two days in a row, and my two oldest daughters revisited it so often they soon had memorized most of the words to the songs. Our keyboardist at the time, Bill Hubauer, said it was the first video his four kids had ever watched three straight times. Getting back to Keith, though: With the amount of attention we've given his knack for acquiring new names (people constantly get his name wrong), we took great delight when the movie's main villain said the following to his henchmen: "Dolph, tie up the brat! Leesa, hold the book! Vincent, get the truck! And Keith — darn it — change your name — please?!!! It's not scary, and I'm embarrassed to say it. 'Boris,' try that. 'Keith!' You know? 'Oh, watch out for KEITH!'" The Hoodwinked! soundtrack LP came out in December 2005 but disappeared a month or so later because of legal issues, although my wife still managed to acquire a copy. It eventually came out again in November 2009. The music played a prominent role in the movie, and many of the tunes were sung by the characters. There were a lot of excellent songs, so it's a shame the album was unavailable for so long. Among my favorites were "Great Big World" by Anne Hathaway, "Red Is Blue" by Ben Folds, "Be Prepared" by Benjy Gaither, "The Schnitzel Song" by Fleming K. McWilliams and Jim Belushi, "Top of the Woods" by Andy Dick, "Little Boat" by Daniel Rogers, and "Tree Critter" and "Critters Have Feelings" by Todd Edwards, who wrote the lyrics and music to all of the aforementioned songs with the exception of "Little Boat," which was written by Rogers.
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