Motown artists on "Thank God It's Friday" soundtra

[Marcio**]

"Thank God It's Friday" soundtrack was released by Motown/Casablanca labels in 1978. I'm not sure, but the Motown artists on "Thank God It's Friday" soundrack are...

Cameo---Find My Way
Commodores---To Hot Ta Trot
Diana Ross---Love, Livin' and Givin'


Curiously I found on WEB the cover of Diana's "Love, Livin' and Givin'" recorded on Motown label --->









THANK YOU STARS-ON-7-INCH.COM
:P

[Videoskooter]

That's what I call a RECORD-SLEEVE :o

Thank God it's Sunday :P

[Salsoul1975]

Thelma Houston, Syreeta Wright, and the Fifth Dimension were other Motown artists on the TGIF soundtrack. Thelma recorded "I'm Here Again" and "Love Masterpiece", Syreeta recorded a duet with a male vocalist on "Let's Make A Deal", and The Fifth Dimension recorded "You're The Reason I Feel Like Dancing" for the movie, but neither artist nor cut made it to the soundtrack, with the exception of Thelma's "Love Masterpiece".

[Bernie]

Cameo was not on Motown, but on Choclate City, a subsidiary of Casablanca.

[Jimmy-Michaels]

Thelma Houston, Syreeta Wright, and the Fifth Dimension were other Motown artists on the TGIF soundtrack. Thelma recorded "I'm Here Again" and "Love Masterpiece", Syreeta recorded a duet with a male vocalist on "Let's Make A Deal", and The Fifth Dimension recorded "You're The Reason I Feel Like Dancing" for the movie, but neither artist nor cut made it to the soundtrack, with the exception of Thelma's "Love Masterpiece".

Syreeta and Fifth Dimension were featured in the film but didnt make the LP. I've actualy concidered making up a vol 2 soundtrack of all the songs not on the soundtrack..I have em all except the one DC Larue UK only B side "You Can Always Tell A Lady"..they coulda killed that uncalled for 17 min version of "Jetame" and put the rest of the stuff on that 3rd LP which I thought was wasted space. Even if it was edits of everything (as most of the stuff on the soundtrack is), it woulda still made it a full sndtrk LP.

[buckaroo]

What about Ritchie Family? Are they on the ST? In the movie, they looked incredibly sexy!!!!!

[Jimmy-Michaels]

Your thinkin of a totaly diff movie..."Cant Stop The Music" with the Village People from 1980.

[Videoskooter]

Hey keep posting those pics. I feel discogood :D

[Mixmachine]

never mind, wrong post

[dbmc]

Can someone post a list of the tracks that didnt make the soundtrack?
I'd like to make a CD of those as well.

Been recently playing the soundtrack and theres some top toons on it. Diana Ross' is wikkid.
Recently put the Santa Esmerelda track after Gary's Gang " Do it at the Disco" on a disco mix I did.

[Salsoul1975]

From my memory. here are a number of songs heard in the film TGIF that didn't make the soundtrack album:

1. "I'm Here Again"-Thelma Houston
2. "Down To Love Town"-The Originals
3. "Let's Make A Deal"-Syreeta and a male vocalist (name anyone?)
4. "Meco's Theme"-Meco
5. "Easy"-Commodores
6. "You're The Reason I Feel Like Dancing"-Fifth Dimension
7. "Dance All Night"-artist anyone?
8. "You Can Always Tell A Lady By The Company She Keeps"-D.C. LaRue
9. "Love To Love You Baby"-Donna Summer
10. "Romeo And Juliet"-Alec Constandinos
11. "Hollywood"-Village People
12. "I Am What I Am"-Village People

[Jimmy-Michaels]

Ok lemme see if I can remember em all:

Giorgio - From Here To Eternity
Alec R Costandinos - Romeo And Juliet
GC Cameron & Syreeta - Lets Make A Deal
The Originals - Down To Love Town
Village People - Hollywood
Meco - Meco's Theme
Donna Summer - Love To Love You Baby
DC LaRue - You Can Always Tell A Lady (still lookin for this grrr)

Comodores - Brick House
Thelma Houston - Im Here Again
Village People - I Am What I Am

..and I know theres a few more im missing in this listing but havent seen the movie in full in a while..caught it on cable a few weeks back but it was half way through when i flipped it on.
Also to mention..the version of the Diana Ross track in the film is the original mix which was issued on the very first pressings of the soundtrack then relplaced with the euro remix on the common later pressings.

[Jimmy-Michaels]

Ahh someone posting same time I am I see...he got a few I forgot..and I just remembered one more:

Cameo - It's Serious

[buckaroo]

Your thinkin of a totaly diff movie..."Cant Stop The Music" with the Village People from 1980.

:roll:
Ooops...

[buckaroo]

Hey keep posting those pics. I feel discogood :D

:P



LP covers in the 1970s were super-raunchy weren't they?
Just look at some of the Fatback Band's.

I mean, could modern groups get away with it these days?

[DiscoMan]

No.

People are just too uptight and narrowminded these days.

[ol'skinflint]

From my memory. here are a number of songs heard in the film TGIF that didn't make the soundtrack album:

1. "I'm Here Again"-Thelma Houston
2. "Down To Love Town"-The Originals
3. "Let's Make A Deal"-Syreeta and a male vocalist (name anyone?)
4. "Meco's Theme"-Meco
5. "Easy"-Commodores
6. "You're The Reason I Feel Like Dancing"-Fifth Dimension
7. "Dance All Night"-artist anyone?
8. "You Can Always Tell A Lady By The Company She Keeps"-D.C. LaRue
9. "Love To Love You Baby"-Donna Summer
10. "Romeo And Juliet"-Alec Constandinos
11. "Hollywood"-Village People
12. "I Am What I Am"-Village People

Cuba Gooding is listed as the artist of "Dance All Night". I just watched the film and hit "pause" when the songs and artists were listed at the end. It's often difficult to do that these days because many networks take the credits, shrink them and shove them into a corner to make room for coming attractions. I hope this annoying practice ends soon, I like to read the production credits.

[Disco Funk]

Cuba Gooding is listed as the artist of "Dance All Night".

I started a thread a few days ago asking if this song was ever released, because I couldn't find any trace of it on the internet other than the mention of it being in the film. Perhaps it was only ever played in the film?

Disco Funk

[PierreConstantin]

About «Lovin', livin' and givin'» (Diana Ross) :

The version of «Lovin', livin' and givin'» we hear in the movie is almost an instrumental; Ross sings only at the very beginning. After that we have just an instrumental used as a background for conversations.

I never understood why they are so many versions of this song, actually not very good. Maybe because Motown wasn't convinced?
1. On the lp «Ross» from 1978 and later as a B-side on the 12" «The boss» (5:10 with its own disco break).
2- On the MCA re-issue, « I'm coming out» and on the cd «Anthology» from 1986 (the 5:10 version edited : 3:30 with a progressive synth. intro but without disco break).
3- On the European 7" (4:40 with a 50 sec. disco break different from the album version break). This version is the one available on the cd «Thank God it's Friday» (on both the single cd edition and the 2-cd set).
4- On the 1983 «Anthology» (4:00, same as #3 without the progressive synth. intro).
5- On the original «Thank God it's Friday» lp (3:15, with a different arrangement, less synth.).
6- On the cd «The Motown anthology» (same as #5 but longer, 4:40). This one is called «film mix», which is not. The version heard on the film would be the #7!

[Cory Ander]

Cameo was not on Motown, but on Choclate City, a subsidiary of Casablanca.

Bernie: would you agree that "Find My Way" is probably the most UN-funky track Cameo has ever done? I like it but it's so far from their usual style, I'd LOVE to know why they did it.

[Cory Ander]

while we're on the subject of the "TGIF" soundtrack, every time I play the Commodores track "Too Hot to Trot" and I notice the lyric that goes "Oh, I'd love to love you baby!" I always wonder if it's a reference to the Donna Summer song or not.....what do you think? Also, everytime I listen to the soundtrack, I can't for the life of me figure out why they left the b-side of the "J-Taime" single blank instead of just including more songs from the movie......

[PierreConstantin]

Also, everytime I listen to the soundtrack, I can't for the life of me figure out why they left the b-side of the "J-Taime" single blank instead of just including more songs from the movie......

The reason may be simple : they haven't enough good music :icon_biggrin: ? «You can always tell a lady» by DC LaRue for example is not that good ; I have the 12" with its 8:40 oh too long version. Very sub-standard with background vocalist singing like frenzied chipmunks trapped in a box and trying desperately to escape. The first time I heard the song I thought the speed was wrong! Even what we have on the actual soundtrack is not excellent. «Lovin', livin' and givin'» is not a very good Diana Ross song. «Je t'aime (moi non plus)» ? More than 15 minutes, what for ? No real spark. And many songs are just fillers in my opinion. Even if I really enjoy the film, I'm not a big fan of the record.

By the way who is the male vocalist in «Je t'aime (moi non plus)» ?

[STEPHEN L FREEMAN]

I can't for the life of me figure out why they left the b-side of the "J-Taime" single blank instead of just including more songs from the movie......

Here's the deal on "Je Taime". It was recorded in the summer of '77 and released as a VERY limited promo (NBD20105), immediately after the 12" remix of "I Feel Love / Theme From The Deep" (NBD20104)

If you go back to the earlier Giorgio interviews he states that the concept of "Love To Love You" was to re-create a song like Serge Gainsbourg's late 60's hit, "Je Taime". Then (in what I consider to be Thor Baldursson's most beautiful, signature 'Munich Machine' composition), Giorgio, Pete, Donna and Thor went ahead and re-arranged and re-recorded "Je Taime". The "Moi Non Plus" part of the title, referring to Thor's additional music production. (Similar to the much maligned "Love To Love You, Baby", anyone who dogs "Je Taime/Moi Non Plus" has obviously never sat down and seriously listened to the stunningly intricate arrangement. Once you allow yourself to get past the kitshy gimmik vocals of both tracks, you hear melodies play-out, that transcend their genre.)

Anyway... Instead of sending this out to Record Pools, they had limited copies go out with promoters, who went from club to club, testing it's dancefloor reaction. What was hoped to be a summer sizzler, completely fizzled. Especially, since Serge Gainsborg went and produced his own remake with Saint Tropez, that stuck, solely to the original music and was about 124bpm. No big suprise as to which version took-off. So, Casablanca shelved the track. It was obvious that Donna couldn't go backwards in style. "I Feel Love" had set the bar higher. Even if it was in tended to be a filler-track that they had so little faith in, that Casablanca released the full version as the b-side of "Can't We Just Sit Down And Talk It Over." Didn't even bother to edit it down for the 7" single. (Can you imagine how it would have affected production of the "Once Upon A Time" L.P., released in the fall of '77, if "Je Taime" were a hit???)

Now, if you were lucky (like me ) and begged the hell outta the Promotions guy to let you have a copy, (when he came to the Candlelight in NY, while I was playing, I slipped a message to the waiter to tell everyone we knew to GET ON THE FLOOR!!!!) you were one of the chosen few who actually owned the elusive "unreleased Donna".

Anyway... Casablanca's Reps in NYC, and the LA offices, kept getting hounded with calls and requests from the rabid Donna fans to release "Je Taime". So, adding it, as a "Bonus 12" single" was a way to kill 2 birds with one stone. Utilizing unused, finished product to put a sales gimmik into the TGIF Soundtrack. The song finally saw the light of day, as a promotional tool. Kinda like releasing 3 "Live" sides and 1 of new material on "Live & More". Remember, Casablanca was the first to do that concept, too. And managed to go double-platinum on an album with, essentially, only 1 new track.

Also, that's why the sound quality and mix on "Je Taime" is so much better than the rest of the LPs. It was mixed long before and the masterplate re-cut to carry the TGIF catalogue numbers.

The other Casablanca tracks were recorded as the scenes were being shot. So that Casablanca wouldn't have any "old" songs on their soundtrack, like "Saturday Night Fever" did. (Bogart wasn't concerned with Motown submitting old material. Hence, the outdated version of Miss Ross' "Livin', Lovin' Givin", in the movie, which showed-up, only on the promos and the first run commercial press. ) Casablanca's artists, like DC LaRue, Paul Jabara, Santa Esmerelda, etc... were given copies of the scenes, with either click tracks, or other songs playing. Then they wrote their tracks to match the tempo of the dummy tracks filmed, and dropped the music in afterwards. Think about it... Why else would Paul Jabara write a song called "Trapped In A Stairway"? Hmmmmm??? DC La Rue said that his "Do You Want The Real Thing" was written to drop over "Love To Love You, Baby", which was used during the filming of the scene. And "You Can Always Tell A Lady From The Company She Keeps" was written over a click track.

Oh yeah... And "After Dark" is the highest quality mix on the LP because it was the first track recorded, as the title track, when the script was optioned, in Spring of 1977. Before "Saturday Night Fever" even went into production! Yuppers... "Thank God It's Friday" was originally titled "After Dark". (I have a certified, numbered copy of the Final Draft script dated 6/23/77.) And the name change didn't happen until after shooting began. Which is why of all the Love & Kisses recordings, the TGIF ones are mixed so horribly. MAJOR rush-job by Alec to get them done.

As for the original script? By the time Robert Klane got done bastardizing Barry Armyan's original screenplay, there was little left of the dark-dramedy, that was originally "a study in urban loneliness". I'm trying to get Armyan to let me have a copy of the original screenplay. Wish me luck...

[STEPHEN L FREEMAN]

By the way who is the male vocalist in «Je t'aime (moi non plus)» ?

Giorgio Moroder

[STEPHEN L FREEMAN]

Bernie: would you agree that "Find My Way" is probably the most UN-funky track Cameo has ever done? I like it but it's so far from their usual style, I'd LOVE to know why they did it.

"Find My Way" was originally recorded in 1975 (CCD-005) as a b-side to "Rigor Mortis". A much funkier, more Cameo-esque recording. But it got some club attention due to a fairly good Sunshine Sound acetate bootleg edit. It was remixed for TGIF. Specifically for use in the scene where Flloyd get's lost driving down from SFO, to LA.