The Heights "Music from the Television Show"People probably know the hit song from this series better than the series itself. "How Do You Talk To An Angel?" by Jamie Walters was on the soundtrack and it went to number one. TV Guide says the song "stayed on the charts longer than 'The Heights' stayed on the air," which isn't actually true (it was number one for two weeks in November 1992), but their point was valid.
The Heights debut on Fox in 1992 and it only lasted 12 episodes. As I've said before, I'm a series killer. If I like it, it probably won't last long. But I'm not sure why this one never made it. It was about a group of young people in a band and they helped each other through various trials.
The soundtrack has some killer tunes on it, in addition to Walters' hit. "The Man You Used to Be (A Song for Dad)" by Shawn Thompson is a keeper. So is "Children of the Night" by Walters.
You know how sometimes you can remember an event based on the song that was playing on the radio at the time? Well, I can remember waking up after surgery to fix my broken nose in the recovery room and hearing "How Do You Talk To An Angel?" on the radio in the room. I wouldn't remember a think about those moments if it hadn't been for that song.
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Notting Hill
This is my third favorite movie of all time. The soundtrack also introduced me to or acquainted me with some great songs -- songs like "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?" by Al Green, "She" by Elvis Costello, "When You Say Nothing At All" by Ronan Keating, and two versions of "Ain't No Sunshine," one by Bill Withers and the other by "Lighthouse Family."
The lyrics from "When You Say Nothing At All" move me in the same fashion that a line from a book called A Window Across The River
by Brian Morton. First the lyrics:It's amazing how you can speak right to my heart
Without saying a word you can light up the dark
Try as I may I could never explain
What I hear when you don’t say a thing
Now for the line from the book: “I recognized your silence. It’s different from anybody else’s.”
Silence speaks volumes and it's not always negative.
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Rock Star
This one is a guilty pleasure. The movie is about a rock singer who dares to chase his dream, and after achieving it against all odds, finds out it's not what he really wants.
The dream he chases puts him in front of the microphone for a group called Steel Dragon. Several real life musicians make up the fictitious group and several of their songs are on the soundtrack, including a song called "Stand Up," which sort of becomes the group's anthem.
One of my sisters, who lives in St Louis, went to see this movie at the theater with her husband when it came out in 2001. They both know about my long hair, rock n' roll days, and they knew this movie would probably resonate with me -- at least the me who used to live the lifestyle, in moderation of course.
So, when I would go visit them in St. Louis, my brother-in-law sometimes greets me by singing, "Stand up and shout! Stand up and let it out!" in his best impersonation of Mark Wahlberg, who played the singer in the movie, and it always cracks me up.
