Bring Out Your Dead

You know how I resolved a while ago to revisit some of my cabaret/nightclub favorites - those wonderful, witty, wistful tunes that mean so much when sung by Marcovicci, Akers, Mayes, et al?

Yeah, well, this is definitely not one of those. What it is is "(You Bring Out) The Lover in Me," the big Ladies' Room Raveup number from truly one of the least fondly remembered films of the '80s, Voyage of the Rock Aliens. It stars, of course, Pia Zadora, a singer I find fascinating because her voice sounds off-pitch even when, technically, its not. Remarkable. And she's just as talented a dancer, so she's got that going for her, too.

Joining her is someone I think is rather underrated, Alison La Placa (who may here actually have the worst hairdo of the decade, beating out even Stevie Nicks). She later found a kind of fame as Rachel's nympho boss on Friends, but never seems to really have landed in any substantial way. Pity. She's easily the best thing in this number, but that's mostly because she's in so little of it.

Those who were there will remember that VotRA was one of those pictures that was going to be coming out any day now for something like six years; when it finally did, in 1987, it looked even then practically Mesozoic, which didn't help its chances of resurrecting la Zadora's career even as it managed to diminish Ruth Gordon's, despite the fact that she'd been dead for two years.

The telling thing about this song? It's quality is such that apparently it wasn't included in the film's soundtrack album. Imagine how it must feel to have written a song that isn't good enough for the Voyage of the Rock Aliens album - and immediately feel infinitely better about any creative activity you've undertaken lately!