This movie is arguably more notable for what happened off-set during filming than for the film itself.
While the film was focused more on the romance between Robert (Rock Hudson) and Lisa (Gina Lollobrigida) the romance between Sandy (Sandra Dee) and Tony (Bobby Darin) was brewing off-set as well as on. Darin & Dee ended up marrying and having a somewhat tumultuous seven year marriage.
Hudson plays wealthy American, Robert Talbot, who owns a rather expansive estate in Italy where he only lives one month out of every year-- always in September (hence the title). In his absence, his butler-- Maurice Clavell (played brilliantly by Walter Slezak) converts the expansive estate into a hotel.
While on business in Milan one July, Talbot realizes he misses Lisa-- a nice Italian girl he'd courted the previous September. Little does he know, Lisa has gotten sick of waiting for him and is about to marry a British fellow named Spencer (Ronald Howard).
With a single phone call, Lisa decides to call off the marriage with Spencer and give Talbot another chance.
Both Lisa and Robert show up at his estate in July and September forcing Maurice to quickly remove all evidence of the hotel.
Clavell also has to walk a fine tightrope hiding the truth about his true role and the actual ownership of the estate with the hotel guests at the same time trying to hide the existence of the hotel from Robert... While he inevitably fails on both counts-- Slezak provides some excellent comedy throughout the movie that keeps it from slipping into mediocrity.
Meanwhile a group of American teenage girls is staying at the hotel with their chaperone. As she's about to join the girls on their tourbus-- the chaperone slips on a cork and breaks her leg. Fearing a lawsuit, Talbot maintains the ruse of the hotel and steps in to chaperone the girls and to protect them from a trio of American boys whom he knows are up to no good. Despite his best efforts to prevent romance from blossoming young Tony (Bobby Darin), the ringleader of the trio and Sandy start falling for each other.
There is a bit of cat-and-mouse between Tony and Robert in which they perpetually try to foil one another-- Robert trying to protect the virtue of the girls left in his charge, and Tony and his friends trying to get those same girls alone that makes for some amusing comedic moments. It also acts as an amusing foil that perpetually gets in the way of Robert & Lisa's romance.
One of the highlights of the film was Bobby Darin's single vocal performance, a catchy upbeat number, Multiplication, that he wrote specifically for this film.
All in all, it's an enjoyable classic comedy-- certainly dated, but still fun.
In 1978, Bill Champlin had left his namesake band to pursue both his solo career and his career as a session vocalist— the latter would provide him with one of the most extensive and impressive CVs in the music industry. His credits as both a session vocalist and songwriter read like a who’s who of the music industry of the late seventies and through the eighties as well. He even netted a couple of grammies (Best R&B single for After The Love Is Gone for Earth Wind & Fire in 1979 and Best R&B single for Turn Your Love Around for George Benson in 1982).
Single is a product of that era. The influences are evident as the album bears a musical resemblance to Boz Scaggs grammy winning Silk Degrees album from a couple years prior. It’s little surprise that many of the musicians who performed on Silk Degrees also performed on Single. Incidentally those musicians who appeared on both Single and on Scagg’s Silk Degrees (Steve Lukather, David Hungate, Steve Porcaro, David Paich, & Jeff Porcaro) created a band of their own, Toto, and released a self-titled debut between working with Scaggs on Silk Degrees and Champlin on Single.
In addition to those dapper fellows from Toto, Michael McDonald of the Doobie Brothers and Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates contributed their voices for some catchy background vocals. And having future svengali producer David Foster at the helm in one of his first turns as producer certainly didn’t hurt.
While the similarities between the two albums are obvious, so are the differences. Where Silk Degrees had more of a jazz meets rock vibe to it, Champlin’s approach on Single was more of an R&B vibe with a bit of funk flavor to kick it up a notch.
The vestiges of Bill’s former band, The Sons of Champlin, can also be heard on songs like Yo Mama and Careless both of which bear the soulful funky horn-laden punch the Sons of Champlin had come to be known for. Indeed, Yo Mama is easily the strongest track on the album. That’s quite a feat considering that all of the material on the album is quite strong.
While Champlin and his producer, David Foster would take an (inevitably winning) gamble in 1981 by joining Chicago who were up against the ropes after getting dropped by Columbia Records, this album is much more in the late 70s blue-eyed soul vibe than its 1981 follow-up, Runaway.
As good as the album is, much like Scaggs Silk Degrees, it hasn’t aged well. There’s no mistaking the album was recorded in the late seventies. For some listeners that may be a good thing, for others not so much. But chances are, if you were or are a fan of Silk Degrees, you'll also enjoy this album.
Yesterday I learned that one of my favorite musicians, Bill Champlin, left one of my favorite bands-- Chicago. While not an original member of the band, Bill had been in Chicago for over 28 years and was an integral part of their popular renaissance in the eighties. And while it wasn't so much Bill's voice that got me hooked on Chicago's music as an eleven year old boy back in the fall of 1988, it was largely Bill's voice which held my interest in the band's recent back catalog-- before I'd started to discover their earlier works with the late great Terry Kath.
It was through Bill's gritty soulful vocals that I discovered his OTHER band, The Sons of Champlin-- a staple of the San Francisco Bay area music scene of the late sixties and into the seventies. And in discovering the Sons, I also branched out into some of their contemporaries like Tower of Power and Quicksilver Messenger Service.
Due to lack of significant output in recent years, my interest in Chicago has waned. However they are my musical compass... Whenever life has been too overwhelming or confusing it's been Chicago's music I've returned to. And it's that music that brought me back to happier times and given me the strength and focus to re-center and re-focus on life before tackling whatever issues had been plaguing me.
Bill's departure, while not entirely unexpected given his level of professionalism and musical adventurousness contrasted with the complacency of his now former band is somewhat bittersweet. Now Bill has the time to devote to making new music, to being himself and stretching out-- to being the consumate professional he's always been at heart. But on the flipside, Chicago has lost one of the few (if not only) bandmember interested in creating new music and driving forward rather than looking back.
During Bill's 28 plus tenure in Chicago, I had the pleasure of seeing them live 9 times. I'll always treasure my memories of those shows... the first two in 1993 and 1994 featured 6 hour (roundtrip) road trips from the Northern tier of NY to the capitol district (Albany/Latham/Saratoga Springs) 3 hours south with my father I'll hold especially dear. Since I've moved over 16 hours away from my parents my time with them is limited these days-- I treasure the special times I had with them when I was growing up and lived closer-- and I hold my memories of the Chicago concerts we attended together especially dear.
I had the pleasure of meeting Bill in 1994 after Chicago's concert @ the Starlite Theatre in Latham and again the following year prior to their concert at the Joyce Center @ Notre Dame. Bill was then and from what I can tell, continues to be, a class act.
I will continue to enjoy the music Bill has already recorded and look forward to the music he's yet to create. I'm excited about what the future has in store for him and at the same time growing more pessimistic about the future creative output (or lack thereof) of his former band in his absence.
Here's Bill performing Turn Your Love Around back in 1994:
The Glass Prison from 2002’s Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (13:52) This Dying Soul from 2003’s Train of Thought (11:27) The Root of All Evil from 2005’s Octavarium (8:39) Repentance from 2007’s Systematic Chaos (10:43) The Shattered Fortress from 2009’s Black Clouds and Silver Linings (12:49)
My fascination with Dream Theater is unusual in that it was Mike Portnoy’s drumming that caught my ear before anything else. Unless one is a drummer (and lacking any sense of rhythm, I’m certainly not a percussionist or drummer by any stretch of the imagination), the drumming/percussion generally isn’t the first thing one notices about a band. Portnoy’s drumming is so fantastic that it actually got me to start appreciating the drums/percussion more in other bands I enjoy that much more as well.
Over the course of the past 7 years and 5 studio albums Mike Portnoy has chronicled his recovery from alcoholism with his 12 Step Suite. Some argument could be made, that the 12 Step Suite actually started on Dream Theater’s Awake album back in 1994 with The Mirror which thematically tackles facing oneself in the mirror and not liking the face looking back—there are multiple mentions in the suite about looking in a mirror that can be seen as a reference to the earlier song which predates the suite. However, for the purposes of this review, only the material that has actually been designated as part of the suite by Mike Portnoy will be discussed.
Each song covers a handful of steps in the 12 step plan of recovery. Together all 5 songs clock in at just under an hour in a predominantly heavy metal onslaught.
The Glass Prison has a long instrumental intro showcasing how and why Portnoy is one of the most respected and technically proficient drummers in the world, not to mention demonstrate the guitar prowess of John Petrucci. When the vocals finally do start (at about the 3:03 mark) they start as a call and response between Portnoy and the initially distorted vocals of James LaBrie. The vocals ride on hard driving locomotive-esque guitar riffing by Petrucci inspired by the late Dimebag Darrel of Pantera (Portnoy and Petrucci had attended a Pantera concert the night before they started composing The Glass Prison and the influence is not only evident, it’s quite conspicuous).
This Dying Soul picks up right where The Glass Prison leaves off without giving the listener a chance to catch his breath —Portnoy’s intense battery of the skins comes off as a racing heartbeat. LaBrie’s vocals joining in the instrumental onslaught at the 2:13 mark. Much like with The Glass Prison, there’s a use of distorted vocals, this time its Portnoy’s voice that gets distorted in an angry frenzy with a rapid fire staccato rap. Keyboardist, Jordan Rudess flexes his classical piano chops briefly at about the 5:43 into the song, in a way that sounds interestingly and unusually appropriate for a metal song before LaBrie and Portnoy continue their vocal onslaught. The song ends as it began, with an aggressive onslaught of drums and guitar.
The Root of All Evil showcases the keyboarding wizardry of Jordan Rudess with a slow build to a similar musical frenzy as the one which ended This Dying Soul with Portnoy, Petrucci, and bass player John Myung joining Rudess shortly into the song. LaBrie’s vocals start much earlier (at about 1:28) on this piece than on the previous two. The tempo is a bit slower but still features the crunchy guitar riffs of The Glass Prison and This Dying Soul. The vocals are the most melodic of the suite so far and clocking in at just under 8 minutes 40 seconds this is also the shortest movement in the suite making this the most accessible (to non-traditional Dream Theater fans) portion of the suite thus far.
Repentance shifts gears from angry to a more somber and melancholic vibe. The vocals start with the same lyrics as This Dying Soul:
Hello mirror So glad to see you my friend It’s been awhile
This time the lyric is sung by Michael Portnoy (instead of James LaBrie who opens with those lyrics in This Dying Soul) before James LaBrie takes over the vocal duties. Musically the themes are similar to that of This Dying Soul but with a slower tempo and the aforementioned melancholic vibe. Between John Petrucci’s emotive guitar solo and the samples of people speaking about repentance and regrets played over the somber theme that acts as the backbone to the song, if ever there was a song that captured not just the definition of the word Repentance but also the emotions associated with being penitent, Dream Theater hit the nail on the head with this song.
The Shattered Fortress pulls the musical and lyrical themes from the previous songs together in a musical summary that acts as an exclamation mark to the suite as a whole. The call and response element between Portnoy and LaBrie that was used to strong effect in certain previous movements makes another appearance. The song opens with a driving guitar riff not unlike a racing heartbeat over Portnoy’s rapid-fire drumming and keyboard wizardry of Jordan Rudess. Once again, as in Repentance, samples are used over the musical themes used in previous movements of the suite—this time the themes from The Glass Prison and The Root of All Evil are most obvious. There is a special 3CD edition of Black Clouds & Silver Linings which also includes an instrumental version of The Shattered Fortress which is also enjoyable to listen to, however in the context of the Twelve Step Suite, the absence of lyrics leaves the song wanting (On the other hand, in the context of Black Clouds & Silver Linings the instrumental version works quite well).
All in all, the 12 Step Suite is a musical tour de force, an onslaught of emotion and human struggle and introspection showcasing not just Portnoy’s recovery, but also his abilities as both a lyricist and composer. It’s almost unfortunate to note that in recent interviews Portnoy indicated that once the suite was complete that he’d likely be stepping away from songwriting to focus more on his drumming and leaving the songwriting to his bandmates. While his drumming will always be welcome and a joy to listen to, his songwriting talents will be missed on future Dream Theater releases. However, if this does indeed mark the end of Portnoy’s songwriting—as he has indicated-- he’s certainly chosen to step away at a definite high water mark with a very memorable bookend to an exceptional string of songwriting credits.
This movie is arguably more notable for what happened off-set during filming than for the film itself.
