“The Lost Boys: Hard-To-Find ’80s Albums” gives you exactly what the title implies: a rare or out-of-print album from the ’80s in its entirety. Some will be from CD, but most will have been lovingly transferred from pristine vinyl culled directly from the Analog Kid’s vast collection. Whatever album I choose, it will be one that you can’t easily find a physical copy for sale on Amazon or in your local record store (if you even have one anymore). Death…by stereo!
I was flipping through the multiple movie channels on U-verse late last night, and there it was: Top Secret! Of course, I had to watch it. It doesn’t matter than I have seen the movie at least 200 times, or that I could have just as easily grabbed my DVD copy off of the shelf– if Top Secret! comes on, I’m watching it. I will now name 5 other movies that automatically lock me into instant viewership:
1. The Godfather (Duh, I’m a guy.)
2. Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan
3. Raising Arizona
4. Die Hard (Duh, I’m STILL a guy.)
5. Raiders Of The Lost Ark
Pretty good company, wouldn’t you say? Wait– you mean you’ve never seen Top Secret? How is this even possible? I’d describe the plot to you, but it’s just your average everyday beach movie/spy movie/Elvis movie movie. Here’s how teen pop sensation Nick Rivers explains things:
“I’m not the first guy who fell in love with a woman that he met at a restaurant who turned out to be the daughter of a kidnapped scientist, only to lose her to her childhood lover who she last saw on a deserted island, who then turned out fifteen years later to be the leader of the French underground. ”
If that all sounds like some bad movie, you’re wrong. I dare say that Top Secret! is even better than Airplane!, and that movie comes in at #10 on AFI’s list of the Top 100 comedies of all time. (Top Secret! isn’t on the list, but at least they had the good sense to put Raising Arizona at #31.)
Val Kimer…what can you say about this guy? He was in both Top Secret! and Real Genius, and the fact that he has not already been awarded an honorary Oscar for these roles alone simply blows my mind. And he can sing, too! Kilmer performed all of the songs on the Top Secret! soundtrack, and what a soundtrack it is! “Skeet Surfing” may just be the greatest parody song of all time, and the other five tracks would have made Elvis himself very proud. I actually featured “Skeet Surfing” back in the early days of the Analog Kid blog, and now I am happy to offer you the entire Top Secret! soundtrack in a beautiful brand-new 320 kbps vinyl rip. I consider it– how do you say– indispensable?
“Indispensable.”
This is not Mel Torme!
Top Secret! [Songs From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]
Passport Records, 1984
320 kbps vinyl rip courtesy of the Analog Kid
1. Val Kilmer: “Skeet Surfing” (Wilson/Berry/Love)
2. Val Kilmer: “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” (Turk/Handman)
3. Val Kilmer: “How Silly Can You Get” (Pickett)
4. Val Kilmer: “Straighten Out The Rug” (Hudson)
5. Val Kilmer: “Tutti Frutti” (Penniman/La Bostrie)
6. Val Kilmer: “Spend This Night With Me” (Moran/Abrahams/Zucker/Zucker)
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Bonus Tracks!
The first rule of The Analog Kid blog is that if you write about a song on the Analog Kid blog, you share the song on the Analog Kid blog.
The Beach Boys: “Surfin’ USA” (Brian Wilson/Chuck Berry)
From the album Surfin’ USA
Capitol Records, 1963
The Beach Boys: “California Girls” (Brian Wilson)
From the album Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)
Capitol Records, 1965
The Beach Boys: “Fun, Fun, Fun” (Brian Wilson/Mike Love)
From the album Shut Down Volume 2
Capitol Records, 1964
The Beach Boys: “Little Honda” (Brian Wilson/Mike Love)
From the album All Summer Long
Capitol Records, 1964
Elvis Presley: “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” (Turk/Handman)
RCA Records, 1960
Elvis Presley: “Tutti Frutti” (Penniman/La Bostrie)
From the album Elvis Presley
RCA Records, 1956
The Analog Kid 
Don’t forget, he did some pretty impressive singing in “The Door’s” biography…
Yes he did. That movie hasn’t aged very well, but he was really great in it.
How cool to discover this! I love this movie so much, and recorded the songs off the DVD, but this is ever so much nicer. Thanks so much.
Thank you so much for posting this!