Hard Rock Zombies / Paul Sabu RFI

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I saw the movie Hard Rock Zombies last night, about a remarkably goofy "metal" (named Holy Moses for the film, but Silent Rage in real life) band that, despite being warned off, goes to a town in Northern California (to play "the gig that will make their career," as we all know most gigs in rural Northern California to be), only to be killed by the crypto-nazi occult of the town. Luckily, they know a secret Norse chant that revives the dead, and the lead singer has recorded it on a 4-track, which his 14-year-old jailbait virgin plays to revive them.
Despite being Evil Dead without the tree fucking, the music written and performed by Paul Sabu (did I mention that this is a "Krishna Shah"/"Kirshna Shah" Production, as both spellings are used in the credits? From the names in the credits, it looks like it's a joint Italian/Indian/Norwegian production) is really remarkably strong Cheap Trick-esque power pop. And the reanimation song has a bassline pinched from the Talking Heads.

Anyone else ever see this? Any idea how to get the soundtrack? I've thought about trying to hook up the audio outs from the VCR, but there's crappy dialogue recorded all over the songs.
(The NY Times/All Movie didn't like the flick or the music, but it's totally worth seeing.)

Digging further, Paul Sabu seems to have been the leader of the band Sabu (not to be confused with Sabu Martinez or Sabu Toyozumi), who had some vague connection to KISS and Meatloaf... Were they decent?

Of course, if anyone out there happens to have tracks that they'd feel comfortable YSIing, I'd appreciate it.

― js (honestengine), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 15:58 (nineteen years ago)

Sabu (not to be confused with Sabu Martinez or Sabu Toyozumi), who had some vague connection to KISS and Meatloaf... Were they decent?

Not really. The records always looked decent but never delivered. Some of the stuff Sabu did was closer to straight disco.

― George the Animal Steele, Tuesday, 3 January 2006 16:04 (nineteen years ago)

Awww. The Hard Rock Zombies stuff is pretty solid, if goofy.

― js (honestengine), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 16:10 (nineteen years ago)

Here's what's being peddled now, pretty much in keeping with big production AOL/MOR schlock and such.

http://www.paulsabu.com/artists.htm

― George the Animal Steele, Tuesday, 3 January 2006 20:12 (nineteen years ago)

Ugh.

― js (honestengine), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 17:58 (nineteen years ago)

Basically, CD Baby-appropriate catalog. If you're really curious, very occasionally worth a shot. Otherwise...you do a Google search and the only place you find reviews or on some German site that reviews every thing from the CD Babies of the net. And likes them!

― George the Animal Steele, Wednesday, 4 January 2006 18:04 (nineteen years ago)

I think I'm going to just email Sabu and see if he has any of those songs around that he'd be willing to share with the world.

― js (honestengine), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 20:17 (nineteen years ago)

Not a bad idea. CD Baby streams some of the Teri Tims album.

― George the Animal Steele, Wednesday, 4 January 2006 20:50 (nineteen years ago)

I would like to say that I really appreciate that you're willing to talk about a random butt-rock also ran here without a whif of condescention.

― j j steichmann (jaysteich), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 21:46 (nineteen years ago)

Sometimes one is in the mood for it. I think there are probably similar acts in the Where is the LOVE Series. Guy was reasonably well known for his production work in the genre, I think.

― George the Animal Steele, Wednesday, 4 January 2006 23:09 (nineteen years ago)

Heh. Accidently posted as my Dad.
After months of being like, "Just try it... You'll like it," a jazz thread pulled him in and he's gone from accidently posting under my login to having one of his own. Now I gotta watch out when I go to his house...

As for the Sabu/butt rock genre, I tend to like things that are on the weird/accidental side of the sound. There was a Muncie sampler that I ran across a couple months ago online that had some similar sounds to the Sabu HRZ soundtrack, but because of poor recording they were under layers of tape warp, and that was what I liked about them. I never really enjoyed straight KISS, but gimme a BÖC tape left in the sun and I'm in heaven...

― js (honestengine), Thursday, 5 January 2006 07:47 (nineteen years ago)

hehh, strange. i saw HARD ROCK ZOMBIES for the first time yesterday, and today i began searching for the music in the movie on google and i found this page! geee, i would really like to get my hands on that music from the movie. did you see the bandname they had? HOLY MOSES!! haha. im also thinking of recording the music from the movie, i have it on dvd so it isn't so hard to do it. but would be better to find the actual soundtrack somewhere!

CASSIE!!!!1

― erikkk, Monday, 9 January 2006 05:40 (nineteen years ago)

This is why the internet is awesome.

― js (honestengine), Monday, 9 January 2006 06:01 (nineteen years ago)

I wrote off to Sabu, hoping that I could convince him to just send me the damn songs. Instead, because for some reason Kerrang voted one of his albums the best AOR record of all time, he's re-releasing Heartbreak on MTM in Germany with three Hard Rock Zombies tracks on it (all he could find).
Worth paying import prices? Nope... Let's hope that a German Sabu fan steps onto ILM and is willing to bend some copyright laws.

― js (honestengine), Monday, 9 January 2006 14:55 (nineteen years ago)

hah, that's cool. do you know what three songs that are on the album?
the one i want the most is: CASSIE!
hmm do you know if the actual soundtrack to the movie ever got released?

― erikkk, Monday, 9 January 2006 21:18 (nineteen years ago)

"Hey Josh

A couple of my albums were voted best AOR album of all time in the November 2005 Kerrang poll so I just made a deal with MTM-Music in Germany to re-issue the Heartbreak Album. Funny part is they were only interested in Hard Rock Zombie songs for bonus tracks. I managed to find 3 but that was all….Cassie, Shake it Out, and Street Angel. Hope this helps…

Best Regards

Paul Sabu"

To my knowledge, the OST to HRZ was never released.

― js (honestengine), Monday, 9 January 2006 21:29 (nineteen years ago)

ah that's great. any release date of the re-issue?
nice digging anyway!

― erikkk, Tuesday, 10 January 2006 03:13 (nineteen years ago)

Fuck if I know. Maybe an email to MTM is in order?

― js (honestengine), Tuesday, 10 January 2006 03:19 (nineteen years ago)

hehe i dunno, you're the digger ;)
btw, the guy who plays JESSE in HRZ has a band called SILENT RAGE. after HRZ paul sabu worked with that band and made some songs with them. i managed to find some mp3's with them. 80's hair/aor rock/metal. pretty fun hehe.

gonna try to rip some tracks from the HRZ DVD as im typing this!

― erikkk, Tuesday, 10 January 2006 03:26 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, sweet. YSI? And yeah, I found out the Jesse/Silent Rage stuff already— see the top of the thread.

― js (honestengine), Tuesday, 10 January 2006 03:29 (nineteen years ago)

YSI ?? what's that?
ah oki.

― erikkk, Tuesday, 10 January 2006 03:33 (nineteen years ago)

yousendit.com

― js (honestengine), Tuesday, 10 January 2006 03:40 (nineteen years ago)

This made me smile. Danger: May cause trauma and loss of breath to those who can't rock. I'll have to remember that for future reviewing.

http://cdbaby.com/cd/sabu2

― George the Animal Steele, Tuesday, 10 January 2006 03:42 (nineteen years ago)

sure. here or mail?
just finished first track.

― erikkk, Tuesday, 10 January 2006 03:44 (nineteen years ago)

Just do it here. Might as well let everyone with a Sabu crush get in.

― js (honestengine), Tuesday, 10 January 2006 03:59 (nineteen years ago)

ok, shake it out: http://s61.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=20OG3P38L5ES43PV81P8IIQ4KH

hmm dunno title of next one, about 12 min in the movie :0

― erikkk, Tuesday, 10 January 2006 04:09 (nineteen years ago)

Cassie? Street Angel? (The random-ass Norwegian life song?)

― js (honestengine), Tuesday, 10 January 2006 04:11 (nineteen years ago)

hehe what was that norwegian song? hehe, im swedish.
named one song street angel.. dunno if it's the right one though.
coming up soon

― erikkk, Tuesday, 10 January 2006 04:27 (nineteen years ago)

some more: http://s64.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=33ZSRA6PKOLUM1PND19HS4WKB6

named one of the songs there street angel, but it's not right i just heard/saw. ripping street angel now, so rename this one hehh. dunno title though.

― erikkk, Tuesday, 10 January 2006 04:31 (nineteen years ago)

gees, stupid of me not to first check endtitles for correct songnames :P
ok, i renamed all tracks so they are correct and made one big zip of the songs. some of the earlier links have incorrect titles. this link has all the previous posted songs, and 2 more in a zip file. so grab this one if you want it all.

http://s44.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3DVU66P311Z4M3J07JZ4NGZ2GF

― erikkk, Tuesday, 10 January 2006 04:58 (nineteen years ago)

Sweeeeet. Thanks!

― js (honestengine), Tuesday, 10 January 2006 05:37 (nineteen years ago)

So... After sending in a brief RFI to MTM records in Germany, they send me not one but two copies of Sabu's Heartbreak reissue, which includes Cassie, Shake It Out and Street Angel. The album, which is alledged to have been voted, like, the 24th best hard rock album ever, is truly dreadful. Perhaps if the poll was the 100 Greatest Middling Buttrock Albums of All Time, 24 would be a respectable placing... Instead, it relies on predictable chord progressions, the matching synth and guitar lines on EVERY TRACK, and mediocre paeans to various girls. More than anything, it reminds me of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles tape that my dad bought for me from a Pizza Hut promotion in the '80s.

But... later today (after classes, and probably writing my column), I'll rip the three bonus tracks from Hard Rock Zombies, which sound much, much better than the DVD copy above (thanks again, Erikk). Shake It Out is even arguably not that bad a song. (And I was amused to find out through last.fm that there's another established German metal band called Holy Moses, the name of the fake band in the movie.)

― js (honestengine), Friday, 20 January 2006 15:40 (nineteen years ago)

five months pass...

I'm obviously late to this conversation. And the links above no longer work. Is there any chance of getting these 3 bonus songs from the Heartbreak album that were HRZ songs?
Much appreciated!
~Strype

― Mark Strype (MrStrype), Sunday, 9 July 2006 06:00 (nineteen years ago)

getdisconnected.com is selling the Sabu solo CD - I know "We're Gonna Rock" from one of the Cosmic Dancer 12 inches but the soundclips of the rest are kind of meh.

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Sunday, 9 July 2006 07:25 (nineteen years ago)

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