E.G. Daily – Mind Over Matter (US 12″) (1987)

Burning The Ground Exclusive

Before I take my own summer break on Friday, apparently I have to go back to school.

Summer School, that is.

Today begins the final three entries of Ladies Of The 80’s: Soundtrack Edition, and we are heading back to 1987 for E.G. Daily and “Mind Over Matter.”

This one was previously posted in 2017, but today’s post features a brand-new 2026 vinyl transfer. I went back to the original US 12-inch and recorded it again from scratch using my current equipment and restoration process.

This is not a remaster of the files posted in 2017.

Class is officially back in session.

Summer School was released in July 1987, directed by Carl Reiner and starring Mark Harmon as Freddy Shoop, a high-school gym teacher whose summer vacation plans are ruined when he is forced to teach remedial English. Kirstie Alley, Courtney Thorne-Smith, Dean Cameron, Gary Riley, and Patrick Labyorteaux are among the cast.

It is exactly the kind of premise that seemed perfectly reasonable in an ’80s comedy.

The soundtrack is also a wonderfully mixed bag of 1987 rock and dance music, with tracks by E.G. Daily, Elisa Fiorillo, Paul Engemann, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Billy Burnette, Tone Norum, and others. Daily actually appears twice, contributing both “Mind Over Matter” and “Seduction.”

But “Mind Over Matter” has the really interesting story.

The song was written by Michael Jay and Rick Palombi, and an earlier version had already been recorded by Nikki Leeger before Summer School came along. Debbie Harry then recorded the song for the film project, but record-label complications prevented her version from becoming the soundtrack single. E.G. Daily was brought in to record a new version instead.

And who produced it?

Stock Aitken Waterman.

Now we’re talking.

Daily flew to London and recorded the track with Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, and Pete Waterman, giving “Mind Over Matter” that unmistakable PWL energy.

Big drums.

Bright synthesizers.

A relentless beat.

And E.G. Daily throwing herself into the vocal like summer vacation depends on it.

Considering this was 1987, Stock Aitken Waterman were just about to become completely unavoidable. Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” was exploding internationally, and Kylie Minogue was right around the corner.

“Mind Over Matter” sits right in the middle of that fascinating period when the PWL sound was becoming one of the defining pop sounds of the late ’80s.

The song also received a music video featuring several members of the Summer School cast, helping tie the record directly back to the movie. The clip received MTV exposure during the summer of 1987.

The US only 12-inch released by A&M Records gives us the Remix on Side A and the Edit on Side B.

The Remix runs just over seven minutes, giving the already energetic production considerably more room to stretch out.

And this is exactly the kind of record the 12-inch format was made for.

The rhythm keeps driving.

The synths keep coming.

E.G. keeps pushing.

Nobody is getting dismissed early from this class.

The record became a substantial US dance hit, reaching No. 7 on Billboard’s Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart.

It did not cross over to the Billboard Hot 100, but years later it has become one of those wonderfully recognizable pieces of late-’80s dance-pop that deserves another listen.

E.G. Daily herself is one of those artists whose career seems to turn up everywhere once you start looking. Music fans know her from records like “Say It, Say It,” “Love In The Shadows,” and her contributions to Better Off Dead. Movie fans know her as Dottie from Pee-wee’s Big Adventure. And an entirely different generation grew up hearing her as the voice of Tommy Pickles on Rugrats and Buttercup on The Powerpuff Girls.

That is quite a résumé.

But today we are staying in 1987.

One movie.

One US 12-inch.

One brand-new 2026 transfer.

And one lesson that apparently even summer school can teach us:

When the music is this good…

it really is Mind Over Matter.

SIDE A:
Mind Over Matter (Remix) 7:05

SIDE B:
Mind Over Matter (Edit) 6:22

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

“Mind Over Matter” Chart Performance 1987	Peak Position
New Zealand Singles Chart	37
UK Singles Chart	96
US Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play	7
US Billboard Hot Dance Singles Sales	17
US Cash Box Top 12″ Dance Singles	22

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: A&M Records – SP-12246
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM, Single
Country: US
Released: 1987
Genre: Electronic
Style: Hi NRG, Synth-pop

CREDITS:

Producer – Stock Aitken Waterman*
Written-By – M. Jay*, R. Palombi*

NOTES:
Taken from the soundtrack Album “Summer School”.

Buy the 12″ at DISCOGS

VINYL TRANSFER & AUDIO RESTORATION:
-DjPaulT
for BURNING THE GROUND

THE GEAR:
Turntable: Technics SL-1200MK7
Cartridge/Stylus: Ortofon Concorde Music Black
Phono Pre-amp: Pro-Ject Tube Box DS2
Phono Tubes: Genalex Gold Lion 12AX7 ECC83/B759 Gold Pins Vacuum Tube – Matched Pair
Audio Interface: MOTU M4
Turntable Isolation Platform: ISO-Tone™ Turntable Isolation Platform
Platter: Pro Spin Acrylic Mat
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck
Record Cleaning: VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Cleaning Solution: Turgikleen Record Cleaning Solution
Scanner: Epson Workforce WF-7610 Professional Printer/Scanner

SOFTWARE:
Recording/Editing: Adobe Audition 25 (Recording)
Down Sampling/Dither: iZotope RX Advanced 2
Artwork Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Click Removal: Manual
FLAC/MP3 Conversion: dBpoweramp
M3U Playlist: Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi

PLEASE READ

There are two 24-Bit links; if one does not work, try the other

**24-bit FLAC Only Available For SIX Days!

Password: burningtheground

You can help show your support for this blog by donating using PayPal.

I appreciate your help.

August 17, 2026

Ladies Of The 80’s: Soundtrack Edition – The Final Week

Well, we have made it to the final week.

What originally started as a one-week idea somehow turned into four weeks plus of soundtrack singles, rare 12-inch mixes, forgotten gems, familiar favorites, and quite a few surprises along the way.

And I have loved every minute of it.

The response to Ladies Of The 80’s: Soundtrack Edition has been fantastic, and your comments, memories, stories, and enthusiasm are a big reason the series kept going much longer than I originally planned.

But all good soundtracks eventually reach the closing credits.

This week will be the final chapter… for now.

I will be posting three final entries this week:

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Then, beginning Friday, August 21, I will be taking a two-week vacation and giving both myself and the turntable a little rest.

Do not worry, though.

There are still plenty of soundtrack records sitting in the collection waiting for their moment.

So while this edition is coming to an end, I think it is safe to say…

Ladies Of The 80’s: Soundtrack Edition II will happen at a later date.

A sequel?

Of course.

This is the ’80s.

Everything gets a sequel.

For now, we still have three records left, and I have saved some fun ones for the finish.

Thank you to everyone who has followed the series, downloaded the transfers, shared memories, discovered something new, or simply stopped by to listen.

Now let’s roll the final reel.

Three more Ladies.

Three more soundtracks.

Three more trips back to the ’80s.

See you tomorrow.

-Paul

August 14, 2026

Linda Clifford / Irene Cara – Red Light / Hot Lunch Jam (UK 12″) (1980)

Burning The Ground Exclusive

Yesterday we rocked hard with Suzi Quatro.

Today, lunch is served.

Hot lunch, to be exact.

For today’s Ladies Of The 80s: Soundtrack Edition, we return to 1980 for a terrific UK 12-inch pairing from the original motion picture soundtrack to Fame.

On one side we have Linda Clifford with “Red Light.”

Flip it over and Irene Cara is waiting with “Hot Lunch Jam.”

Two ladies.

Two songs.

One soundtrack.

Not a bad way to spend twelve inches of vinyl.

Directed by Alan Parker, Fame follows a group of students through their years at New York City’s High School of Performing Arts, from auditions through graduation. Irene Cara stars as Coco Hernandez, alongside Gene Anthony Ray, Lee Curreri, Paul McCrane, Barry Miller, Maureen Teefy, and others. The film received its national US release on June 20, 1980.

Of course, the music became almost as important as the movie.

The soundtrack gave us Irene Cara’s “Fame” and “Out Here On My Own,” along with “I Sing The Body Electric,” “Dogs In The Yard,” “Never Alone,” and the two tracks featured on today’s 12-inch. The album itself reached No. 7 on the Billboard 200.

First up is Linda Clifford.

“Red Light” was written by Michael Gore and Dean Pitchford and produced by Michael Gore and Gil Askey. Linda was already well established in the disco world thanks to records such as “If My Friends Could See Me Now,” “Runaway Love,” and her dramatic disco remake of “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”

“Red Light” gave her another substantial hit.

The single reached No. 41 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 40 on the Hot Soul Singles chart.

But the dance floor liked it even more.

Billboard’s Disco chart grouped “Red Light” with Irene Cara’s “Fame” and “Hot Lunch Jam,” and the three tracks reached No. 1 together.

Now that is one crowded dance floor.

The version on this UK 12-inch is the full-length “Extended Version,” running considerably longer than the edited single version. It is essentially the version that lets Linda stretch out and do what Linda Clifford does best.

Sing big.

Dance big.

And apparently ignore the red light completely.

Then we turn the record over.

Lunch time.

“Hot Lunch Jam” is performed by Irene Cara and was written by Michael Gore, Lesley Gore, and producer Robert F. Colesberry. Michael Gore produced the recording.

The history behind the song is particularly interesting.

According to Alan Parker, “Hot Lunch Jam” grew out of an all-day session in which the young performers contributed ideas as the number took shape. In other words, the loose, spontaneous energy we hear in the finished recording was not entirely an illusion. The song really did evolve as something of a jam.

And it sounds like one.

Piano.

Percussion.

Horns.

Handclaps.

Voices flying everywhere.

Irene right in the middle of it all.

It feels less like a carefully assembled soundtrack recording and more like somebody opened the cafeteria doors and an entire performing arts school broke into music.

Which, come to think of it, is basically Fame.

The UK 12-inch labels Irene’s side “Hot Lunch Jam (Vocal And Melody Arrangement),” while other listings describe it as the Full Length Version. Unlike some of the records we have featured during this series, there is no newly constructed club remix hiding here. The appeal is having these two full-length soundtrack performances together on one 45 RPM 12-inch.

And what a pairing.

Linda Clifford brings the polished disco fire.

Irene Cara brings the spontaneous school-cafeteria chaos.

Somehow, it works.

Fame went on to become much more than another 1980 musical. Michael Gore won the Academy Award for Original Score, while “Fame,” written by Gore and Dean Pitchford, won Best Original Song. “Out Here On My Own” was nominated in the same category. The film was later selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2023.

But today we are moving away from the title song and digging a little deeper into the soundtrack.

That is what this series is all about.

Sometimes the real fun is hiding one or two tracks away from the obvious hit.

So when the red light comes on…

ignore it.

Lunch is ready.

And apparently…

it’s a jam.

SIDE A:
Linda Clifford – Red Light (Extended Version) 6:10
Producer – Gil Askey
Written-By – D. Pitchford*

SIDE B:
Irene Cara – Hot Lunch Jam (Full Length Version) (Vocal & Melody Arrangement) 4:11
Written-By – L. Gore, R.F.Colesberry

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

Single	Chart	Peak Position
Linda Clifford – “Red Light”	US Billboard Hot 100	41
Linda Clifford – “Red Light”	US Billboard Hot Soul Singles	40
Linda Clifford / Irene Cara – “Red Light” / “Hot Lunch Jam”*	US Billboard Disco	1

* Billboard’s Disco chart combined “Fame,” “Red Light,” and “Hot Lunch Jam” as a single chart entry.

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: RSO – RSOX 64
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM
Country: UK
Released: 1980
Genre: Funk / Soul
Style: Disco

CREDITS:

Producer – Michael Gore
Written-By – M. Gore*

NOTES:
From The Original Soundtrack Of The Motion Picture “Fame” – 2479 253

Made In England

Buy the 12″ at DISCOGS

VINYL TRANSFER & AUDIO RESTORATION:
-DjPaulT
for BURNING THE GROUND

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi

PLEASE READ

There are two 24-Bit links; if one does not work, try the other

**24-bit FLAC Only Available For SIX Days!

Password: burningtheground

You can help show your support for this blog by donating using PayPal.

I appreciate your help.

August 13, 2026

Suzi Quatro – Rock Hard (US 12″ Promo) (1980)

Burning The Ground Exclusive

Yesterday we were playing with some very weird science.

Today we are going back to where the streets were dirty, the music was loud, and Times Square actually looked like Times Square.

For our next Ladies Of The 80s: Soundtrack Edition selection, we travel all the way back to 1980 for Suzi Quatro and “Rock Hard,” from the original motion picture soundtrack to Times Square.

Directed by Allan Moyle, Times Square stars Trini Alvarado and Robin Johnson as two teenage girls from very different backgrounds who run away together and find their own form of rebellion on the streets of New York City. Tim Curry co-stars as radio DJ Johnny LaGuardia. The film opened in October 1980 and was shot on location around New York, including the wonderfully grimy Times Square that existed long before the neighborhood was cleaned up and transformed.

And then there is that soundtrack.

What a soundtrack.

The double LP reads like somebody raided one of the coolest record stores in 1980. The Pretenders, Roxy Music, Gary Numan, Talking Heads, Joe Jackson, XTC, the Ramones, The Cure, Lou Reed, Patti Smith, Garland Jeffreys, and more all appear alongside music recorded specifically for the film.

And right there at the beginning of Side One is Suzi Quatro.

“Rock Hard.”

In fact, “Rock Hard” is identified in the film as a favorite record of Nicky and Pamela, which makes it more than just another song dropped onto the soundtrack. It actually belongs to their world.

Written by Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn, “Rock Hard” was also the title track from Suzi’s 1980 studio album of the same name.

The song marked a return to the tough, guitar-driven sound that had made Suzi such a distinctive presence during the 1970s.

And she sounds fantastic.

The guitars grind.

The drums pound.

Suzi attacks the vocal like she has something to prove.

This is not background music.

This is Suzi Quatro reminding everybody why she was one of rock’s original tough ladies.

Mike Chapman produced the track, continuing a partnership that had already produced some of Suzi’s biggest records. The backing-vocal lineup is interesting too, with Michael Des Barres among the singers adding muscle behind Suzi’s lead.

Yes, that Michael Des Barres.

Actor, singer, later frontman for The Power Station, and apparently available in 1980 when somebody needed a little extra shouting behind Suzi Quatro.

I love these credits.

“Rock Hard” did considerably better in some countries than it did in Suzi’s native United States. The single reached No. 5 in South Africa, No. 9 in Australia, No. 19 in Zimbabwe, No. 26 in West Germany, No. 46 in the Netherlands, and No. 68 on the UK Singles Chart.

In the United States, however, Dreamland Records took a different approach.

And that brings us to the record I am featuring today.

My copy is the US promotional 12-inch labeled:

AOR SPECIAL

For anyone who remembers FM rock radio, those three letters tell the story.

AOR stood for Album-Oriented Rock, and this 12-inch was sent to American rock radio programmers in an attempt to get “Rock Hard” into rotation. Contemporary trade coverage shows the song receiving AOR airplay and being added by stations including KBPI, WABX, KLOL, WBAB, KZEL, and WSHE.

But if you are waiting for me to tell you about the Extended Version…

There isn’t one.

The Special Dance Mix?

Nope.

The Dub?

Keep dreaming.

This promo contains “Rock Hard” on one side.

Then you flip the record over…

and you get “Rock Hard” again.

That is dedication.

No remix. No alternate vocal. No bonus beats. No seven-minute breakdown designed for a club at two in the morning.

Just Suzi.

Rocking hard.

Twice.

And honestly, I love records like this.

The 12-inch single was not always about remixes. Sometimes it existed because a record company wanted radio stations to have a promotional copy of one particular track, and an AOR 12-inch like this is a little snapshot of how rock records were promoted in 1980.

It also makes an interesting addition to this series because Times Square itself was so closely tied to music.

The soundtrack was heavily promoted as a showcase for contemporary rock, punk, and new wave, and it eventually reached number 37 on the Billboard album chart.

The film may never have become the blockbuster its producers hoped for, but the soundtrack developed a life of its own.

And more than four decades later, that collection of records still captures a moment when punk, new wave, hard rock, and mainstream pop were all crashing into one another.

Suzi Quatro belonged right in the middle of it.

So no extended mix today.

No dub.

Not even a bonus beat.

Sometimes you do not need any of that.

Sometimes you just need to…

Rock Hard.

SIDE A:
Rock Hard (Intro: :17) 3:21

SIDE B:
Rock Hard (Intro: :17) 3:21

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

Chart (1980)	Peak Position
Australia (Kent Music Report)	9
Germany	26
Netherlands	46
South Africa	5
UK Singles Chart	68
Zimbabwe	19

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Dreamland Records, Inc. – DPR – 1204, Dreamland Records, Inc. – DPR – 1204 AS
Format: Vinyl, 12″, Single, 33 ⅓ RPM, Promo
Country: US
Released: 1980
Genre: Rock
Style: Hard Rock

CREDITS:

Producer – Mike Chapman
Written-By – M. Chapman – N. Chinn*

NOTES:
Came in die-cut sleeve with hype sticker:
From the original motion picture
soundtrack “Times Square”
Labels read: Suzi Quatro AOR Special
Promotion Copy – Not For Sale

Manufactured By – RSO Records, Inc.
Marketed By – RSO Records, Inc.

VINYL TRANSFER & AUDIO RESTORATION:
-DjPaulT
for BURNING THE GROUND

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi

PLEASE READ

There are two 24-Bit links; if one does not work, try the other

**24-bit FLAC Only Available For SIX Days!

Password: burningtheground

You can help show your support for this blog by donating using PayPal.

I appreciate your help.