I had planned to return from vacation on Tuesday, September 8, but unfortunately, those plans have changed.
During our time away, my partner Jeremy’s father, William, was killed in a car accident. His death was sudden and completely unexpected, and we are still trying to process what has happened.
Right now, Jeremy and our family need time to grieve, take care of the many things that come with an unexpected loss, and simply be together.
Because this has just happened, I am unable to give a date for when I will return to Burning The Ground. For the time being, the site will remain on pause.
I know many of you were expecting me back next week, and I appreciate your understanding while we deal with this heartbreaking loss.
Thank you for your patience, your kindness, and for giving us the time and space we need right now.
Dolly Parton, the legendary singer, songwriter, actress, and humanitarian, has passed away at the age of 80.
It is difficult to imagine a world without Dolly in it.
For more than six decades, she was a constant presence in American music and culture. That unmistakable voice. The big hair. The rhinestones. The wonderful sense of humor. And behind all of it was one of the finest songwriters popular music has ever known.
Dolly could break your heart with just a few words.
“Coat of Many Colors” told a story of childhood poverty with pride and tenderness. “Jolene” turned jealousy and desperation into one of the most recognizable songs ever recorded. And “I Will Always Love You,” written as a farewell to Porter Wagoner, became something far greater than its original story. Dolly recorded it herself more than once before Whitney Houston carried it to another generation.
Then there was “9 to 5.”
When Dolly crossed over into movies in 1980, she did it the way she seemed to do everything. Completely on her own terms. She starred alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, wrote one of the biggest songs of her career for the film, and proved that the woman many people had dismissed as simply a country singer could seemingly do just about anything.
She also understood something that fame can sometimes make people forget. Success means very little if you cannot use some of it to help somebody else.
Her Imagination Library placed books into the hands of millions of children. She supported education, health care, disaster relief, and countless other causes, often without making herself the center of the story.
That generosity became as much a part of Dolly Parton as the music.
Perhaps that is why her passing feels different.
There are famous people. There are superstars. There are legends.
And then there are those rare people who somehow become part of our lives, even though most of us never met them.
Dolly was one of those people.
Her songs were played at weddings and funerals. They came through car radios, jukeboxes, record players, cassette decks, CD players, and streaming services. Parents introduced her music to their children, who eventually introduced it to theirs.
Generations grew up with Dolly.
She survived changing musical tastes, changing fashions, and an entertainment business that repeatedly tried to decide what women were supposed to look like, sound like, and become as they grew older.
Dolly simply kept going.
She never stopped writing.
She never stopped dreaming.
And thankfully for us, she left behind an enormous body of music that will continue speaking for her.
Today there will be plenty of Dolly Parton songs played around the world.
But one will probably mean a little more than all the others.
Extended mixes, dubs, instrumentals, bonus beats, promo pressings, gophers, summer schools, weird science, and more soundtrack trivia than any reasonable person probably needs.
And now the closing credits are about to roll.
For the final entry in Ladies Of The 80’s: Soundtrack Edition, I wanted something big.
Something legendary.
Something with enough energy to send us out properly.
So how about the Queen of Soul taking on the Rolling Stones?
Today’s selection is Aretha Franklin and “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” recorded for the 1986 Whoopi Goldberg comedy of the same name.
That should do it.
Directed by Penny Marshall, Jumpin’ Jack Flash stars Whoopi Goldberg as Terry Doolittle, a computer operator at a New York bank who unexpectedly begins communicating with a British intelligence agent trapped behind the Iron Curtain.
Remember when computers were mysterious enough that Hollywood could make almost anything happen through one?
Apparently Weird Science was not the only movie taking advantage of that.
Terry becomes caught up in espionage, secret codes, assassins, and government agents while trying to help the mysterious man using the code name “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.”
Naturally, the Rolling Stones song becomes part of the puzzle.
The Stones’ original recording is heard in the film, but when the closing credits arrive, the microphone is handed over to Aretha Franklin.
And Aretha does not exactly tiptoe into the room.
Her version of “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” was produced by none other than Keith Richards.
Yes, Keith Richards produced Aretha Franklin singing a Rolling Stones song.
The 1980s really could make some wonderful things happen.
Keith also plays guitar on the recording, joined by fellow Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood. The session included Randy Jackson on bass, Chuck Leavell on keyboards, Steve Jordan on drums, and Aretha herself on piano.
That is quite a band.
Steve Lillywhite engineered the session, adding yet another major name to an already impressive list of credits.
And then there is Aretha.
She does not attempt to imitate Mick Jagger.
Why would she?
She takes the song, plants both feet firmly on the ground, and turns it into an Aretha Franklin record.
There is gospel in it.
There is soul.
There is rock.
There is attitude.
And there is that voice.
Keith Richards gives the record plenty of grit, but Aretha takes complete ownership of the song.
The connection to the movie continued with the music video, which was directed by Penny Marshall and features Whoopi Goldberg alongside Aretha, Keith Richards, and Ronnie Wood.
Whoopi even gets pulled into the action with Aretha, making the video feel like a playful extension of the film rather than simply another promotional clip.
With Aretha Franklin, Whoopi Goldberg, and two Rolling Stones all sharing the screen, subtlety was clearly not the goal.
And thank goodness for that.
Interestingly, despite being recorded for Jumpin’ Jack Flash and playing over the film’s closing credits, Aretha’s version was not included on the original soundtrack album.
There is another one for the soundtrack-collector mystery file.
The song instead appeared on Aretha’s 1986 album Aretha and was released as a single by Arista.
It became another solid chart success for her, reaching No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 20 on Hot Black Singles, No. 33 on the Dance chart, and No. 36 on the Mainstream Rock chart.
Yes.
Aretha Franklin on the Mainstream Rock chart.
I love that.
The single also charted internationally, including the UK, Germany, and Switzerland.
Then we get to the US 12-inch.
And this is where things become interesting for collectors.
The US promotional 12-inch was issued by Arista under catalog number AD1-9529, but there are two variations of the record circulating with the same catalog number.
Both sleeves list the Album Version among the tracks.
One pressing actually contains it.
Mine does not.
Even though the sleeve says it is there.
My copy contains four mixes of “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” with the Album Version completely absent from the record itself.
You have to love vinyl collecting.
Sometimes even the record does not know what is on the record.
What my copy does give us is a terrific group of alternate mixes that take Aretha’s rock-and-soul performance into much more rhythmic territory.
Additional production and remix work was handled by Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero, a team whose names will be very familiar to anyone who spent time reading the fine print on 1980s 12-inch singles.
The Street Mix pushes the rhythm forward and gives the track a tougher, more contemporary mid-’80s feel.
There is also a shorter Street Mix Radio Edit, bringing that same treatment into a more compact form.
Then we get the Master Dub Mix and Beat Dub Mix, where the record begins to come apart in all the ways we 12-inch collectors love.
Drums move forward.
Vocals appear and disappear.
Guitars, percussion, and little pieces of the arrangement suddenly have room to breathe.
Aretha Franklin.
Keith Richards.
And a dub mix.
That alone might explain why I have been doing this series for four weeks.
This record also seems like an appropriate place to finish because it represents so much of what Ladies Of The 80’s: Soundtrack Edition has been about.
A major artist doing something unexpected.
A song connected to a movie in a slightly unusual way.
A 12-inch with mixes that tell another part of the story.
And, in this case, even a pressing variation that can make two supposedly identical copies something quite different.
That is the fun of collecting these records.
You think you know the single.
Then you flip it over.
Read the label.
Compare the sleeve.
Listen closely.
And discover there is still another story hiding in the grooves.
When I began this series, I originally planned to do it for one week.
Then you wanted another.
And another.
And another.
So here we are four weeks later.
I want to thank everyone who followed along, downloaded the transfers, shared memories, corrected details, added stories, discovered records they had never heard before, or rediscovered something they had forgotten.
Your enthusiasm turned a one-week idea into something much bigger.
Tomorrow I begin a two-week vacation, and the turntable will be taking a little break along with me.
But this is not goodbye to Ladies Of The 80’s: Soundtrack Edition.
There are still plenty of records left.
And as we established earlier…
This is the ’80s.
Everything gets a sequel.
So someday, the ladies will return.
For now, though, the lights are coming up.
The theater is emptying.
The final record is spinning.
Four weeks.
Dozens of records.
One last blast from the soundtrack.
And who better to take us home than Aretha Franklin?
It’s all right now.
The closing credits are rolling.
And Jumpin’ Jack Flash is a gas, gas, gas.
SIDE A: Jumpin’ Jack Flash (Street Mix) 6:10
SIDE B: Jumpin’ Jack Flash (Street Mix-Radio Edit) 4:39 Jumpin’ Jack Flash (Master Dub Mix) 4:35 Jumpin’ Jack Flash (Beat Dub Mix) 4:11
VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
“Jumpin’ Jack Flash” Chart Performance (1986)
Peak Position
Germany Singles Chart
42
Netherlands Dutch Top 40
48
New Zealand Singles Chart
43
Sweden Singles Chart
14
Switzerland Singles Chart
19
UK Singles Chart
58
US Billboard Hot 100
21
US Billboard Hot Black Singles
20
US Billboard Dance
33
US Billboard Mainstream Rock
36
RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Arista – ADI-9529
Format: Vinyl, 12″, Maxi-Single, 33 ⅓ RPM
Country: US
Released: 1986
Genre: Electronic, Rock
Style: Pop Rock, Synth-pop
