Customer Reviews

Rhinestone

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've been trying to find this CD for about a decade, searching for it after it went out of print. I'm writing to address two things:

1) Another reviewer panned this CD because, he says, Sylvester Stallone is the obvious flaw because he can't sing. The reviewer even suggests other singers to take Stallone's place! Well, this is a MOVIE SOUNDTRACK and we expect the leading man to be singing his songs in the CD. Duh! That's what the whole movie was about, turning a bad singer into a Rhinestone Cowboy. (Loved the movie.)

2) The other issue is finding the CD. I bought mine (11/2009) for the price of a regular CD at any music store. The CDs here are collectibles. Do a little online search and you might get lucky at any place where users OFFER their things for sale or swap. Good luck! If you like the movie, if you like Dolly Parton, or even if you just like pretty songs, it's well worth the effort.

As a huge Dolly and Stallone fan, I must say this is a great soundtrack and the movie was also great. I have both which I watch & listen to over and over. Dolly is a TRUE country artist. I didn't think Stallone did such a bad job. I enjoyed the movie as well as the soundtrack. If you are a Dolly or Stallone fan, you will like the soundtrack & movie. See Stallone as you never have before. A complete turn around from Rambo.

Dolly Parton and Sylvester Stallone's film "Rhinestone" was a commercial flop when released at the boxoffice during the summer of 1984. The plot consisted of Dolly playing a singer who was bound to perform at a New York nightclub by an unscrupulous agent, and agreed to let her out of this contract on the agreement that she could make a cab driver (played by Stallone) into a great singer. The movie just didn't work, and what makes most motion pictures fail is a poor script, and this was certainly the reason no one saw "Rhinestone". Unfortunately, since no one saw the movie, no one bought the soundtract album, an album that consisted of material written entirely by Dolly. Dolly herself has stated that this album consisted of some of the best songs she has ever written, composed at a time when she was coming off a breakdown in her life. The songs were written during the summer of 1983 and she says, "they just fell into my lap". Two singles became hits, including "Tennessee Homesick Blues" and "God Won't Get You". Others unknown gems here are "Butterflies", "Sweet Lovin' Friends", and "What A Heartache", a personal favorite of Dolly's and a song she has since recorded twice. The CD edition of this album has become Dolly's rarest and most sought-after compact disc of Miss Parton's career with copies selling for several hundreds of dollars. The album was also produced by Mike Post. In all 14 tracks are included.

As a true Dolly fan, I must say this is not one of her best films, but the soundtrack is set apart from the film, and once again she delievers a hell of a soundtrack to her fans...writing and singing her own songs

I know that a lot of Dolly fans love this album and so do I, but it would be even better if it hadn't featured vocals by Sylvester Stallone, who manifestly cannot sing. Lee Marvin was bad on Wandering star (though at least he had some novelty value), but he sounds brilliant by comparison with Stallone. (Yes, I know that this is a soundtrack album, but surely there were other actors who could have played the part and who had passable singing voices.)

The set opens with Tennessee homesick blues, a song that took everybody by surprise at the time of its release. At a time when Dolly was mainly recording pop-country, this slice of pure hillbilly came as a refreshing change, harking back to Dolly's early recordings. Much to my surprise, American country radio played it enough for it to become a number one country hit. Dolly sings four other songs here, these being God won't get you (a top ten country hit), What a heartache (a song that Dolly re-recorded for her 1991 album Eagle when she flies, and again for her 2002 album Halos and horns), One emotion after another and Butterflies.

The five Dolly solos are, of course, the best tracks here but some of the other music is also of a high quality. Two of Dolly's brothers each sing one song. Floyd sings Waltz me to heaven (great, but I'd love to hear Dolly sing it) while Randy sings Too much water. Dolly's sister Stella sings a duet with Kin Vassey on Goin' back to heaven. All of these are brilliant. I'm not sure about Rusty Buchanan's contribution (The day my baby died) but it's OK.

The remaining five tracks feature Sylvester Stallone. Three of them (Woke up in love, Sweet lovin' friends, Be there) are duets with Dolly that partially disguise his vocal limitations. A fourth (Stay out of my bedroom) features Dolly as a supporting singer, but his solo track, Drinkin'stein, exposes his musical limitations utterly.

This would have been one of Dolly's best ever albums had it featured an actor with at least a recognizable singing voice - Kris Kristofferson, for example. As it is, it's still a great album but I keep thinking of what might have been.