NICK BARTLETT: "IT's A VIBRANT, UNIQUELY ODD FILM; ONCE SEEN, NEVER FORGOTTEN"
For the 50th anniversary of Brian De Palma's Phantom Of The Paradise, Critical Popcorn's Nick Bartlett dives into the film's soundtrack, song-by-song, all composed by Paul Williams. Here's what Bartlett writes about "Somebody Super Like You" -
You could reasonably make the claim that over the course of the film Paul Williams predicted numerous trends in the music industry. With Somebody Super Like You, he seemed to pre-empt the theatre of bands like Kiss and Goth Rock. Throughout the film, Swan’s group The Juicy Fruits pop up in a variety of guises, performing variations of the Phantom’s work. For this song the group are all dressed as somnambulist Cesare from The Cabinet Of Doctor Caligari, with a stage set that recreates the German expressionist mise en scene. Now called The Undead, this Frankenstein-inspired anthem celebrates an ideal man, assembled from various body parts, creating a campy, terrifying experience. The bone-chilling screams from singer Harold Oblong are incredible, as are his distinctive vocals, full of little tics – “Somebody sssssuper like you!”Incidentally, this was the highest charting song from the soundtrack. It went platinum, but curiously, only in Winnipeg!
