D.C. Cab (soundtrack)

D.C. Cab: Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the 1983 film "D.C. Cab". The producers selected artists for the album who were popular with a young, black audience, and the popularity of one of the film's stars, Mr. T, prompted the film's distributor to release the film four months earlier than planned. "D.C. Cab" performed poorly at the box office, and the soundtrack peaked at number 181 on the album chart in "Billboard" magazine.
The first of the three singles released from the album, "The Dream (Hold On to Your Dream)" by Irene Cara, had some success on multiple singles charts in the US and had a music video that received airplay on MTV. Cara later claimed in a lawsuit that her musical contribution was arranged by the head of her record company. The two other singles, "Deadline U.S.A." by Shalamar and the film's title song by Peabo Bryson scored on the Black Singles chart.
Critics in "Billboard" gave the album high marks, whereas the reviewer for AllMusic gave it one-and-a-half stars.
Background.
The score for "D.C. Cab" was written by Giorgio Moroder, who produced and wrote the music for several of the songs on the soundtrack album. The film's producer, Topper Carew, explained how he chose the artists involved such as Shalamar, Peabo Bryson, and DeBarge: "We were looking for urban contemporary music acts who were particularly strong in the black community with young people, yet had the potential for crossing over."
Some plans to involve black artists in the film and/or soundtrack did not materialize. Carew mentioned an attempt to have Mr. T, one of the stars of the film, cut a rap record for the album that never happened. While Irene Cara and Karen Kamon made the final cut for the soundtrack, their fellow "Flashdance" soundtrack alums Cycle V did not, despite a December 1983 report of their involvement that also listed Musical Youth as part of the project. Musical Youth were even filmed for a scene in the movie that was left on the cutting room floor, while plans for Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five to appear on-screen also fell through. A track titled "D.C. Cab" that is different than the Peabo Bryson song on this album was credited to Grandmaster Melle Mel and the Furious Five on the 1999 compilation "Adventures on the Wheels of Steel".
"D.C. Cab" was originally slated for an April 1984 release in theaters, and the soundtrack from MCA Records was to be in stores in February. Because Mr. T.'s new television series "The A-Team" was a top ten hit in the Nielsen ratings, the film's distributor, Universal Pictures, decided to take advantage of his popularity by moving the film's release up to December 16, 1983. Plans that had been made to market the film using the cast before the original April opening date were canceled. Cara's "What a Feelin"' album had been released by Geffen Records on November 2, 1983, without the first single to be released from the soundtrack, "The Dream (Hold On to Your Dream)", but one of the film's executive producers, Jon Peters, arranged to have her album pulled from store shelves and reissued to include it. The movie opened in ninth place in its first weekend of release and earned a total of $16 million over the course of its theatrical run.
Release.
MCA had previously listed soundtracks at $9.98, but for "D.C. Cab" the list price was lowered to $8.98 because the company felt they "had a hit album regardless of the film's success." Because of the film's new release date, MCA was planning for the soundtrack to be on store shelves in December. The album was published on the New LP/Tape Releases list in "Billboard" in the January 14, 1984, issue and debuted in the February 11 issue on the magazine's Top LPs & Tapes chart, where it got as high as number 181 during its 4 weeks there. That same issue included its first appearance on the magazine's Black LPs chart, where it spent 7 weeks and peaked at number 56.
Singles.
The first song released from the soundtrack was "The Dream (Hold On to Your Dream)" by Irene Cara, which debuted on the "Billboard" Hot 100 in the issue dated December 10, 1983, and peaked at number 37 over the course of the 14 weeks that it spent there. Its debut on "Billboard"s Black Singles chart in the December 24 issue began an 8-week run, during which time it reached number 65. The January 28, 1984, issue was the start of another 8-week run for the song, this time as a dance remix that made it to number 26 on the magazine's Dance/Disco Top 80 chart. That same issue also marked the first appearance of Shalamar's "Deadline U.S.A." on the Black Singles chart, where it peaked at number 34 over the course of its 10 weeks there. They also got to number 52 with it on the UK singles chart during their three weeks there in the spring of 1984. The title song, performed by Peabo Bryson, began 9 weeks on the Black Singles chart in the February 11 issue of "Billboard" and reached number 53.
Music video.
The video for "The Dream" used scenes from the film alongside footage of Cara playing herself in her home and around the streets of London. The cabbies have sent her a note that reads, "We miss you, Irene! Your friends at D.C. Cab", and Cara lip-syncs and dances to the music as the comedic visual elements from the film are interwoven throughout. "Billboard" listed the clip in the New Videos Added section of its MTV Adds & Rotation column, which noted that it was added to the cable channel's playlist of music videos as of December 14 in the December 24 issue.
Critical reception.
The album received mixed reviews. At the time of its release, "Billboard" Dance Trax columnist Brian Chin insisted that the soundtrack was "an album to rave over" and had high praise for Moroder and Ramone, describing the project as "a fascinating, satisfying indicator of how much study that team has put into new American production styles since creating the music for "Flashdance"." He liked Shalamar's "Deadline U.S.A." much more than their recent hit "Dead Giveaway" and described Champaign's "Knocks Me On My Feet" as being "in the very voguish vocal group/electronics fusion mode." Nelson George, then The Rhythm & The Blues columnist for "Billboard", wrote that Peabo Bryson's title track was the best uptempo song that Bryson had ever sung.
In a retrospective review for AllMusic, J.T. Griffith dismissed the album as a "poor relic from the early Reagan era" that was "not up to the quality of the soundtracks for "Fame", "Flashdance", or "Footloose"."
Aftermath.
In 1985, Cara filed a lawsuit against Network Records and Al Coury, Inc., for, among other things, withholding most of the royalties she had earned from her recordings for the label. Coury, the former RSO executive who signed Cara to his newly-formed Network Records a few years earlier, was "acting like a manager, which he shouldn't have been doing," according to Cara. She alleges that "in a deal Coury arranged for her to participate in the music for "D.C. Cab"." A Los Angeles County Superior Court ruled in her favor in 1993, and she began receiving royalties.
Track listing.
The following songs from the film are not included on the soundtrack album.
Personnel.
From the liner notes on both the album jacket and disc label: