Three O’Clock High (CD)

Not eligible for discounts or promotions Three O’Clock High was an offbeat take on the ’80s high school comedy. Stylishly directed by Phil Joanou (U2’s Rattle and Hum, State of Grace, Final Analysis), the film is more Scorsese than John Hughes, starring Casey Siemaszko as a nerd forced into an afterschool rumble with a psychopath bully, played by Richard Tyson. The film became a cult hit on home video, and is helped enormously by its moody, dynamic, pulsating score by German synthpop legends Tangerine Dream (Sorcerer, Thief, Risky Business).  Director Joanou was desperate for the band to score the film and was overjoyed when they agreed: “The Berlin sessions with Edgar Froese and Paul Haslinger were a (tangerine) dream come true,” he writes in new liner notes for this release. “At their studio next to the Berlin Wall, we worked for several weeks crafting each cue… The things they could coax out of a keyboard, as well as guitars, bass, and drums, were just incredible. I was blown away.”