Soundtracks

[Johann]

A good soundtrack reminds you of the movie.
Anybody buy soundtracks here? I have some that I can't live without:

Apocalypse Now
Superman (deluxe edition)
2001: A Space Odyssey
A Clockwork Orange (score AND soundtrack)
Eyes Wide Shut
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Drowning By Numbers
The Draughtsman's Contract
The Pillow Book
The Baby of Macon
Devdas
The Last Waltz-box set
Pulp Fiction
Bringing Out The Dead
Easy Rider
More
Selma Songs (Dancer in the Dark)
8 Femmes (just bought)

[cinemabon]

I have soundtracks, or original soundtrack scores, by composer. First and foremost, there is John Williams, followed by Alfred Newman, and then Bernard Herrmann. I like Danny Elfman, Howard Shore, Jerry Goldsmith, John Barry, Maurice Jarre, Bruce Broughton, Elmer Bernstein, and Dave Grusin. They comprise the core of the bulk of my collection. Alfred Newman is probably the greatest film conductor of all. Williams has perhaps the greatest number of original themes. Goldsmith and Barry have a wide variety of scores. Elfman, of course with his gothic scores, especially Batman and Spiderman. Broughton's score for "Silverado" is perhaps the greatest western score ever written next to Berstein's "The Magnificent Seven". There are many sites online devoted to film music. I have them all in my browser if you want some really good links. Let me know.

[Johann]

I love Bernard Hermann's stuff. I made tapes of my favorite composers and music from the movies from library radio mats:

John Zorn (tribute to Godard 1985), Nino Rota (La Dolce Vita), Anton Karras (theme from The Third Man), Elmer Bernstein, Vangelis (Blade Runner)- I also taped the score to Get Carter- excellent, (the 60's film-NOT the remake).
Philip Glass and Michael Nyman are incredible. Both have worked with Greenaway, & Nyman's Drowning By Numbers work is especially appealing to me.- He took four bars from Mozart's Sinfonia and morphed it into 92 separate pieces. (reworking the notes over and over) Genius.
John Williams is a legend, and I've planned on picking up the scores to A.I. & Minority Report for a while now. He has so much stuff- After shopping forever for a good Williams disc I picked Superman for it's sheer majesty. (Highly recommended to buy)

Cinemabon- yes, I would love some good film music site info.

[FilmWolf]

I have numerous soundtracks in my collection (most on vinyl, if THAT tells you anything...*lol*) and I usualy collect them according to how they've added to my overall experience of seeing the film. Some are original scores, some are "compilation"-type scores, but all are memorable, in my honest opinion:

1) Beetlejuice - The great Danny Elfman, with an "assist" from Harry Belafonte *grin*

2) The Blues Brothers

3) Gone With The Wind

4) Star Wars

5) JAWS

6) Raiders of The Lost Ark

7) The Sting - The 1st movie soundtrack I ever bought (and which I STILL have)

8) Grease

9) Disney's "Aladdin"

10) Ragtime - The wonderful Randy Newman channeling the spirit of Scott Joplin

11) That's Entertainment - Some of the greatest music from one of the greatest studios EVER...


and MANY, many more...*grin*

[cinemabon]

Here are some of the links that have given me some great insight into the world of motion picture soundtracks:

http://www.moviemusic.com

http://www.moviesounds.com

http://www.classicalrecordings.com

http://www.cinemusic.net

http://www.musicfromthemovies.com/

also there are the base sources like

http://www.imdb.com which is the internet movie database, about the greatest internet movie site on the planet

and of course, the very commercial amazon.com, which does have a very large catalogue of works. I hope all of those links are helpful in some way. I've been collecting film music for many years, but have slacked off in the past decade, mostly due to time. I find that as I grow in age, some things grow less important. I knew a man in Hollywood who dedicate his whole life to film soundtracks. He had an entire room that was filled with recordings most librarians would be drooling over. But I also discovered that despite the fact that having all this made his collection very valuable, he was shallow, very superficial, and lacked practically any redeeming value as a human being. Like "Kane", we can amass all the things we can buy, but cash cannot buy lifelong friends, intregrity, or humility. Hollywood and New York are filled with forgotten "has beens" that lack all of those qualities, because they believed in only themselves, and not in the ideals we all treasure as worth having.

I apologize for pontificating.

[Johann]

Thanks for the links! Cinemusic is a fine looking site.

[dave durbin]

Purchased:

1. 8 Women (it's fun -a guilty pleasure)

2. Pennies from Heaven (album)

3. Barbarella (album)

4. Paris Blues (CD)

5. Chinatown (CD)

6. Moulin Rouge 1 & 2 (CD's - future classics)

7. Richard Pryor Live! (CD)

8. Lenny Bruce Live at Carnige Hall (CD)

9. Sandra Bernhard Live -I'm Still Here, Dammitt!!! (CD)

10. downloaded John C. Reilly's Mister Cellophane from Chicago (hypothetically speaking of course!)

[Perfume V]

I must admit, my disinterest in classical music keeps me from enjoying a lot of soundtracks, but looking up on my shelf I can see the following:

A Life Less Ordinary - mediocre movie, great soundtrack. Worth owning for Beck's woozy bossa nova 'Deadweight' alone.

The Royal Tenenbaums - a brilliant selection of tracks from all eras, interspersed with Mark Mothersbaugh's jazzy score. Elliott Smith's chilling 'Needle In The Hay' is a standout.

Fight Club - everyone my age owns the movie, and everyone my age owns the soundtrack. And for once, y'know, everyone my age is right.

Mulholland Drive - uneasy listening.

City of God - wisely concentrating on the more obscure tracks at the expense of James Brown and 'Kung Fu Fighting', this is a stunning mix of samba, bossa nova, chilled funk and Blaxploitation score that makes you wish you too were shooting at the pigs with a case full of smack in a clapped-out car in 70s Frisco. Or maybe that's just me.

[Ilker81x]

Top 10 Film Soundtracks:

1) Until the End of the World (U2, Depeche Mode, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Jane Siberry, Lou Reed)
2) Pulp Fiction (Dick Dale, Kool and the Gang, Chuck Berry, Dusty Springfield)
3) Lost Highway (Lou Reed, Rammstein, Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson)
4) Singles (Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Mudhoney)
5) Highlander (Queen)
6) Jackie Brown (Bobby Womack, Pam Grier, The Delfonics)
7) Mulholland Drive (Sonny Boy Williamson, Rebekah Del Rio, Dave Cavanaugh)
8) Spawn (Prodigy & Tom Morello, Filter & The Crystal Method, Orbital & Kirk Hammett)
9) Splendor (Slowdive, Lush, Everything But the Girl, The Micronauts)
10) The Crow (Nine Inch Nails, The Cure, Stone Temple Pilots, My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult)

Honorable mentions:
The Transformers: The Movie (Spectre General, Stan Bush, Lion, N.R.G., Weird Al Yankovic)
Reservoir Dogs (George Baker Selection, Stealer's Wheel, Blue Swede)
Trainspotting (Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Underworld, Elastica)
Withnail and I (Jimi Hendrix, King Curtis, The Beatles)


Top 10 Film Scores:

1) Blade Runner - Vangelis
2) Akira - Geinoh Yamashirogumi
3) The Last Temptation of Christ - Peter Gabriel (Passion)
4) Aeon Flux - Drew Neumann (Eye Spy)
5) Conan the Barbarian - Basil Pouledouris
6) Star Trek: The Motion Picture - Jerry Goldsmith
7) Lost Highway - Angelo Badalamenti
8) Terminator 2: Judgement Day - Brad Fiedel
9) The Crow - Graeme Revell
10) The Vikings - Mario Nascimbene

Honorable mentions:
The Transformers: The Movie - Vince DiCola
Dune (1984) - Toto
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - Ennio Morricone
Batman (1989) - Danny Elfman
The Lord of the Rings - Howard Shore
Legend - Jerry Goldsmith
Catch Me If You Can - John Williams
Predator - Alan Silvestri
Patriot Games - James Horner
The Untouchables - Ennio Morricone
Se7en - Howard Shore
Fight Club - The Dust Brothers

[Johann]

The Royal Tenenbaums soundtrack is killer. Bob Dylan's "wigwam"
is the bomb. Speaking of Bob, his "man in me" from The Big Lebowski was another fine example of his iconic style.

There are some wild soundtrack choices here. Transformers? An animated film? The music moved you that much? wow.

Lynch soundtracks are something to behold. My favorite scenes in Mulholland Dr. were the auditions. Those sugar-coated songs from the 60's are surreal. And how about that mind-blowing version of Orbison's "Crying"? It stopped me in my tracks. It
reminded me of a scene in a foreign film called "Testamento".

[Ilker81x]

I wouldn't say "The Transformers: The Movie" soundtrack moved me exactly. Just that it is a damn good soundtrack. The bands may have been obscure, but they were great songs that just fit perfectly in the scenes they were in (especially "Instruments of Destruction" by N.R.G., the perfect song to play when the Decepticons are slaughtering the Autobots, hehe...okay, I'm an '80's cartoon dork, what can I say?). Vince DiCola's score was great too because he came up with some really cool themes that, again, fit the movie perfectly. I count it in my top ten because I love the movie, and I think the music score and soundtrack were great.

Lynch soundtracks are always awesome yes. "Mulholland Dr." was great for me because it was quintessential David Lynch/Angelo Badalamenti. The use of 60's pop songs is always a good touch of American surrealism, and yes Rebekah Del Rio's performance of "Crying" is beautiful. That's my favorite scene in the movie, next to the scene when the hitman keeps screwing up. "Lost Highway" is still my favorite because it's a successful foray into post-modern industrialism for Lynch, as opposed to his other films which posses industrial atmospheres, but still hark back to his conservative 50's-60's mentality that shows up in "Mulholland Dr." and "Blue Velvet." And with that soundtrack...you're in that world. Listening to that soundtrack CD, you're in that world of strangeness and mistaken identity. It is becoming a rarity for a soundtrack REALLY take you into that world the movie took you to.

BTW...why so surprised that I included an animated film (or two since I also mentioned "Akira." As well as "Aeon Flux," although that's a TV series. I think a good number of animated films have much to offer in the way of serious scores and soundtracks. In Japan, Hiroyuki Namba won the award for best cyberpunk soundtrack for his music for "Armitage III." It IS a great cyberpunk soundtrack, a good mixture of techno, electronic, rock, and traditional score music. I think animated films are given a bad rap because they are animated, as if they must not be serious, but really...they are a lotta times as serious (if not more so) than live action films.

[Johann]

[QUOTE]
BTW...why so surprised that I included an animated film (or two since I also mentioned "Akira." As well as "Aeon Flux," although that's a TV series. I think a good number of animated films have much to offer in the way of serious scores and soundtracks. In Japan, Hiroyuki Namba won the award for best cyberpunk soundtrack for his music for "Armitage III." It IS a great cyberpunk soundtrack, a good mixture of techno, electronic, rock, and traditional score music. I think animated films are given a bad rap because they are animated, as if they must not be serious, but really...they are a lotta times as serious (if not more so) than live action films. [QUOTE]

I knew you would spot my lapse into laziness. I was just picking on your liking Transformers. Animated films often do have great soundtracks. Case in point: "Heavy Metal" & "Yellow Sub"

[Perfume V]

*L* I grew up on Transformers too. I remember when I first watched Boogie Nights and I made a little squeal of joy when Mark Wahlberg started singing 'The Touch'.

[oscar jubis]

JACK JOHNSON (feat. Miles Davis)
THE HARDER THEY COME
RUDE BOY (feat. The Clash)
GUYS AND DOLLS
VERTIGO
MURMUR OF THE HEART (Malle)
THE CIVIL WAR (Burns)
ROCK 'N' ROLL HIGH SCHOOL
LA TRAVIATA (Zefirelli)
2001
BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB
DAZED AND CONFUSED
BACKBEAT
ANATOMY OF A MURDER
JIT-THE MOVIE

Runners Up: Do The Right Thing, Stop Making Sense, Mandela, Popeye, Mulholland Drive, Jailhouse Rock, Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Un Coeur en Hiver, Goodfellas, Judgement Night, Something Wild, Amores Perros, Hilary and Jackie, The Decline of Western Civilization, La Bamba.

[Ilker81x]

oscar jubis...

Good choice on "2001: A Space Odyssey." Gyorgy Ligeti's music was prety eerie in that movie, not to mention that all-too-easy-to-make-fun-of piano line he wrote for "Eyes Wide Shut."

I think Kubrick's movies always have good music to make them up, and of course Wendy Carlos' synthesizer-bsed arrangements of classical music made "A Clockwork Orange" and "The Shining" all the more enjoyable. Incidentally, "The Shining" is one of two movies that always frighten me no matter how many times I watch it, and part of that is due to the music.

"The Exorcist" is the other movie that still scares me, and the music for that movie was pretty eerie too. I'm not just talking about "Tubular Bells," but also those incidental ques like when the Exorcist arrives at the house, or those shrieking violins that pop up every now and again...the music-less moments in that movie were the scariest as well, and I think a lot must be said for a movie taht dares to have a soundtrack that is next to nothing.