by The National (2012)Being away I just got caught up with the “Blackwater” episode of Game of Thrones and what an episode it was! A modern take on the Rains of Castemere was a perfect song to end such epic awesomeness. And now I can say I’ve heard The National.
by George Harrison (1982)Grey windy Sundays are no good for fun family outings but they definitely work for making home made soup and playing classic favorites like Time Bandits in the background.
Almost as shocking as the film’s ending is the rock song that plays over the ending credits.
After sticking in my head for days I decided to find out what it was. Seems Dream Away was written specifically for the movie by George Harrison and is considered one of his best solo works.
by Stu Phillips etc (1970)It’s hard to make an album as off the wall brilliant/bad as the movie Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, but in its own way the soubdtrack is pretty fabulous.
I sought it out one morning when I was craving a 60’s counter culture girl band sound, that insanely enough, I only found (without extensive searching) in the satisfying throaty sexiness of the fake in-movie band The Carrie Nations.
Songs like of “Look On Up At the Bottom”, “Come With the Gentle People”, “Sweet Talking Candyman” will make you want to shake your mini skirt hips on gogo boots. And not ironically either.
Much of the music’s success comes from writer Stu Phillips and the amazing vocals of one Lynn Carey who, after a brief google search I’ve learned was a penthouse model and hippie/sexy lead singer of a band called Mama Lion. I’m intrigued.
Various Artists (but Kubrick’s vision) (1968)An epic soundtrack to an awe inspiring film.
Listening to the 2001: A Space Odyssey Soundtrack will make your day seem significant and very weird.
And while we’re at it, how awesome is this monolith action figure?
Various Artists (1986)The whole apartment’s been alive with the sounds of third grade as Jim and I been nostalgic for the Stand By Me soundtrack.
I imagine we weren’t the only ones that treasured that well worn cassette tape.
I choreographed a dance to Lollipop and always somewhat dramatically cried during the title track as the thought of River’s bar fight demise was too much for my eight year old heart to bear.
The album steered me towards a 1950’s obsession that lasted a few years – lucky for me I was hosting birthday parties in the age of Fuddruckers.
Now I’m a mom and I’m old and my baby Van is grooving to his favorite track “Get a Job”.
It’s one of the coolest things about parenthood really, that things you loved from your youth get revisited by new eyes and ears and suddenly being eight years old doesn’t seem far away at all.
30 Day Song Challenge – Day Twenty: Best Movie Theme Song (Action/Adventure):Hard Ticket to Hawaii by Gary Stockdale
PS – Hard Ticket to Hawaii = Also One of Our Favorite Movies of All Time
30 Day Song Challenge – Day Nineteen: Best Movie Theme Song (Comedy):Joysticks (Totally Awesome Video Games!) by John Caper Jr.
PS – Joysticks = One of Our Favorite Movies of All Time
30 Day Song Challenge – Day Thirteen: Best Song to Get Creepy With for Friday the 13th:I’m Hurt Bad by Angelo Badalamenti (1990)
PS – Twin Peaks, possibly best TV show ever now streaming on Netflix Instant!
by Tom Waits (1988)Seeing Tom Waits live is like the Holy Grail for me. After a couple years of fulfilling my live in concert dreams (Lindsey Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac, Britney Spears, Nick Cave, Grace Jones, and R. Kelly) he’s the only big one left. It’s a rare occurrence, with the last tour being a couple years ago. Fortunately for all of us, his previous concert film, Big Time is available to stream from netflix even as DVDs are difficult to track down.
Theatrical with a German expressionist meets vaudeville vibe, it’s a joy to watch, especially for long time fans. Waits performs some of my favorite songs from Rain Dogs, Frank’s Wild Years and Swordfishtrombones and charms the audience with piano side monologues about pregnancy, erotica, and strip clubs.
His wife Kathleen Brennan, who sparked Waits’ gravely, strange and fantastic turn by introducing him to Captain Beefheart was the co-creative behind this performance.
The album, which was released after the video, is a great listen even with out the visual accompaniment.
Click here for the rest of Big Time
by Riz Ortolani (1980)I’ve yet to see the movie Cannibal Holocaust (I know, I know, it’s a exploitation classic) but even without firsthand knowledge, this is certainly not the soundtrack I expected from it. Featuring amazing song titles like Adultresses’ Punishment – which sounds like Hammer style dread in outer space, Cameraman’s Recreation – a groovy porny song that leads into a childlike romp, the video game sounding Massacre of the Troupe, and the surprisingly melodic and catchy theme, it’s more than a mere novelty but something quite listenable, unique and enjoyable.
True, at times it treads close to calls to mind muzak from the seventies (see Drinking Coco) – which in turn calls to mind the kind of wall paper that use to have bits of mirrored gold in it – something from my childhood perhaps – I think ice cream was involved… but I digress.
Overall though, this album is so much more interesting and nice to listen to than it needed to be. I mean, it’s a soundtrack for a film that caused outrage over its killing of actual animals on screen which was banned in many countries for indecency and extreme gore. And yet, I have been playing the soundtrack for my baby for days.
All the praise for the music goes to Riz Ortolani, a composer of mostly b-movies and genres flicks who obviously put his heart into even the most unusual of jobs. I have friend and weird movie connoisseur Matthew to thank for this soundtrack making the rounds in my iphone. Several others have been released and I am sure I’ve be writing about them soon enough.