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What's your favourite film soundtrack...


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... Or simply song written for a film? I've just been listening to the Kevin and Perry Go Large soundtrack. Thumping. Always makes me wish I'd gone to Ibiza in my younger years.

 

As for song, I repeatedly listen to Mark Knoppfler's Going Home: Theme of the local hero. It's the song Newcastlke play pre-match. I just like it for some reason...

 

You?

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My advice is just listen to the work of Elmer Bernstein and/or Bernard Herrman and you won't go far wrong. There is so much film music that I love out there that narrowing the choice down to a manageable top ten list of my personal favourites is a well nigh impossible task - but I'll give it a go anyway:

 

1 - Bernard Herrman's score for Hitchcock's 'Vertigo'. An object lesson from the master in how to score a film.

2 - Herrman again for his brilliant work on 'Psycho'. I can't even imagine the film without that score - and I'm not just referring here to the shower scene.

3 - Lalo Schifrin's main title music from 'Bullit'. A sound almost as glacially cool as Steve McQueen was.

4 - The Luftwaffe March from 'The Battle of Britain'. Bombers and bombast in perfect harmony.

5 - Ron Goodwin's theme from 'Where Eagles Dare'. A fine example of war film music.

6 - The utterly superb soundtrack from the Coen Brothers 'O Brother Where Art Thou'. A musical education that changed my life.

7 - Anything the great Ennio Morricone scored - once heard never forgotten.

8 - Vangelis and the revolutionary soundtrack he composed for 'Blade Runner'

9 - Anton Karas and his famous Zither theme from Orson Welles's 'The Third Man'.

10 - Last but certainly not least, Elmer Bernstein and this piece that captures the spirit of the film it accompanies perfectly:

 

Edited by CHAPEL END CHARLIE
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My advice is just listen to the work of Elmer Bernstein and/or Bernard Herrman and you won't go far wrong. There is so much film music that I love out there that narrowing the choice down to a manageable top ten list of my personal favourites is a well nigh impossible task - but I'll give it a go anyway:

 

1 - Bernard Herrman's score for Hitchcock's 'Vertigo'. An object lesson from the master in how to score a film.

2 - Herrman again for his brilliant work on 'Psycho'. I can't even imagine the film without that score - and I'm not just referring here to the shower scene.

3 - Lalo Schifrin's main title music from 'Bullit'. A sound almost as glacially cool as Steve McQueen was.

4 - The Luftwaffe March from 'The Battle of Britain'. Bombers and bombast in perfect harmony.

5 - Ron Goodwin's theme from 'Where Eagles Dare'. A fine example of war film music.

6 - The utterly superb soundtrack from the Coen Brothers 'O Brother Where Art Thou'. A musical education that changed my life.

7 - Anything the great Ennio Morricone scored - once heard never forgotten.

8 - Vangelis and the revolutionary soundtrack he composed for 'Blade Runner'

9 - Anton Karas and his famous Zither theme from Orson Welles's 'The Third Man'.

10 - Last but certainly not least, Elmer Bernstein and this piece that captures the spirit of the film it accompanies perfectly:

 

 

Gets a big thumbs up from me.

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My advice is just listen to the work of Elmer Bernstein and/or Bernard Herrman and you won't go far wrong. There is so much film music that I love out there that narrowing the choice down to a manageable top ten list of my personal favourites is a well nigh impossible task - but I'll give it a go anyway:

 

1 - Bernard Herrman's score for Hitchcock's 'Vertigo'. An object lesson from the master in how to score a film.

2 - Herrman again for his brilliant work on 'Psycho'. I can't even imagine the film without that score - and I'm not just referring here to the shower scene.

3 - Lalo Schifrin's main title music from 'Bullit'. A sound almost as glacially cool as Steve McQueen was.

4 - The Luftwaffe March from 'The Battle of Britain'. Bombers and bombast in perfect harmony.

5 - Ron Goodwin's theme from 'Where Eagles Dare'. A fine example of war film music.

6 - The utterly superb soundtrack from the Coen Brothers 'O Brother Where Art Thou'. A musical education that changed my life.

7 - Anything the great Ennio Morricone scored - once heard never forgotten.

8 - Vangelis and the revolutionary soundtrack he composed for 'Blade Runner'

9 - Anton Karas and his famous Zither theme from Orson Welles's 'The Third Man'.

10 - Last but certainly not least, Elmer Bernstein and this piece that captures the spirit of the film it accompanies perfectly:

 

 

6, 7, and 8 I like.

 

The Amelie soundtrack was another one that was enjoyably different.

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Sometimes the power of music can instantly grant the viewer a profound insight into the heart of a character and what makes him 'tick' in a way that might take even a gifted scriptwriter many pages to convey. For example; in Jonathan Demme's memorable 1990 thriller 'The Silence of the Lambs' it seems to me the juxtaposition between the sublime sophistication of his musical taste (from JS Bach's 'Goldberg Variations') and Lector's utterly psychotic behaviour is employed here to striking effect:

 

 

The artfully chosen music, when used in combination with a (very) graphic illustration of his capability for violence, tells us all we need to know about this man's nature. Lector may be a extreme example but like many people he is a unfathomable anachronism - urbane and educated yet capable of brute savagery too. Now imagine if you can this same scene without Bach and to my way of thinking it loses a key element of its power to shock. Indeed, following the commercial and critical success of 'Silence of the Lambs' Hollywood later went on to make another film that attempted to get inside Lector's 'head' as it were, but I doubt that effort was half as effective in achieving the aim as these few minutes of 'Bach and Butchery' were.

 

PS - earlier I forgot to include the great John Williams in my list of noted film music composers - doh! Just Google his film credits and you will see just how massive a error that was.

Edited by CHAPEL END CHARLIE
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Not sure if many of these weree the Theme tune to films or just featured but here are a few that when I hear the song I instantly think of the film!!

 

Born to be Wild - Steppenwolf ... Easy Rider.

You never can tell - Chuck Berry ... JT and Uma crazy dance in Pulp Fiction

Rock and Roll Queen - The Subways ..... Guy Ritchies Rock n Rolla

You've lost that loving feeling - Righteous Brothers ..... Top Gun. (Own up ... who else has done it in a pub!!)

Lust for life - Iggy Pop ..... uused in the trailer for the film Trainspotting. The song Trainspotting by Primal Scream is also awesome.

Tubular Bells - Mike Oldfield .. the excerpt used in The Exorcist.

Paint it Black - The Rolling Stones - Full Metal Jacket (?)

 

..... more to follow when I get my thinking head on!!

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... Or simply song written for a film? I've just been listening to the Kevin and Perry Go Large soundtrack. Thumping. Always makes me wish I'd gone to Ibiza in my younger years.

 

As for song, I repeatedly listen to Mark Knoppfler's Going Home: Theme of the local hero. It's the song Newcastlke play pre-match. I just like it for some reason...

 

You?

 

Kevin & Perry one of my favourite films ever!

 

Good call on Local Hero as well.

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I'd probably have different choices for best score and best soundtrack.

 

For me, and I suspect many others my age, John Williams is the king of movie music composition. I take on board Chapel End Charlie's Enrico Morricone's advice and would wholeheartedly agree with it, but John William's music added so much to films I really love.

 

I could list Jaws, ET and Star Wars and be done right there, but I especially like the way his music is used in Raiders of the Lost Ark. There are few composers who manage to feel as in tone with the movies as Williams does; perhaps that's because he's had a great deal on input in setting the tone. All of the classics I've just listed would be vastly diminished without his contribution.

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Kevin & Perry one of my favourite films ever!

 

Good call on Local Hero as well.

 

Great tastes!

 

The Beach has a decent soundtrack too, and how could I forget Eye Of The Tiger from Rocky 3!

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Not sure if many of these weree the Theme tune to films or just featured but here are a few that when I hear the song I instantly think of the film!!

 

Born to be Wild - Steppenwolf ... Easy Rider.

You never can tell - Chuck Berry ... JT and Uma crazy dance in Pulp Fiction

Rock and Roll Queen - The Subways ..... Guy Ritchies Rock n Rolla

You've lost that loving feeling - Righteous Brothers ..... Top Gun. (Own up ... who else has done it in a pub!!)

Lust for life - Iggy Pop ..... uused in the trailer for the film Trainspotting. The song Trainspotting by Primal Scream is also awesome.

Tubular Bells - Mike Oldfield .. the excerpt used in The Exorcist.

Paint it Black - The Rolling Stones - Full Metal Jacket (?)

 

..... more to follow when I get my thinking head on!!

 

Got you down to sing that nxt time you're at Karaoke

 

Oh random TSW legend fact, I once sang Born to be Wild in a bar with Nick St Nicholas on Guitar. (normal random Dubai night out of course)

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Judgment Night and Ghost Dog are great shouts.

 

Superfly by Curtis Mayfield is up there too. Some Angelo Badalamenti would be in my list, I'd pick Twin Peaks but it's not a film so will plump for The Straight Story instead.

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One of the very best film soundtracks was for the Jamaican film The Harder They Come (1972). The film stars Jimmy Cliff, and he is heavily featured in the soundtrack. Also included are Scotty, The Melodians, The Maytals, The Slickers, and Desmond Dekker. Fantastic collection!

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Some other stand-outs: A Hard Day's Night (1964), The Graduate (1967), and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968 ).

 

As far as composers who wrote pretty much the entire score for films go, one of the very best was Mauric Jarre, who worked often with David Lean. He has done a huge number of films, including Dr. Zhivago (1965) and Lawrence of Arabia (1962).

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Aren't The Doors your era ? Or are you more Bill Haley ?

 

Bill Haley was my big sister, along with Elvis, Gene Vincent and all that lot. My music years were early 60s to early 70s. Think Beatles, Who, Kinks, Hendrix, Herman's Hermits, all the classics ;)

 

We went to the Beatles show 'Let It Be' at the Mayflower last week. A great evening and a wonderful sing-along and not just for the recently incontinent either, there were plenty of youngsters strutting their stuff in the aisles too. The week before we went to '20th Century Boy' at the same place. A reconstruction of the life and music of Marc Bolan and T-Rex. Again, great musicians and dancing in the aisles. Catch them if you can.

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Bill Haley was my big sister, along with Elvis, Gene Vincent and all that lot. My music years were early 60s to early 70s. Think Beatles, Who, Kinks, Hendrix, Herman's Hermits, all the classics ;)

 

We went to the Beatles show 'Let It Be' at the Mayflower last week. A great evening and a wonderful sing-along and not just for the recently incontinent either, there were plenty of youngsters strutting their stuff in the aisles too. The week before we went to '20th Century Boy' at the same place. A reconstruction of the life and music of Marc Bolan and T-Rex. Again, great musicians and dancing in the aisles. Catch them if you can.

 

I had a cash-in-hand job at Southampton Guildhall in the early 70's taking tickets and generally keeping an eye on things.

 

Got to see the Who, Bowie, Elton John, Slade and Rory Gallagher amongst others.

 

The Who were incredibly loud, Bowie was a bit of a ripoff as he only did about 40 minutes and Slade sounded exactly like they did on vinyl.

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The first one that sprang to mind has already been mentioned: O Brother Where Art Thou? A superb soundtrack that made an already perfect film even more endearing.

 

Other notable ones off the top of my head, and trying to avoid the obvious....

 

South West 9 - Little-known, low budget British film from the early 2000s that followed a day in the life of 5 different characters in Brixton, focusing on a pair of scammers organising a free rave in an old church. Made by the same production company as Human Traffic but less mainstream, the soundtrack featured some absolute gems from house to trance to dub. The film is worth watching alone for the performance of the guy who inadvertently ingests an extremely high dose of LSD and loses the plot completely.

 

Where the Wild Things Are - Spike Jonze's 2009 movie adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic children's book, which I absolutely adored when I was a kid. The soundtrack was written and performed by the lead singer from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and just fits so perfectly with the atmosphere of the film.

 

Deathproof - A poor film by Quentin Tarantino's standards, only really worth watching for the lap-dance scene, but as usual he got the soundtrack absolutely spot on to match the feel of the movie. He has a unique ability to take old, obscure songs and, by including them with certain movie scenes, making them seriously cool. Who else could get away with including a track by Dave, Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tish in a film about a psychotic stunt driver FFS!?!?

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm with Chapel End Charlie and Pap on this one. Anything that Ennio Morricone has done is pure genius. That said, my wife gives me grief because not only do I like the music to, but I also like this film:

 

 

An acquired taste maybe - but I loved it...!

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  • 1 month later...

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