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Underground > Radio & Music >

Your favourite Soundtrack?

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18:38 / 12.10.05

So I noticed we don´t have a favourite Soundtrack thread yet (at least the search thing didn´t say so).

Normally my favourite Soundtrack is The Ninth Gate by Wojciech Kilar. Really fits the mood of the movie (my favourite movie as well). By all means listen to it. Kilar is a famous polish composer. He doesn´t just do soundtracks, but orchestral suites and other classical music as well. He did the music for Bram Stoker´s Dracula, too. Also wonderfully arranged!

Right now, my favourite Soundtrack is from Basil Poledouris. Yes, Conan, the Barbarian! Maybe not the soundtrack to the The Little Book Of Barbarian Wisdom thread, but it´s so wonderfully pompous and over the top! I believe much of Conan´s success is owed to this soundtrack. Arnold might look more silly waving the sword around without those amazing trumpets and strings.

So, what is your favourite soundtrack (if you have one, or more than one). And...can you tell us why you like it?

Keith, like a scientist

18:59 / 12.10.05

ooh...I need to get that The Ninth Gate soundtrack. Love the music in that.

Right now, my favorite is Birth by Alexandre Desplat. The opening theme is a lovely flute and strings affair. It's very dramatic and symphonic, perfectly fitting the atmospheric nature of the film.

It's pretty silly, but any Star Wars soundtrack is incredible. Williams is the master of modern symphony. Pick any piece and focus on one instrument...see where it goes and how it fits...it's supremely genius.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

19:28 / 12.10.05

All the Goblin soundtrack stuff is brilliant... must buy Suspiria at some point.
Goblin are ace, and the main theme from Suspiria is one of the greatest pieces of music ever written for a horror soundtrack. That is a FACT and I will FIGHT anyone who says different.

Tenebre's really cool too- especially the badly translated liner notes:

SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM

"A surprising end: Neil, caught red-handed by police, pretends to commit suicide; when police commissioner tricks him off, he kills the latter".

20:14 / 12.10.05

It's pretty silly, but any Star Wars soundtrack is incredible.

If you like them, listen to Wagner. You´ll love his music. It´s where JW got his Star Wars soundtrack ideas from.

23:48 / 12.10.05

Flashdance.

03:04 / 13.10.05

You know, I really really like the Lord of the Rings theme. The duuhhh duhhh da-da-da daaaahhh riff that goes on all the time. Not enough to, like, buy it, but I really like it.

Best soundtrack of all time? Lost Boys -> "I Still Believe" by Tim Cappello. "Cry Little Sister" Great songs. Fuck yeah.

lord nuneaton savage

10:35 / 13.10.05

Have to second the vote for Suspiria. Absolutely terrifying whether your watching the film or just caning and listening. Really unnerving stuff.

There's a great bit on the documentary which comes with the new edition of the movie, when the stentorian voice over announces something along the lines of:

"Now Argento directs one of his greatest scenes, accompanied by the relentless rhythm of The Goblins"
(sic, they were credited as "The Goblins" in the titles)

"Relentless rhythm of the Goblins" is definitely the title of my new concept album.

Also Morricone's "Thing" soundtrack is pretty good. Although why they asked Morricone to do it when all he does is impersonate a John Carpenter soundtrack anyway is beyond me.

11:03 / 13.10.05

I just remembered another of my favourite soundtracks: The Wicker Man by Paul Giovanni.

That´s so great. It´s got folk music, it´s got bag-pipes, it´s got Christopher Lee singing! And a really weird song, with children singing some almost trance inducing hypnotic song/melody:

...and on that bed, there was a girl. And on that girl there was a man. And from that man there was a seed. And from that seed there was a boy. And from that boy there was a man. And for that man there was a grave. And from that grave there grew a treeee...

11:46 / 13.10.05

I was going to start a thread on soundtracks- but was thinking more along the lines of when bands score the music/ compilation type affairs.

I've been listening lots recently to Wig In A Box: Music from and inspired by Hedwig & The angry Inch which is truely fantastic. Its kind of cheating cos its bands doing covers of songs from the film- but it includes Polyphonic spree, Frank Black, Rufus Wainwright, Sleater Kinney and Jonathan freekin Richman! what more do you want?

Frank Blacks version of 'Sugar Daddy' has him screaming like he does with the Pixies, Sleater Kinney are joined by Fred Schnider from the B52's adding a perfect camp foil to the shouty angry rock girl thing on 'Angry Inch', Polyphonic spree do their epic Ziggy-esque thing on 'wig in a box' .... and thats not mentioning The Breeders and Ben Folds... A pretty perfect compilation (but is it really a soundtrack?)

My other Favourite soundtracks include: Midnight Cowboy- John Barry, Nilson singing 'Everybodys Talkin', Jungle Jim at the Zoo by The Groop and Florida Fantasy AKA the music to 70'sTV show Wildtrack... genius! Funny thing is i don't really like the movie that much- i know that the acting is amazing but its all a little too bleak for me.

there are lots more (Story Telling, the royal tenenbaums, The graduate etc) but a bit busy at the mo... so more later...

11:58 / 13.10.05

There is an amazing track on the soundtrack to The Thin Red Line, Journey to the Line. It is a beautiful piece of music. i quite liked Hans Zimmer's Batman Begins soundtrack, so guess I like his work overall, it has a great haunting, building to something quality.

I love the Empire Strikes Back soundtrack, the Asteroid Field and the Final Battle music are great.

The Usual Suspects is also very good, if a little punchy in places.

I've kind of gone off of the 90's style song - dialogue - song - dialogue type of soundtrack of late, and moved more into scored soundtracks.

Haus of Mystery

12:49 / 13.10.05

I love the Barton Fink/ Fargo soundtracks by Carter Burwell. The creeping repetetive motifs and delicate string sections of Barton Fink in particular.

John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13 naturally. The main theme is a masterpiece of simplicity and synthesiser aceness. Although I have a fondness for the Halloween main theme. Perfect for peeking out of curtains at the neighborhood kids.

And of course the Judgement Night Soundtrack. Although it may be directly responsible for many godawful rock/rap hybrids, it's got some killer stuff on it. De La soul & Teeange Fanclub's 'Fallin' is beautiful vintage De La stuff with an elegiac wistfulness significantly missing from the rest of the album. Faith No More & The Boo Yah Tribe's 'Judgement Night' has some ace Mike Patton "WOOOOOOOOOing" on it, and Sonic Youth & Cypress hill's 'Mary Jane' has one of the best descending guitar beginnings. Excellent teenage fodder.

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13:02 / 13.10.05

Get Carter, the original score by Roy Budd...what a feckin Bassline! Haunting weirdness and the grooviest, shuffliest most skankalogical funk this side of John Barry.

The James Horner score for Aliens is pretty much the yardstick for orchestral arrangement in an action movie. John Williams may have the anthems, but this OST is really varied and broad. Eeeexcellent.

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13:03 / 13.10.05

More recent as well, the Dust Brothers score for Fight Club is pretty ace.

lonely as a cloud...

13:16 / 13.10.05

I've always loved the soundtrack to The Royal Tenenbaums. There's some wonderful pieces by Mark Mothersbaugh, as well as some really great songs, by Nico, the Velvet Underground, Ramones, The Clash... Beautiful album, IMHO.

13:20 / 13.10.05

Ry Cooder's score for Paris, Texas.

13:21 / 13.10.05

Oh, and I also once bought Gabriel Yared's soundtrack for Betty Blue, but it was full of horrendous Eighties synth-and-electro-guitar versions of the beautiful theme tune.

Harrison Ford, in a battle suit, wheels for feet, knives and guns

13:27 / 13.10.05

Has to be Pat Garret and Billy The Kid by Bob Dylan. It's an absolute masterpiece, possibly one of my fav Dylan moments.
Also Full Metal Jacket by Abigail Mead is ace, she's responsible for all the really haunting incidental stuff. Excellent if you're stuck up a bell tower with a rifle zoneing out!

Definately agree with The Wicker Man it's brilliant i must buy it today.

Oh nearly forgot Twin Peaks Twin Peaks Twin Peaks!!!!

Harrison Ford, in a battle suit, wheels for feet, knives and guns

13:31 / 13.10.05

Oh & MacGyver I think you mean Judgement Day - Terminator You like that the best.

13:56 / 13.10.05

is that the Guns n roses one?

Harrison Ford, in a battle suit, wheels for feet, knives and guns

14:07 / 13.10.05

Yes Of Course, It's his all time fav Copey. I've seen him rolling around town with a muscle vest on, sporting a tight permed mullet blasting it out from the car stereo of his Austin Allegro.

Honest.

Harrison Ford, in a battle suit, wheels for feet, knives and guns

14:10 / 13.10.05

Does anyone know if/where i can get a copy of the original apanese Ring from? Mainly after the moody atmos stuff.

14:12 / 13.10.05

I love the Ennio Morricone tune for the Belmondo (starring, that is) film, Le professionel. Only in France would they turn a pulp espionage thriller into an angst-ridden existential drama through the introduction of such a mournful tune to basically an action film. Weepy little tunes for big action...

Last of the Mohicans has a soundtrack that I guiltily enjoy again and again, although I cannot stand it on its own-- need to watch the whole damn film. Again and again.

I also love the original, menacing, beyond gritty Assault soundtrack.

14:31 / 13.10.05

The soundtrack to The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou is very good with a number of original Mark Mothersbaugh tracks as well as those Bowie songs sung in Portugese by Seu Jorge.

I am also fond of the theremin-heavy soundtracks to The Day The Earth Stood Still and Forbidden Planet.

And don't forget Barbarella...pure pop genius, that.

P. Horus Rhacoid

16:11 / 13.10.05

I second Twin Peaks and third Suspiria, and the Star Wars soundtracks- I used to listen to those all the time when I was younger, and still bust them out occasionally, especially Empire.

I cannot believe nobody's mentioned Transformers: The Movie. Pure '80s brilliance. Also, the pillows music used for FLCL is fantastic, hook-laden Japanese rock.

Finally, I don't have the soundtrack itself, but the music from The Warriors rules- it's really moody and has this electronic, neon-lights edge (I can't describe it better than that) that just really fits with the look and feel of the film.

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

18:17 / 13.10.05

There was a point, before it got so played out, where I was really into Thomas Newman's Shawshank era stuff. The really slow/sappy bits. I recall a really pretty theme from Meet Joe Black. Shut up.

I also really dig that theme from Thin Red Line mentioned above. Which was emulated nicely by Jon Brion on the Magnolia score. Jon Brion's soundtrack stuff I could listen all day long. From the symphonic Magnolia stuff, to the delicate Eternal Sunshine stuff to the googly Huckabees stuff. It's all fantastic.

And recently I've been listening to the Thumbsucker soundtrack. The Polyphonic stuff on there is really great, and makes me think about the fantastic ending of the film whenever I listen to it on the way to work.

18:29 / 13.10.05

There was a point, before it got so played out, where I was really into Thomas Newman's Shawshank era stuff.

Have you listened to the Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events Soundtrack. I really really liked that one. Lots of atmosphere, made the movie way more interesting than it deserved to be.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

18:38 / 13.10.05

The Wicker Man, yes!
And good thought the Twin Peaks soundtrack is, I think Fire Walk With Me is just a teensy bit better.

19:42 / 13.10.05

Ive been listening to a lot of Yoko Kanno's soundtrack work recently. I got hooked on her work while watching Cowboy Bebop. When I noticed that the best part of Ghost in the Shell:Stand Alone Complex was the score I was not surprised in the least to find that Ms. Kanno was responsible.

Good Christ - the full version of the opening theme for GitS:SAC gives me that electric feeling every fucking time, that one where you scalp starts crawling like the first wave of an ephedrine rush...

Other soundtracks in heavy rotation: Run Lola Run and Sen To Chihiro (Spirited Away).

One of my favorite soundtracks from days gone by was for Subway. Very atmospheric and jazzy, if a bit heavy on the fusion in places.

agent darkbootie

20:19 / 13.10.05

I'll throw in my good word for Twin Peaks and FLCL. ("Foodie Coodie!")

I also have to mention James Horner's Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. One of my all time favorite movie scores, all rousing, romantic and nautical. Just try to ignore that he ripped off half his old score from the Corman classic Battle Beyond the Stars and you'll like it much better.

But really, it's a great adventure sountrack, and manages to work in that really cool deep "boing" sound that Goldsmith introduced in the ST:TMP score.

01:15 / 14.10.05

Danny Elfman's work on Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns and The Nightmare Before Christmas is phenomenal. The songs in Nightmare put it over the top, but in terms of pure orchestral stuff, Batman Returns is phenomenal. He develops a bunch of seperate themes over the course of the film and at the end they all converge is bombastic arrangements, it's brilliant.

From Morricone, nothing can top Once Upon a Time in the West, the guitar theme played when Bronson and Fonda confront each other is brilliant, both as a piece of music and in the way it fits the story.

The music in Oldboy is top notch as well, a great blend of symphonic stuff with techno. The music in the final confrontation is a particular highlight.

03:06 / 14.10.05

Even when Ennio Morricone shat, it was still better than anything being put out today. He was the greatest film composer of all time. And that's all you ever have to say about him. Thank you and goodnight.

Second, by a very close margin, is John Williams, if only because he is so iconic. What's brilliant about Williams is his simplicity in terms of themes. Think of the Imperial March: not a lot going on there, but somehow it retains in your memory. Why? Because his music is a perfect blend between sound and theme. He realizes better than most people that the key to a great score is the mind-meld between image and music. Case in point: think of another way of representing Indiana Jones in a musical form. Notice that I didn't say simply compose a theme for him. No, I mean actually represent him as a phrase. That's why Williams is so fucking badass. He's like the Terminator of film composers; he just annihilates anything in his path to get to Sarah Connor (AKA the Oscars)

06:01 / 14.10.05

I'm trying to think of soundtracks that also work as complete albums on their own (but still recall the movies), as opposed to just some good songs from films with otherwise servicable scores. So...

Definitely, definitely Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. Dreamy like the TV series, only... more so. And another vote for The Wicker Man.

Favourite compilation-style soundtracks of recent times: Morvern Callar and Lost In Translation. Cool, dreamy (that word again...) and compliment the films perfectly.

Best musical of all time? I sugggest South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, Uncle Fukka!

07:26 / 14.10.05

I notice no one's mentioned Pulp Fiction. Was it the first soundtrack to do the song/quote thing? Or did it just set off a trend just because it was so well-known?

Another vote for Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. There's nothing Jon Bon Jovi don't know about cowboys. What? Bob Dylan?

I'm rather surprised no one's mentioned The Big Lebowski. Great tunes from a great movie. Worth the price of admission simply for the Gypsy Kings doing Hotel California.

08:23 / 14.10.05

Loomis - Reservoir Dogs was the first that made a lot of money.

Oh, and yes Run Lola Run is fantastic (mentioned above) I love the casino track.

08:24 / 14.10.05

Anything by John Carpenter, Goblins, John Williams, Morricone.
Specific films- Neil Young's soundtrack to Dead Man, Mike Oldfield's excerpt from Tubular Bells used in The Exorcist, the Phantasm theme, and the daddy of them all, Highlander! BEEEOWWW WWWOOOWWW WWOOOWWW WWOOOWWW WAAA WAAAA WAAA WAAAA heeeeere we are born to be king we're the princes of the uuuuniverse!!!!!
The Tank Girl soundtrack was the only good thing about the film, unfortunately...

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