Suppertime is when I caught up on old episodes of M1-5, known as ‘Spooks’ in the UK. I called a halt to such fare sometime last year when I realized that much of the time was spent, mouth open, fork in air, totally immersed in the incredibly tense, rapid-fire action. Heroes always in peril. Heroes killed off regularly (oh no, not her! oh no, not him!)
But as these things go, I was curious. Last night, after dinner, I got back into it all. They’ve stepped up the pace, I think.
But at the first sound of the music, I remembered. I’d been wanting the soundtrack forever, and last night at iTunes, I found the early one by Jennie Muskett, plus the more recent by Paul Leonard-Morgan. Just what I need today to ramp up the production that I got behind on in the last few days.
It’s not all adrenaline-driven, there are slower tracks as well - remember all those deaths - that are ethereal and transcendent. In other words, perfect work music for me.
Probably gives away a lot of Fly Away Home if you haven’t seen it yet, but an excellent example of a song that is an important part of a film, instead of just being tacked on in the hope of getting an award nomination. In this video, you don’t see the scene in which it is actually used. For that, you’ll have to find a copy of this 1996 movie.
Over the weekend, we’ve been catching up on the series. A family member looked up cast info, and quickly found too much information, as in who gets bumped off. He listened to the soundtrack, but refused to learn the names of the individual tracks, saying that spoilers were there as well.
I was curious about the use of so many different music influences. The juxtaposition of Celtic sounds and Taiko drums is surprising and dramatic, for example. My search took me here, and if you’ve seen the whole series, you won’t mind reading it. I exited after a few paragraphs. Don’t. Like. Spoilers.
Caught up in airport traffic on the freeway, we listened to this last night as a family member headed back to the city. He thought it would be great field show music for a marching band. Here is a portion of the track:
Cliff Martinez soundtracks are always excellent accompaniments for a late evening drive to San Francisco. Wicker Park might not be the best for first thing Monday morning after trekking around mountainous trails on Sunday though.
It is surprising how many gentlemen of a certain age are out there climbing the steep grades on a bike.
My Blueberry Nights with Jude Law as her leading man, Wong Kar Wai (In the Mood for Love) directing. She does not sing in the film, but has a song on the soundtrack.
The lyrics refer to mashed potatoes and leftovers washed down with pie. A terribly depressing song about loneliness, but with redeeming food. The YouTube video that features the song as sung by Rufus Wainright and Dido from the Bridget Jones film has only the movie ad as a visual. Disappointing, but the song is intact. And if you’re a Colin Firth fan, as I am, you can gaze at him during the singing.
The Gustavo Santaolalla portions from the North Country soundtrack, the rain possibly turning to sleet, the music taking on a peculiar high-pitched keening in the distance that turns out, after removing my earbuds, to be a jet.
I first heard Santaolalla through his stunning guitar music from Brokeback Mountain. Recently, I bought Iguazu, which has been featured in Babel, Deadwood, The Insider and a Vodafone commercial. It is found on the album Ronroco and the Babel soundtrack.
He did soundtracks for 21 Grams, Amores Perros and The Motorcycle Diaries, and wrote the Golden-Globe award-winning A Love That Will Never Grow Old, sung by Emmylou Harris on the Brokeback soundtrack.
The movie is 10 items or Less, and the car wash scenes are set to some catchy music, none of which I can find online. I could have used it this afternoon, scrubbing off spring’s pollen accumulation, and grime that may well have started back in the winter.
It was a gloomy morning at home, but we headed toward the sunshine of outlet shopping. No one had a music preference, though one family member leans heavily toward jazz, while the other is just as deep into electronic. But I let my iPod loose.
Carolina in My Mind - James Taylor
Mexico - James Taylor
Always With You - Libera
Sandra - Pablo Milanes and Ivan Lins
Imagine America - Everything But the Girl
Parchman Farm - Mose Allison
Ailein Duinn - Meav
It shattered the meditative stupor, and they listened, incredulous. Not often do you get Stalin, crack and anal sex in one song. Hah. Found on the Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man soundtrack.
I’m in the process of downloading the soundtrack from the original The Omen by Jerry Goldsmith. Just listening to the 30-second samples is kind of daunting, but I need to add something new to my Halloween night music.
Another pick is a different sort of haunting music, the soundtrack of the movie Jindabyne, which I’ve not finished listening to yet. The film stars Laura Linney and Gabriel Byrne, sounds like a must-see.
Sometimes I glance through the stacks of CDs in a son’s room when I tire of my stuff. This morning I listened to the Gorecki twice. It’s an intriguing and somber way to start the week.
Now I’m on Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra to liven up the afternoon. At the end of my copy of the concerto is a series of pieces from an unknown anime show. It incorporates ethereal voices, creepy instrumentation and wind chimes. I play this portion every Halloween, cranked up at full volume for all who come to the door.
It’s been a downer of a week. But big oil companies keep making record profits!
Separate Ways - Teddy Thompson
Speed of Sound - Coldplay
Prairie Wedding - Mark Knopfler
Don’t Explain - Herbie Hancock, Damien Rice, Lisa Hannigan
Like a Lover - Dianne Reeves
Tempest (from The Insider soundtrack) - Lisa Gerrard and Pieter Bourke
Tearing Us Apart - Tina Turner and Eric Clapton
Whenever I Say Your Name - Sting and Mary J. Blige
Hey Girl - Ray Charles and Michael McDonald
And other trailer music, as in Kerry Muzzey. The origins of E.S. Posthumus are somewhat cloaked in mystery, but amusing nonetheless. I was debating how much of this stuff I should buy last night when my brain shut down, and I was forced to leave the laptop.
In the bright light of day, the brain struggles with the whole idea of trailer music, which is needed long before the actual soundtrack is written. And that there are people who write music very similar to what’s heard on soundtracks, hiring the Seattle Symphony and a choral group to sing in Latin.
Specifically the Humvee chase segment, which appears to be mislabeled as ‘You Can Save Her’ on the album. Along with the track ‘Su-Chou Prison’ from ‘Spy Game’, also by Harry Gregson-Williams. Gets the blood pumping on a sleepy holiday weekend.
I’m thinking that many tracks will go in my Halloween music collection. The deep male chorus sounding like they’re recording from a flickering studio in the bowels of Hell, a very sinister-sounding clarinet, the heroine’s lullaby that will remind listeners of the haunting one from ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ - really excellent stuff!
Hardly any kids show up on Halloween, so it’s always a good time for me to enjoy all my chilling music. Which this year will include the soundtrack from ‘Das Parfum’ as well.
Still trying to put together some goosebumpy tunes for those little monsters coming to the door tomorrow night? Das Parfum’s soundtrack is done by the director Tom Tykwer of Run, Lola, Run fame.
It is that rare album that my 20-something sons will both pronounce “cool”, even if I like it too.
So what’s running through my head at 6:30 a.m. as I settle in to work? The Star Spangled Banner, no less. What would bring about such a bizarre start?
I’m viewing the second season of Farscape for the first time, and as fans know, that is the song that Crichton sings as he and the villain grapple to insert a glowing rod into the villain’s skull at the end of one episode. This being the last thing I recall before sinking into unconsciousness last night.
As soon as I get over the bleary stage of the early morning, I’ll put on the Pet Shop Boys’ Potemkin again. Da! Nyet! Da! Nyet! Sounds like my kind of day. And then I have the Fearless soundtrack as well. So it’s more like Da! Nyet! Aaaaaiiiiieeeee!
A very, very hectic workday which hasn’t really ended yet, but I’m stopping. Starting to babble old Pet Shop Boys lyrics, but that’s okay, I’m listening to their Battleship Potemkin soundtrack. Too groggy to appreciate it just yet though.
I’ve been re-reading Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho on my train ride to work, and to liven things up (not that the book needs anything additional to entertain me) I decided to keep tabs on the music Bateman listens to and is exposed to in the book. So far, aside from the obvious artists Bateman spends full chapters expressing his opinions of (Genesis, Huey Lewis and the News, Whitney Huston), he also listens to the Talking Heads, Stephen Bishop, and Christopher Cross, and is also exposed at various times to several other 80’s artists: The Crystals, The Ronettes, The Shirelles, INXS, and Belinda Carlisle, to name a few. Some of them I have never heard of, but I guess that’s not surprising.
A couple of other music-related experiences I’ve had related to the book - first, I happened listening to The Axis of Perdition during one of the more gruesome parts while reading the book for the first time. The song contained a sample from the horror movie Event Horizon, and I felt that the sample along with the violent nature of the music was a pretty good complement for the book. More recently, I was reading it while listening to random Melt-Banana songs, which was an awesome experience.. the frenetic, bizarre music and Yasuko’s chipmunk-on-speed vocals went well with the book’s dark humor and Bateman’s occaisional hallucinations. It is kind of hard to concentrate for very long when listening to them though.
The Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra by Nigel Hess from the Ladies in Lavender soundtrack.
Actually, I’ve been trying to stay awake all day, having lots of fatigue due to a wrenched knee. The Lipton green tea I’ve been guzzling must not have much caffeine.
Good work music, even with a coworker who knows all the dialogue bits. Although this is only tolerable if I’m mostly photoshopping and not trying to write.
From all the miserable and unrelenting heat of this sweltering July. Stephen Holden of the NYT suggests the collaboration from two giants - Frank Sinatra and Jobim, some Sade, Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake, and film music from In the Line of Fire, Lolita, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Talk to Her and The Wings of the Dove.
