Soundtracking
By You Can't Hear it on the Radio
April 5, 2011
You Can't Hear it on the Radio is a blog about the current golden age of music. At no time since the 1960s has there been such an output of quality music by so many varied artists. Add to that technology that makes it easier than ever for the curious to find good music today. But, like an unlimited selection at an all-you-can-eat buffet, there's no table service. You will have to seek it out. The old model is dead. Generally speaking, you can't hear it on the radio. You can learn about it here, though.
When most people go to the movies, they give little thought to the music accompanying the film. After all, who goes to Night at the Museum for the music? When they hear "movie soundtrack," they think of epic, rousing scores to blockbuster movies, mostly composed by John Williams. Just off the top of my head, I can whistle the main themes to the Jaws, Star Wars, Superman, Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones movies.
Most film scores tend to be scored for and performed by orchestras – Williams’ work is by far the most popular and iconic of the genre, full of strings and soaring moments to match the films they accompany. Williams works with Steven Spielberg constantly, even creating memorable scores for Spielberg’s “important” work – good movies (Schindler’s List) and terrible ones (Munich).
There are also soundtracks that are not orchestral, including some done by such luminaries as Jeff Tweedy (Chelsea Walls) and Tom Petty (She’s The One), but those also have traditional rock music as part of the soundtrack. They also accompany terrible movies.
But these are not the soundtracks I like best. I’ve frequently mentioned my love of ambient noise rock like Sigur Ros, and some of the best soundtracks fit closely along side my favorite Icelandic weirdos. In fact, Tweedy’s score for Chelsea Walls is fantastic – I would take an entire album of just his score and no regular songs, but that’s not the way the soundtrack album was put together, with regular songs interspersed with the score.
I recently finished my graduate work, and throughout I used Sigur Ros and similar ambient/noise music to write by, finding it less distracting than the more vocal-based music I also like. Most of the non-orchestral soundtracks I like are those done by moonlighting rock musicians.
The most famous of these is this year’s Oscar winner for Best Original Score – The Social Network by Trent Reznor and Atticus Finch. It’s a driving, atmospheric, mood-setting piece of work, with electronic elements and no small part of what makes the movie so effective. Without Reznor and Finch’s score, crucial urgency and intensity are lost from the film. I’m looking forward to Reznor’s upcoming scores for Social Network director David Fincher’s adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and director Timur Bekmambetov’s adaptation of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.
Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood scored 2007’s There Will Be Blood with high-pitched strings, adding a buzzing and nerve-wracking backdrop to a mesmerizing movie that, excellent writing, directing and acting aside, has a distinct visual look as well. Greenwood’s score completes the movie.
One of my favorite soundtrack artists is Nick Cave, who with fellow Bad Seed Warren Ellis has provided the soundtrack to three films: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Proposition (for which Cave also wrote the screenplay), and The Road. Cave & Ellis’ soundtracks are compelling pieces of music on their own, intricate and interesting, filled with personality and a story of their own.
I particularly love the soundtrack to The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford; the mournful Warren Ellis violin work of Rather Lovely Thing sets a tone for the entire soundtrack – full of sadness, pending doom and great beauty.
The one traditional orchestral score that I love and listen to regularly is Jerry Goldsmith’s score for Hoosiers. It’s an up-tempo score, perfect for the basketball games that it frames, but wonderfully dated by the inclusion of 1980s-style synthesizers. When the climax of the film hits just after the 8:20 mark of The Finals, Goldsmith perfectly captures the glory and nostalgia that the film captures so well. Goldsmith’s soundtrack is only available digitally under the overseas name for the movie – Best Shot – but it is every bit the Hoosiers soundtrack.
What are your favorite soundtracks?
--Noah
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