This site was conceived as a side project by a "tekkie" friend of mine who suggested I use my journalistic experience to write about something I love. We bandied about some ideas before settling on this one - largely because I had collected movie soundtracks for much of my life and thought I could write about them. We wanted the site to be user friendly, well-written and reliable.
Over time, I hope to attract other writers keen to contribute to the site, who don't mind foregoing the financial benefits they may be used to in the short-term for something that may, or may not, be profitable further down the line.
The gradual demise of the cd format, re-emergence of vinyl, along with the expansion of blu-ray dvd and downloads translate to an ever-changing market place; despite this, most of us still buy cd's and dvd's and I hope that you will use the Amazon links on this site to buy online.
We have also included mini YouTube video links that accompany the reviews, so that you can listen to your favourite theme music while watching a related trailer or clip from the movie; because film is a visual medium, there seems no better way of presenting it.
Finally, a note on the type of soundtracks featured. Though purists generally view albums such as "Top Gun", "Flashdance" and others like them, as unworthy of coverage on a film soundtrack site, preferring instead to focus on orchestral scores, we have taken the view that these albums have earned their place based on their continued saleability and affection with a large section of cinema-goers. We wanted to reach as broad an audience as possible and have developed the site with this in mind, without forgetting those fans for whom composers such as Bernard Herrmann and Jerry Goldsmith, among many others, are considered on a par with the master composers. We hope you can find your best movie soundtracks on this site.
Saturday Night Fever
1977, Paramount
Bee Gees/David Shire & Various
Polydor, CD, 1995, 825 389-2 Rating:
David Shire’s gargantuan disco classic not only remains the best disco score of its era but combined with the Bee Gee’s distinctive sound, is almost entirely unique. Originally released in 1977, the movie about a hard-up young New Yorker finding solace and success on the dancefloor of the local discotheque is a character-led drama filled with disco defining moments such as ‘How Deep Is Your Love’ and ‘Night Fever’. A massive hit on release, the double album has become one of the biggest selling soundtracks of all time, along with Travolta’s other big hit, ‘Grease’. While the Bee Gees are often largely credited for its success, they actually perform only six of the seventeen tracks included and are outshined on several occasions by David Shire’s score, that brings the New York setting effectively to life, delivering a sound buzzing with urban energy: something the Bee Gee’s tracks alone cannot muster. 1970’s hitmakers, Yvonne Elliman (‘If I Can’t Have You’), K.C And The Sunshine Band (‘Boogie Shoes’) and The Trammps (‘Disco Inferno’) also feature, along with Kool And The Gang and Tavares. Saturday Night Fever Movie Soundtrack. Review: Tim Mowbray.
Track Listing:
1. Stayin’ Alive (Bee Gees).
2. How Deep Is Your Love (Bee Gees).
3. Night Fever (Bee Gees).
4. More Than A Woman (Bee Gees).
5. If I Can’t Have You (Yvonne Elliman).
6. A Fifth Of Beethoven – Based on Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony (Walter Murphy).
7. More Than A Woman (Tavares).
8. Manhattan Skyline (David Shire).
9. Calypso Breakdown (Ralph McDonald).
10. Night On Disco Mountain – Based on Night On Bald Mountain (David Shire).
11. Open Sesame (Kool & The Gang).
12. Jive Talkin (Bee Gees).
13. You Should Be Dancing (Bee Gees).
14. Boogie Shoes (K.C & The Sunshine Band).
15. Salsation (David Shire).
16. K-Jee (M.F.S.B.).
17. Disco Inferno (The Trammps).
The Taking Of Pelham 123.
1974, MGM.
David Shire.
Retrograde CD, 1996, FSM-80123-2 Rating:
David Shire’s score for Pelham, recorded three years before he went all disco with ‘Saturday Night Fever’, is a far darker effort than ‘Saturday’ but the funky urban riffs and pure scale evident in his earlier work are also on show here. ‘Main Title’ with its driving percussive rhythm thunders its way through much of the score in a variety of forms but remains robust and interesting enough to sustain itself, particularly well used in ‘Fifty Seconds/The Money Express’ and ‘End Title’. In ‘Mini-Manhunt’ a combination of the main theme is interspersed with flickering piano. Very much locked in the 1970s, Shire’s score reflects both the gritty, dangerous aspects of New York life (before Mayor Guilliani cleaned it up) and the unsettling nervous energy felt by the protagonists. An exciting, edgy score. The Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three Movie Soundtrack. Review: Tim Mowbray.
Track Listing:
1. Main Title
2. The Taking
3. Dolowitz Takes A Look/Dolowitz Gets Killed
4. Blue and Green Talk
5. Money Montage
6. Fifty Seconds/The Money Express
7. Conductor Killed/The Money Bag
8. The Pelham’s-Moving-Again Blues
9. I’m A Police Officer/Renewing Disguises/Goodbye Green, Hello Garber. Goodbye Hippie/Smoking More, Enjoying It Less
10. Mini-Manhunt
11. End Title
