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.
Misfits.
1961, United Artists.
Alex North.
Ryko, CD, 1998, RCD 1073 Rating:
Alex North’s highly engaging score, written to accompany director John Huston’s intelligent anti-western, is a surefooted mix of melodrama, jazz and even rock n’ roll. Celebrated playwright, Arthur Miller - who first met North when he scored Miller’s ’Death Of A Salesman’ - wrote the script, about three emotionally flawed ‘Misfits’, getting by at the tail-end of the old frontier. The movie, starring Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable, in their last movie roles, alongside Montgomery Clift, gave North the perfect opportunity to write for characters who went beyond the usual two-dimentional all-action no-brainers. The effective ‘Main Title’, brimming with human high drama, largely sets the standard, resurfacing in cues ‘Roslyn’, an energetic big band number written for Marilyn Monroe’s character and the understated ‘New Life’. While much of the score accents the character’s emotional lives, the fifteen minute ‘Round Up Suite’ provides a welcome taste of the film’s ranching backdrop in ‘The Chase’ and ‘Tension’ segments. Meanwhile, rock ‘n roll number, ‘Paddleball’ and the spirited ‘Reno Bar Dance’ are light and melodic without being lightweight. Highly recommended. The Misfits Movie Soundtrack. Review: Tim Mowbray.
Track Listing:
1. Main Theme
2. Rendezvous
3. New Life
4. Roslyn (Misfits Theme)
5. Love’s Reverie
6. Love Idyll
7. Paddleball
8. Reno Bar Dance
9. Compassion/Compassion for Guido
10. Help
11. Round up Suite: Disagreement/Round-Up/Chase/Tension
12. Trying for Freedom
13. Resolved, Pt. 1
14. Resolved (End Title)
Sorry, no high quality YouTube clip exists. Will attempt to track one down.
Based on his novel, Kevin Sampson’s screenplay about a disaffected youth’s initiation into a group of football thugs, may not be the most original of ideas (see the generally inferior ‘Football Factory’, ‘Green Street’ etc.) but its focus on identity, whether through the eyes of the sexually ambiguous Elvis, new joiner Carty or the fashion conscious casuals culture they inhabit, gives this film a slight twist. The soundtrack album mirrors the film with a collection of cult cuts from the late 1970s, many of which aren’t half bad, including lesser known songs by Ultravox (‘Young Savage’), Elvis Costello (‘Night Rally’) and Teardrop Explodes (‘Sleeping Gas - Zoo Version’). The score, composed by David Alan Hughes which works perfectly within the film also stands its own on the album, sandwiched between songs by Magazine and Echo And The Bunnymen. But the endless dialogue slows the pace, reminding us that while it may be an entertaining blast from the past, ‘Awaydays’ just ain’t that original, even if the music puts up a good fight to say otherwise.
Track Listing:
1. Young Savage (Ultravox!).
2. Carty And Elvis In Eric’s
3. All That Jazz (The Rascals).
4. Nag Nag Nag (Cabaret Voltaire).
5. Sunrise.
6. Liverpool 1979.
7. The Light Pours Out Of Me (Joy Division).
8. When We Go To Berlin.
9. Slow Motion (Ultravox!).
10. Wool Stomp.
11. 10:15 Saturday Night (The Cure).
12. Insight (Joy Division).
13. Come See The Stars.
14. Elvis’s Dub.
15. Carty Deflated.
16. Carty’s Revenge.
17. Going Up (Echo And The Bunnymen).
18. Carty’s Last Awayday.
19. Just For A Moment (Ultravox!).
20. Where Were You? (The Mekons).
21. When You’re Young (The Jam).
22. Night Rally (elvis Costello And The Attractions).
23. The World (Dalek I)
24. Sleeping Gas (The Teardrop Explodes).
25. Electricity (OMD).
26. Being Boiled (Fast Version) (Human League).
27. I Am The Fly (Wire).
28. Damaged Goods (Gang Of Four).
Hazell O’Connor wrote and performed the songs, as well as starring in, this entertaining if over the top exploration of the pressures of rock stardom. Produced by the legendary Tony Visconti and spawning hits ‘Eighth Day’ and ‘Will You’, the soundtrack is actually better than the film, with O’Connor singing, then shouting, her way through a set of generally up-tempo post punk pop songs that condemn the rise of a big brother state and criticise society’s disinterest in ‘the little people’: all delivered with plenty of attitude. Breaking Glass Movie Soundtrack. Review: Tim Mowbray.
Track Listing:
1. Writing On The Wall.
2. Monsters In Disguise.
3. Come Into The Air.
4. Big Brother.
5. Who Needs It.
6. Will You?
7. Eighth Day.
8. Top Of The Wheel.
9. Calls The Tune.
10. Blackman.
11. Give Me An Inch.
12. If Only.
