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.
Finally, Wendy Carlos’ score to Disney’s effects driven techno chase movie, gets a deserved CD release after years of copyright wrangles. Originally released in 1982 on LP, this is a straight transfer with three additional tracks, including the dynamic ‘TRONAction’. Carlos’ part electronic, part orchestral score represents the two sides of the story; one set inside a computer, the other outside, in the ‘real’ world. Though the electronics may sound heavy-handed compared to today’s offerings, they add to, rather than detract from the overall effect of the score, bringing a warmth to the proceedings that would vanish had they been ‘air-brushed’ out. Two main themes predominate: a secondary love theme representing the relationship between Tron (Bruce Boxleitner) and Yori (Cindy Morgan) and a militaristic one, representing the the company (MCP) on their trail. There is also a main ‘Love Theme’ heard in full during ‘End Titles’ and a couple of MOR songs by Journey. Electric. Tron Movie Soundtrack. Review: Tim Mowbray.
Track Listing:
1. Creation of TRON
2. “Only Solutions” (Journey).
3. We’ve Got Company
4. Wormhole
5. Ring Game and Escape
6. Water, Music and TRONAction
7. TRON Scherzo
8. Miracle and Magician
9. Magic Landings
10. Theme from TRON
11. “1990’s Theme” (Journey).
12. Love Theme
13. Tower Music - Let Us Pray
14. The Light Sailer
15. Sea of Simulation
16. A New TRON and the MCP
17. Anthem
18. Ending Titles
19. TRONAction (Original Version)
20. Break In (For Strings, Flutes and Celesta)
21. Anthem for Keyboard Solo
A Clockwork Orange.
1971, Warner Bros.
Walter Carlos/Various.
Warner Brothers Records CD, 1972, 7599-27256-2 Rating:
Having allegedly withdrawn his own film from British cinemas after it was linked to copycat violence, Stanley Kubrick claimed that A Clockwork Orange would never again be seen on this side of the Atlantic. Only one week after his death in 1999 however a London cinema was already planning a screening of this controversial, highly stylised shocker about a futuristic dystopian world lost to superficial posturing and violence. Malcolm McDowell is the leader of a disaffected gang of youths, known as the Droogs, who undergoes aversion therapy in order to control his violent impulses, which results in his own loss of identity and freedom. Walter Carlos wrote a striking electronic score embellishing and re-inventing classical pieces to stunning effect, inspired by Beethoven, Purcell and Elgar, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. Carlos, who later became Wendy Carlos following a sex change operation and long time partner, Rachel Elkind, later went on to work with Kubrick for a second time on ‘The Shining’. A Clockwork Orange Movie Soundtrack. Review: Tim Mowbray.
Track Listing:
1. Title Music From A Clockwork Orange
2. The Thieving Magpie (Abridged)
3. Theme From A Clockwork Orange (Beethoviana)
4. Ninth Symphony, Second Movement (Abridged)
5. March From A Clockwork Orange (Ninth Symphony, Fourth Movement, Abridged)
6. William Tell Overture (Abridged)
7. Pomp And Circumstance March No. 1
8. Pomp And Circumstance March No. 4 (abridged)
9. Timesteps (Excerpt)
10. Overture To The Sun
11. I Want To Marry A Lighthouse Keeper
12. William Tell Overture (Abridged)
13. Suicide Scherzo (Ninth Symphony, Second Movement, Abridged)
14. Ninth Symphony, Fourth Movement (abridged)
15. Singin’ In The Rain
