My Favorite Soundtracks

One of my favorite things to do is sequencing music playlists. Making sure the song before it and the song after it make a smooth transition. If I want to get adventurous, I try to make it as eclectic as possible. Until I bump into a bag with $500 and am able to afford Premiere Pro, this is the closest to editing I can get.

Soundtracks became a gateway to many of my favorite songs today. All starting with the discovery of the Forrest Gump soundtrack in my aunt's attic amongs a shoebox of CDs. It was just at the right time when I was discovering The Beatles, The Who and other 60's groups. A viewing of the film made it a favorite. Beyond just the glorious soundtrack that carries us through the decades of US history. I remember rewatching it and noticing the absence of Fleetwood Mac's Go Your Own Way. A problem that could be corrected with the eventual purchase of Rumors. But still an itch that needed to be scratched. In that sense the soundtrack that I had wasn't a complete one. A similair problem would plague my obsessive listening to the Casino soundtrack.

I started noticing a trend of "soundtrack movies" in the 90's. GoodFellas, Casino, Dazed and Confused, Trainspotting, Boogie Nights, Velvet Goldmine. Movies filled wall to wall with songs that propped up some of the more iconic scenes in cinema history. What I noticed with these movies that had this type of rhythm and feel, was that the soundtrack itself encapsulated that particular period. Making a series worth of NOW That's What I Call Music and countless infomercials for music compilations entirely irrelevant.

If I were to really go back, it can be traced to American Graffiti. The soundtrack, like Forrest Gump, was in regular in rotation. What set it apart from Gump, or any other soundtrack for that matter, was that it took the 'genre' and made it conceptual. Wolfman Jack, the famous disc jockey from the film appeared between songs like some sort of host. It's something I had yet to hear before or since.

Albums like Queens of the Stone Age's Songs For the Deaf have experimented with the 'radio station' concept to much pleasure. Then along comes Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. Even before the film has hit theaters, it introduced me to Neil Diamond's Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show. It became a song on constant loop.

Now Quentin has famously used songs and scores from exploitation, blaxpoitation, kung fu and giallo movies before. Just look at Kill Bill, Inglourious Basterds, Jackie Brown, Django Unchained or Death Proof. But nestled inside those soundtracks were always great nuggets: Didn't I Blow Your Mind by The Delfonics, Hold Tight by Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mitch Tich, I Got A Name by Jim Croce, and the inspired mash-up of James Brown and 2Pac with The Payback/Untouchable.

Once Upon A Time didn't pull anything from a specific movie. His first soundtrack to do so since Pulp Fiction. Maybe this was sparked by his cave-in to use an original score on Hateful Eight. Maybe not. The concept to use the music you would hear on the radio in 1969 doesn't just stop at the music itself, he pushes it further than anything on American Graffiti.

When the film finally did hit theaters and I watched it, much was left to be desired. A rewatch only confirmed and deepened those feelings. It was him caving to his worst impulses. It was my least favorite effort since Kill Bill Vol. 1. Though many share the exact opposite feeling. Quentin always did his best work when reigning it in and not giving a fuck about critical feedback. See: Jackie Brown, Death Proof, The Hateful Eight. Pulp Fiction is the exception to all of this. And while I love Basterds and Vol. 2, neither capture the simplicity and tightness those aforementioned three films have.

The movie does a fantastic job on production design. Creating a somber goodbye that crescendos musically with Out of Time by The Rolling Stones in the sequence when Rick and Cliff arrive in LA back from Italy for their last night together. The neon signs lighting up is one of my favorite touches in this sequence. It felt like a period ending. Let alone a decade. Yes it's storybook. Yes it's a love letter. I just wish it did away with the postscript of Manson. There's much to say about this and its highs and lows: the boundless energy of Margaret Qualley, the wasted Bruce Dern, Dakota Fanning's role as Squeaky, the pointless scene between Rick and the 8 year old...but we're getting sidetracked.

The soundtrack on the other hand, is the best thing I was given from this movie. It wasn't just a joyous mix of hits and deep cuts from the late 60's, it included commercials for products, radio DJ interludes, trailers for movies and television, and catchy jingles. This thing even has weather reports. It's a time capsule in the best way.

The following soundtracks are constantly in and out of my CD player.

MY TOP 10 SOUNDTRACKS
1. Casino*
Choice cuts: Otis Redding- Sad Song, Can't You Hear Me Knocking by The Rolling Stones, Stardust by Hoagy Carmichael, Love Is the Drug by Roxy Music, The Glory of Love by The Velvetones, Nights In White Satin by The Moody Blues, Without You by Harry Nilsson

2. American Graffiti
Choice cuts: Runaway by Del Shannon, That'll Be The Day by The Crickets, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by The Platters, Ain't That A Shame by Fats Domino, To the Aisle by The Five Satins, Teen Angel by Mark Dinning, All Summer Long by The Beach Boys

3. Rushmore
Choice cuts: A Quick One While He's Away by The Who, Making Time by Creation, The Wind by Cat Stevens, Oh La La by The Faces

4. Velvet Goldmine
Choice cuts: Needle In the Camel's Eye by Brian Eno, Ballad of Maxwell Demon by Shudder to Think, Virginia Plain by Roxy Music, Satellite of Love by Lou Reed, Baby's On Fire by Venus In Furs

5. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
Choice cuts: Ramblin' Gamblin' Man by The Bob Seger System, Son of A Lovin' Man by Buchanan Brothers, Good Thing by Paul Revere and the Raiders, Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show by Neil Diamond

6. Bringing Out the Dead
Choice cuts: You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory by Johnny Thunders, Janie Jones by The Clash, What's Your Frequency Kenneth by REM, Bell Boy by The Who

7. Wonder Boys
Choice cuts: Not Dark Yet by Bob Dylan, Waiting For the Miracle by Leonard Cohen, Watching the Wheels by John Lennon

8. Zodiac
Choice cuts: Hurdy Gurdy Man by Donovan, Inner City Blues by Marvin Gaye, I Wanna Take You Higher by Sly and the Family Stone, I Never Promised A Rose Garden by Lynn Anderson

9. Forrest Gump
Choice cuts: Rebel Rouser by Duane Eddy, Rainy Day Women by Bob Dylan, Sloop John B by The Beach Boys, California Dreamin' by The Mamas and the Papas, Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In by Fifth Dimension, Everybody's Talkin by Harry Nilsson, Against the Wind by Bob Seger

10. 20th Century Women
Choice cuts: The Big Country by Talking Heads, Cheree by Suicide, Gut Feeling by DEVO, Why Can't I Touch It? by The Buzzcocks




*to whoever sequenced this soundtrack and to whoever decided to use a cover of House of the Rising Sun in place of the original: dude...what the fuck?