Tuesday, September 01, 2009

10 Movie Soundtracks That Think Outside Of The Box Office


Welcome to Soundtrack September! All month long, with the help of some special guest bloggers and readers, I’m going to be celebrating the world of original motion picture soundtrack recordings. There will still be the usual array of reviews of current movies and other whatnot but they will be surrounded by soundtrack centered posts.

Im kicking off Soundtrack September with this list of soundtracks that weren't content to just be simple collections of score selections or pop song tracks. They featured dialogue excerpts as tracks - sometimes full chucks of audio from the composite track of the film instead of the standard isolated music track.

Often these albums contain material that's not in the movie they represent - different versions of songs, cut lines from post production, and new voice-overs. In their reshaping of the movie material they became works of art in their own right. Here are my 10 favorites from the many soundtracks out there that think outside the box office:

1. THE MONKEES: HEAD (Colgems Records 1968/Rhino 1994) The Monkees only theatrical release was a critical and commercial flop on original release but its picked up a well deserved cult following over the years in no small thanks to its psychedelic soundtrack (pictured at the top of this post). 

It's a merry mishmash in which seven songs (including 
The Porpoise Song, As We Go Along, and Can You Dig It) emerge out of the chaos of sound effects, repeated out-of-context lines (as if there's a context in the film) and assorted trippy effects reportedly under the influence of Frank Zappa (who has a cameo in the movie and the album). The original album did not feature Mike Nesmith's Circle Sky performed live in the film - it substituted an inferior studio take of the song. Happily, a 90s Rhino re-release restored the ferocious live version as well as a nice handful of bonus tracks (including a cool radio spot).


The icing on the cake? The Original Album Coordinator who did the bulk of the vigorous editing on this project: Jack Nicholson (co-screenwriter and producer of HEAD seen above with the Monkees).

2. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK: THE MOVIE ON RECORD (Columbia Records, 1981)


In the late 70s and early 80s a lot of story of albums were produced of the STAR WARS films, Disney features, Muppet movies, etc. that feature audio excerpts with a 40s style narrator guiding listeners through. For the first Indiana Jones adventure a soundtrack was released separate from the one of the score by composer John Williams. 

Billed "The Movie On Record, it was an album described as containing Actual Dialogue, Music, and Sound Effects but most importantly - no narration. Four time Academy Award winner Sound Designer Ben Burtt (creator of the voice of WALL-E among other iconic work) admitted in an interview that much of this album was made from little of the original soundtrack; he recorded new effects and recreated the dialogue with the film's cast as voice actors much like old radio shows. The album won a Grammy for Best Spoken Word LP in 1983.

3. THE ALBUM OF THE SOUNDTRACK OF THE TRAILER OF THE FILM OF MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL (Arista, 1975) This is only a soundtrack in the loosest sense - approximately 40% of it is movie material; the other 60% has the Pythons bogusly broadcasting from a fictional theater (The Classic Silbury Hill) for the premiere of the film. John Cleese plays a reporter who talks over the opening scene with patrons telling him to shut up, the production is halted while the projectionist fights a grizzly bear for the next reel, an announcer (Graham Chapman) repeatedly tells us that this is the Executive Version of the record, and so on.

The records of the Monty Python films that followed - LIFE OF BRIAN and THE MEANING OF LIFE had a bit of this embellishing but not with the whole team and to the extreme of this supremely silly yet essential soundtrack.

4. APOCALYPSE NOW (Warner Brothers, 1979) This soundtrack is pretty much the full composite track of the motion picture spread over two records. Its a trippy absorbing listen that's worth seeking out. The soundtrack for the REDUX version (2001) removes the dialogue bits and presents composer Carmine Coppola's score, along with The Doors The End and Flash Cadillac's Suzy Q, but I prefer the original recording. It reminds me of the days before home video when a soundtrack was all one had to invoke the mood of one's favorite movie.

Removed from the imagery, Martin Sheens voice over narration works just as well on record as it does in the film, the jungle sounds surround the listener, and Marlon Brando's haunting the horror...the horror" evocation echo in the psyche. Or maybe that's the Thai sticks talking...

5. NATURAL BORN KILLERS: A SOUNDTRACK FOR AN OLIVER STONE FILM (Interscope Records 1994)


I suggested to Oliver (Stone) to try to turn the soundtrack into a collage-of-sound, kind of the way the movie used music: make edits, add dialogue, and make it something interesting, rather than a bunch of previously released music. - Nine Inch Nails founder Trent Reznor in an interview with MTV.

As producer/compiler Reznor provides another absorbing listen and one that introduced many to Leonard Cohen via two stellar songs off of his 1992 album The Future. My only complaint is Reznor mixing a bit of Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis dialogue on top of Bob Dylan's cover of the '50s standard You Belong To Me. Such a thing just should not be done.

6. THE ADVENTURES OF BOB & DOUG McKENZIE IN STRANGE BREW (Polygram Records, 1983) The album cover denotes Excerpts From The Original Sountrack so much like the MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL album this functions as a comedy record in its own right. The success of Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas's Great White North record paved the way for the SCTV characters of Canadian descent to enter the world of movies, so its kind of funny to have Moranis stress more than once that this that this is not their second album - it's the soundtrack album.

Funny because they never made another album and with all the additional material here they might as well consider it their second album. As a comedy record it's a good one - some bits from the movie work better disembodied from the visuals and the track Shakespeare Horked Our Script amusingly calls attention to the fact they stole the basic narrative from Hamlet. It's never been released officially on CD but like much on this list it can be found on the internets or in used record bins.

7. PULP FICTION (MCA Records, 1994)


From RESERVOIR DOGS to DEATH PROOF, Tarantino's soundtracks have featured dialogue tracks (INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS is the first that doesn't) but PULP FICTION is by far the most popular - it seems everyone I knew had this in their CD collection in the 90s. It's a hip movie mix; tracks by Urge Overkill, Dusty Springfield, and Kool & The Gang rub shoulders with John Travolta's Royale with cheese bit, Bruce Williss immortal "Zed's dead, baby", and Samuel L. Jackson's Ezekiel 25:17. 15 years after the movie, these tracks are still effective - program them into an iPod shuffle and see for yourself.

8. GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM (A & M Records, 1988) Sure, the comedy of Robin Williams is far from hip these days but back in the day (the late 80s) his routines were quoted ad nauseum. The rapid fire lines from his starring turn in Barry Levinsons Vietnam-set dramedy were no exception. The dominance of James BrownI Feel Good (I Got You) in family feel-good comedies (or at least their trailers) can be traced to this film but don't hold that against it. Era songs by Louis Armstrong, The Marvelettes, and the Beach Boys make up the playlist of Williams as Armed Forces Radio Services DJ Adrian Cronauer. Incidentally the weekly NPR program Sound Opinions uses the sound bite of Williams This is not a test, this is rock 'n roll! in their opening to this day.

9. UHF: ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK AND OTHER STUFF (Warner Brothers, 1989) Nobody would expect a soundtrack from a Weird Al Yankovic movie (his only movie) to play by soundtrack rules and this hodgepodge sure doesnt. It makes this list because of tracks directly from the film like the commercial parody Spatula City and the phony trailer for Gandhi II which make great compilation fillers or fodder for college DJs. However the non movie related tracks like a spoof of R.E.M.'s Stand called Spam and Generic Blues are just throw-away Weird Al but they still dont disqualify it.

10. BONNIE AND CLYDE (Collector's Choice, 2009) Though its not the first soundtrack album to feature dialogue - that would be THE GREAT ESCAPE - BONNIE AND CLYDE provides the template for the composite movie mix that Reznor and Tarantino would run with. The dialogue tracks offer cushioning and punctuation for the musical score - as spare as they are. Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaways exchanges are enhanced by the then very innovative presentation on vinyl. Its a hard to come by record nowadays, but again, one worth seeking out.

Okay! There are many more soundtracks that feature dialogue in an inventive mix (PATTON, ANIMAL HOUSE, BLADE RUNNER, etc.) so if you have a favorite - please send it on. 

Also if you have soundtrack favorites of any kind (classical scores, pop songs, musicals, etc.) please email me (filmbabbleblog@gmail.com) your favorites (instead of leaving them as comments on this post please) and I may include them this month during Soundtrack September! 

More later...

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Flash Gordon.

"Onward, my brave hawkmen!"

VaderMcCandless said...

how about the Anchorman soundtrack? Its got Will Ferrell is character as Ron Burgundy introducing the songs, sometimes talking over them or singing along with them. If you're like me and can't get enough Anchorman, the soundtrack is amazing.

Anonymous said...

Yeah! Weird Al...Way, way outside the box & Raiders...Off the map but not s single mention of Ennio Morricone's scores for Leone, Bava, Argento or Corbucci...Bravo!

Hoyce Frankfurt said...

Mike Patton's score to Crank 2 was phenomenal...

Anonymous said...

I've heard a few of Morricone's scores and as good as they are they don't seem to fit the criteria on this list. Do they have dialogue or editing that you think would qualify them?

Bicycle Bill said...

How about the soundtrack of "M*A*S*H"? Featured the Ahmal Jamad version of the theme and assorted music (both original, like the "Kill 'em Galop" used during the football game, and period recordings that were "played" over the PA), as well as audio clips from the movie.

Anonymous said...

The Raiders "movie on record" was not the first release to utilize this concept. 7 years earlier, there was a version of Mel Brook's "Young Frankenstein" that presented about an hour of the film's audio on LP with no announcer.

Daniel Cook Johnson said...

Very cool - I didn't know about the Young Frankenstein record.

Anonymous said...

Flash Gordon +1

Brad @ IceCreamUScream said...

Have you seen Rumble Fish? That would top my list.

Apathygrrl said...

YES! Weird Al Yankovic Rules! Love this soundtrack.

Master Gorgon said...

Another one that was very different was 1971's Owl & The Pussycat soundtrack, which featured the music of Blood Sweat & Tears combined with a lot of dialogue from the movie.

(personally I would've preferred having the music by itself!)

Anonymous said...

Gothic by Thomas Dolby! Interspersed dialogue with music, and even mutated dialogue INTO music. Also don't forget Dolemite by Rudy Ray Moore... But that might have even preceeded the movie, come to think of it.

I'm just happy someone pointed out the genius of Head, by the Monkees.

Oh... And although these would be TV soundtracks, I still have some great mix-ups from Sesame Street on old scratchy vinyl. They always cause a positive response when added to CDs.

Anonymous said...

Um...Eraserhead?

TaylorSwift said...

Young Frankenstein is one of my favourite shows. I know all the words by heart so it was nice to remember again in your post. Thanks for bringing back some fond memories about Young Frankenstein . This weekend I’m going to visit my sister and we get pretty good tickets to attend it again so I'll be analyzing as well as enjoying that show. Here:
http://www.ticketwood.com/theater/Young-Frankenstein-Tickets/index.php
I know that I will enjoy every blessed minute of it!

Cinema Obsessed said...

Pulp Fiction is one of our favourites. Tarantino is a genius when it comes to choosing songs for his films. Both Kill Bill soundtracks were amazing, also with dialogue tracks.

Calogero said...

The soundtrack of Good morning, Vietnam starring Robin Williams? Very good!