Remix Baby Yeah

Something that has been occurring with soundtracks recently is the apparent need to remix them for night clubs. The most recent (at least as far as I can tell) victim is that of Hans Zimmer's Pirates of Caribbean Score. There have also been notable dance versions of the Star Wars Theme, Braveheart, Titanic, Last of the Mohicans and even TV series aren't sacred with Twin Peaks getting its on clubthumping mix.

Regrettably I won't be sharing any of these as they are easily commercially available, however remixes are not new. In fact they have been going on since the beginning of the disco movement of the late 70s and early 80s. So today I thought I would present you with 2 remixes of famous John Williams scores from the 70's. Both have been captured from LP and as such may exhibit some audible hiss or scratches.

The first was a bonus 45 that came with the original LP soundtrack to Close Encounters of The Third Kind. It is basically a disco version of the main theme and an odd one at that... Take a listen here. (Link removed)


The second is an acid jazz revision of the Jaws theme by Lalo Shifrin. Which you can listen to here. (Link removed)

Watching TV gives you square eyes!

Okay so I have decided to step things up a notch…rather than the one post, one track a day, I shall attempt themes with multiple tracks….

There are very few TV series that I really love, in fact I can count them all using my fingers (not including thumbs), if you thought movie soundtracks were hard to come by, try finding the score music from you favorite TV show!! Granted with the advent of sites and programs like i Tunes, it is getting easier, but there are still those elusive promo releases and composer "tune reels" that may help to source the music you like. Here is a selection of tracks from some of my favorites (Please note that the versions here, to the best of my knowledge, are not commercially available, or if they are, these are variations of those.):

Millennium – Music by Mark Snow

Dead Like Me – Music by Stewart Copeland

Futurama – Extended Theme Music by Chrisopher Tyng

C.S.I – Investigation Suite – Music by John Keane

American Gothic – Ghost Train

American Gothic gets me to my next issue with soundtrack releases. Joseph LoDuca composed the amazing music used in the series, the fact that there is even a bootleg release is quite impressive, but some of Joseph's more well known scores do get commercial releases. One such score is The Brotherhood of the Wolf. A fantastic French film based on the “true story” of the Beast of Gevaudan. I loved the movie and I loved the music, so much so I purchased quite a number of DVD releases and the soundtrack CD. Now what most people don’t seem to realize about commercial soundtrack releases, is that much of the music on it, is not the same as the cues used in the film. It is “remixed”, "edited" or “re scored” in order to make the tracks more “consumer” friendly. Brotherhood of the Wolf is a great example of this. The last cue used in the movie is titled Epilogue. The track does appear on the CD, but it is not the same version as that which appears in the film.

So today, I present you with the original Epilogue as featured at the end of the film.

I'd rather call you shithead than Mouse

I caught Lost & Delirious late one night on Showtime, I bought it on DVD the next day! It is one of the few movies that I have actually felt a true emotional connection to (and it has lesbian themes..which... you know aren't always a bad thing)

The music used in the film fit so perfectly and the failure to release a soundtrack only made it harder to find all the tracks, but eventually I took to ripping the main theme from the DVD and thus.... here it is

The music was composed by Yves Chamberland.

From Bond to Bugs

Today I thought I would post a "2 for the Price of 1" deal. Seeing as both tracks to feature today are covers. First up is an out take from David Arnold's excellent James Bond Cover Album; Shaken & Stirred. The track in question is Bjork's interpretation of You Only Live Twice originally sung by Shirley Bassey, there are quite a number of covers for this particular Bond track, but I must admit I quite like this version - Take a listen here.

Next up we have Zoë Poledouris's cover of the David Bowie track Oxford Town. As featured in the movie Starship Troopers. This track took me forever to hunt down originally and I still don't think it is available commercially anywhere? It doesn't appear on either the original OST or the Bootleg Complete Scores that have appeared on the net over the years. Even the isolated score on the DVD has a commentary track that interupts this particular song.

Anyways I hope you enjoy listening.

It's only human nature after all....

The BBC still to this day have some of the best original programming around. Their adaptation of Sarah Water's marvelous book "Tipping the Velvet" was one of the best things to air in 2002, tis a shame Fingersmith & Affinity didn't get the same treatment. Anyway to continue with my unheard soundtracks theme I present you with Adrian Johnston's excellent main theme to Tipping the Velvet.

Enjoy

The Hole is one of those movies where, had the main actors been as well known then as they are today, they would likely have never done it. This is not to say that it is a bad movie, it is certainly an interesting movie. The score was written by Clint Mansell, and whilst there does appear to be an official release, the version I have is slightly different.

Sorry, No Longer Available to Download

Best known for his "The Police" drumming days, Stewart Copeland moved into the art of Soundtracks back in the early 1980s, composing music for films like Rumble Fish, Talk Radio, Wall Street and many more. A few years ago whilst flipping channels on late night TV I stumbled upon a show that revolved around an 18 year old girl who had died (killed by a toilet seat re-entering Earth's atmosphere) and was now a Grim Reaper. Dead Like Me became one of my top 5 favorite shows very quickly and today I present you with the opening theme.
*Downloads are no longer available sorry.

Suicide is like... the ultimate fuck you.

So today's theme is from the somewhat underrated horror flick Ginger Snaps. I must admit I quite enjoyed the first and the two sequels actually weren't as bad as you would think for something quite low budget. The theme is by Mike Sheilds and it is available to download freely from his site (although his version contains SFX)

And the beat goes on...

Amongst my many interests in life, I collect film scores and movie soundtracks. In the years of my collecting I was frequently annoyed by the absence of tracks or availability of scores, the advent of P2P certainly helped release some cool stuff that would possibly never see the light of day, but you couldn't always have everything.

Over the next few weeks I thought I would share some elusive tracks from various movies whose soundtrack either never got an official release, or the release did not include the track on it.

I am going to start with the End Credits to a little known 1999 film called Pups. It stars Burt Reynolds and a pre-skank Mischa Barton and surprised me a little upon watching it. The story follows two kids, who after finding a gun decide to rob a bank (as you do)...

So anyway...hope you enjoy

Sorry, No Longer Available to Download

Låt den rätte komma in

With all the Twilight hooplah going on last year...you would be forgiven for missing this amazingly good Swedish vampire movie, but as it will be making its debut on Blu-ray and DVD in March, I just thought I would take the time to recommend it.

Seven Pounds (2008)

That this movie was made in the studio system gives me some hope for the future of Hollywood movies, that it has a star in the title role gives it a wider audience appeal, that he can act is something else entirely. I will not give away any plot points suffice to say that Seven Pounds is a movie told with as little information provided and at only the last possible moment. When the film is over you realize that you quite possibly knew what was happening from the very beginning, but as the main characters motives are never questioned you cannot predict them until it is too late anyway. Will Smith displays quite an emotional range throughout the film and as you begin to learn more about his character the performance is even more impressive, Rosario Dawson also adds dimensionality to a character that could have simply been a sympathy vote. Seven Pounds is certainly not light hearted entertainment, it asks you to have patience with its plotting and character development, it has moments of sadness and a sense of despair, but if you stick with it, the end result is something quite different to the norm.

Zack & Miri Make A Porno

A somewhat predictable and often over the top comedy with excessive swearing and of course numerous sexual references, but hey the title gives the last bit away. This is a Kevin Smith movie after all....Zack & Miri tries its hardest to have heart, but just misses the mark with some awfully uncomfortable scenes and some fairly poor writing and character development. Still, if you go into it expecting more than T&A jokes then you probably haven't seen any of Smith's earlier works...wait for the DVD on this one...

Curious Case of the Buttons (Benjamin that is....)

There is something wrong with this film. The acting is fine (and in some instances great), the cinematography is pretty and appropriate, the visual effects and make up are impressive, the writing is witty and intelligent, but the film lacks a true purpose or heart. Yes it is sad, but I did not feel for the characters, the story is largely predictable and thus watered down any empathy I should have felt. I am not really sure what purpose the film was hoping to achieve. I suspect it was trying to be profound, but how many times can you say "Live your life to the full and don't waste a second" without it becoming pretentious. There are certainly some longer than necessary sequences making for an overly long running time with little need for it and much of the film could be called preachy. Despite all this the film is tipped as oscar material for best picture, I am not saying it shouldn't win, but there are certainly issues that prevented this from being the best it could have been.