Let's Talk Soundtracks!

17 Dec

KATIE BROWN - 17 DEC 2020

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When I was a young and angsty teenager, I would sit on the floor in our living room at home, slip the Titanic soundtrack (yes, I know) into our CD player, wrap my arms around my knees and get lost in the gloriously tragic seabound world of ol’ Kate and Leo. My long-suffering father, trying to catch a moment’s down time by watching the news in peace after a long day at work, would come out and sigh to my mother, “she’s in one of her Titanic moods again” (I love you, Dad).

You see, the power of an exceptional soundtrack is in its great and unparalleled ability to transport the listener to quite another place, for HOURS at a TIME.

Other such fond memories were the whimsical soundtrack to Amélie, which I bought on CD while a teen and still spin in my car (mostly thanks to a broken auxiliary connection), the discovery of the two-disc splendour of Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, the original Beauty and the Beast (hey there, Céline), and as a continuation of those angst-filled teen years, The Matrix soundtrack for letting off some steam (I still wonder if anyone ever walked down the aisle to “Spybreak”. What a wedding that would have been).

In honour of the great alchemy that is the composition and curation of an exceptional soundtrack, I asked Newshub’s Kate Rodger, Metro’s Henry Oliver, journalist and broadcaster Noelle McCarthy, musician Jeremy Redmore, hairstylist Lauren Gunn and Yasmine Ganley of anyonegirl to share their top soundtracks, along with their favourite tracks from each.

For you, dear reader, there is a beautifully eclectic Spotify playlist inspired by these favourites right beneath the article.

Go on then, go and take a journey.

Kate Rodger - Newshub Entertainment Editor + Film Reviewer

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

Honestly it’s impossible to find a single false note in this entire extraordinary score for one of my all time favourite films. The main theme piece for the film is seminal topped only by “Man with a Harmonica”, killer in its singularity and its building orchestral intensity. GOOSEBUMPS every single time!

Out of Sight (1998)

Before Soderbergh’s Oceans and Eric Brockovich there were Clooney and J.Lo in Out of Sight, with one of the sexiest of sex scenes ever committed to camera. DJ David Holmes compiled an eclectic selection of the sensuous and the foot-tapping using his own compositions augmented by some of the greats, including the Isley Brothers and Dean Martin. OUTSTANDING.

Fav tracks: The Isley Brothers “It’s Your Thing”, David Holmes “No More Time Outs”, Dean Martin “Ain’t that a Kick in the Head”

Romeo + Juliet (1996)

Fav tracks: Des’ree “Kissing You”, Stina Nordenstam “Little Star”, Radiohead “Talk Show Host”

Moulin Rouge (2001)

Fav tracks: Jose Feliciano, Ewan McGregor and Jacek Coman “El Tango De Roxanne” (WHAT a Police cover!), Nicole Kidman & Ewan McGregor “Come What May”, Christina Aguilera, Lil’Kim, Mya & Pink “Lady Marmalade”

Yep, here’s my dirty little secret - I bloody love a good movie musical! Baz Luhrmann’s double whammy of Romeo + Juliet then Moulin Rouge get a yearly watch with both soundtracks on my Spotify. I also LOVE Hugh, Zendaya, Zac and Keala in The Greatest Showman and of course Gaga and Bradley Cooper in A Star is Born!

Henry Oliver - Editor, Metro Magazine

Kids (1995)

My friends and I snuck into this movie when we were 14. It blew our minds and introduced us to music we'd never heard before — Slint, Daniel Johnston, Folk Implosion. I can't imagine ever wanting to watch the movie again, but the soundtrack still goes.

Pick: Slint "Good Morning, Captain"

Pretty In Pink (1986)

In my late teens, I went through a real John Hughes phase. I was way into The Smiths and this just played into that vibe, and introduced me to lots of new wave music I'd heard on the radio but hadn't really taken seriously until then. It's unfortunate that Morrissey has turned from a charming asshole into a complete asshole and thus rendered himself unlistenable. It's not the same, but we can still have Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and The Psychedelic Furs.

Pick: Echo & the Bunnymen "Bring on the Dancing Horses"

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983)

I'm gonna level with ya — I've never seen this film (starring David Bowie) and have only listened to the complete original soundtrack by Ryuichi Sakamoto a handful of times, but the title track is so good I can't leave it out. I've probably put it on three or four playlists this year alone.

Pick: Ryuichi Sakamoto "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" (also check out his acoustic piano version on his album Three).

Noelle McCarthy - Journalist/Broadcaster

The Lost Boys (1987)

The very first soundtrack I owned. My friend Linda taped it for me. I wore that tape out while I saved up to buy my own. I was about 12 when I saw The Lost Boys and I couldn’t think of a more beautiful girl than Jami Gertz (I see from google that Jami Gertz is incredibly rich now. Good for her.). The theme song, “Cry Little Sister”, is full-on 80’s-pop-gothic, complete with an organ break and an operatic choir of creepy children. The Echo & the Bunnymen cover of “People Are Strange” is spookily brilliant, perfect for the film’s druggy, haunted-carnival vibe. Every time I hear it, I think of Kiefer Sutherland with his blonde mohawk, laughing his head off, dropping off the bottom of a railway bridge.

Track pick: Echo & the Bunnymen “People Are Strange”

Empire Records (1995)

This is, in retrospect, a totally ridiculous film, set in a record store staffed entirely by archetypes; the ingenue, the heartthrob, the misfit, the existential cool-guy in black turtlenecks, and a forcefully sex-positive Renée Zellweger. Over the course of the same day pretty much, all of these characters have concurrent emotional epiphanies, and their boss is Anthony La Paglia who hates the corporate music business and loves AC/DC. I’ve never met anyone who worked in a record shop who was allowed to play anything other than Michael Bublé but I guess that’s why it’s such a compelling fantasy. Everyone in this film is/was adorable and I am still at a loss as to why it made no money.

Track pick: Toss up between “Sugar High” and “Free” by the Martinis. (There’s a great moment in the Pixies doco LoudQUIETloud where Joey Santiago and his wife Linda Mallari are filmed playing “Free”, for free, in front of an audience of tens of people in a shopping mall.)

Betty Blue (1988)

When I was at university, I shared a house with an art student who listened to this album a lot. It was so beautiful and haunting, different than anything I’d heard before. Synths, sax, all that jazzy stuff, not really ever my thing before, but so immersive and beautiful the way it's put together by Gabriel Yared.

Track pick: The sax on “Zorg et Betty”.

Frozen (2013)

My daughter Eve and I listen to this every morning on the way to daycare. It’s great to have found something that we can both appreciate. There’s a bit of filler on here to be honest — no surprises that “Reindeers are Better than People” didn’t move the Academy in the same way as “Let it Go” — but there are also quite a few excellent show tunes. “Do you Want to Build a Snowman” is pretty cute, and “For the First Time in Forever’ is sweet and joyful with a chorus that really soars.

Top track: “For the First Time in Forever” - the one that everybody knows.

Togetherness (2015, HBO)

I got obsessed with this show during lockdown, watching it by myself because my husband couldn't bear it. Everyone in this story is completely emotionally naked most of the time, and they’re always making really bad choices. It’s a full-on watch, especially if you’re in your early 40’s, and the music really amplifies that emotional intensity. This is the Duplass Brothers so there’s a predictable amount of Grizzly Bear and lots of American indie pop, but also great, great songs by everyone from The Cure, to James Blake to James Brown. I even forgave the use of “Walking in Memphis” as an emotional support song for one particularly fragile dude.

Track Pick: Lower Dens “Ondine” — breaking my heart for Melanie Lynskey in the first episode of Season 2.

Lauren Gunn - Director, Colleen Salon

The Proposition (2005)

I’ll pretty much listen to anything by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, as well as being a haunting delight of a film, listening to this soundtrack transports me to imagined lonely and desolate landscapes and soothes my soul.

Singles (1992)

I am a child of the 90’s and this soundtrack sums up my teenage years, all doc boots and tattered nylon petticoats. Every now and then I stumble upon Alice in Chains somewhere random and it feels good to be reminded of my roots.

Death Proof (2007)

I mean Tarantino is the master of the soundtrack. This is a lesser known film of his I guess but the soundtrack is a killer clash of metal and old time tunes. It’s best listened to on a pretty afternoon with a blue sky, sun and fresh green grass.

Jeremy Redmore - Musician

Forrest Gump (1994)

At this stage of my young life I thought no movie could be more moving than My Girl but Forrest Gump blew it out of the water with its epic combination of plot, historical placement, acting craft and music. For years following its release I would wake to the sound of my sister playing the theme tune on our family piano — the first instrumental song I fell in love with — while the long list of absolutely classic songs in its track listing made it a long-time staple of our six-disc CD changer stereo system. It's far too hard to pin down a favourite amongst this lot, so I'll settle on the theme tune as a piece that was written by Alan Silvestri specifically for the movie.

The Lion King (1994)

I think if a new version of this movie hadn't been released last year then my sense of appreciation for the original may not have been so heightened. However, the contrast in quality between the two — in terms of soundtrack — was so immense that Elton John and the incredible voice actors and singers from the 1994 version stand out more than ever as luminaries in their fields. Hearing a young boy's voice singing “I Just Can't Wait to be King” opened a door of future musical possibility in my mind while my favourite track and go-to karaoke number is “Circle of Life” — written by Elton and Tim Rice, two virtuosic songwriters.

Les Misérables(1995)

I admit that this is a bit of a cheat inclusion because, while there was a Les Mis movie and official soundtrack created in 2012, the same songs were recorded in a live performance as part of the 10th anniversary of the theatre show in London in 1995 that is what I consider the benchmark soundtrack. You can even watch the entire performance on YouTube, so that kinda counts as a movie right? In any case, Les Misérables is my favourite musical. Its songs weave narrative and melody together over the course of almost three hours and extract every inch of emotive expression from the plot. An absolute classic and hearing every powerful melody combine into the show's Act I finale “One Day More” is always a spine-tingling favourite — especially in this version which sees Jean Valjeans from around the world bring their own languages to the song.

Garden State (2004)

The movie that spawned a tidal wave of hipsters also happened to find its way to my Sandringham-living, angst-rock loving ears and gifted me a life-long love for The Shins, Iron and Wine and Nick Drake. Whenever I hear these songs I'm taken right back to wasting away whole days in bed with my then-girlfriend while we hoped that each of us weren't thinking of Natalie Portman or Zach Braff the whole time. Favourite tracks: “New Slang” by The Shins, “Such Great Heights” by Iron and Wine and “Let Go” by Frou Frou.

Call Me By Your Name (2017)

Any soundtrack that features Sufjan Stevens in pride of place is going to get my attention, but the fact he is surrounded by gorgeous piano compositions from the likes of Ryuichi Sakamoto and 80s classics like “Words” and “Love My Way” puts it firmly in my best-of list. It also helps that the movie was also incredible. As a favourite track I cannot go past Sufjan's “Mystery of Love”.

Yasmine Ganley - Founder, Anyonegirl

Mustang (2015)

My partner teases me that Warren Ellis is my musical husband because I listen to him so often. I love all of his work, but this soundtrack does something to my insides, mostly my heart and the rhythm of my breathing. This movie was exceptional. I first watched it, alone, in a tiny theatre at Academy Cinemas with maybe three other strangers.

Call Me By Your Name (2017)

A perfect combination of classical piano and 80s pop music, what could be better than that? Plus, this movie is beyond sublime.

Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

Its boozy jazz and Italian spirit is contagious. I love putting this on in the late afternoon, pouring a drink and starting to cook.