PeruvianSkies
09-21-2007, 08:33 PM
Ok, thought I would post this with some simple rules: List 10 soundtracks that you feel a person MUST have in their library somewhere, but you also must have this soundtrack as well in order to recommend it. Note, these are not the BEST, or GREATEST, but just ones that you feel are in some way, shape, or form worthy to own. Here is my list:
1. THE GOOD, THE BAD, and the UGLY - highly memorable opening credits theme song, but also contains some incredibly good tunes along the way too, including the closing song during the dual at the end of the film. A must for any serious Western fan, but also anyone who loves Ennio Morricone.
2. THE HOURS - this is in many ways Philip Glass' masterwork and while I also like KUNDUN, or KOYAANISQATSI, this one really contains some of his best work and it's just layered with emotion, depth, beauty, and aching. Probably a CD that I have spun more than anything else. [see lengthy full-review below]
3. THE VIRGIN SUICIDES - great compilation of tunes that Sophia Coppola obviously spent much time really digesting these songs and working them into her film in compelling ways. Air, 10CC, it's all good.
4. HIGH FIDELITY - it's nearly impossible to make a serious film about a Vinyl store if you don't have a killer soundtrack, right? Well, this one really brings together a great grouping of songs ranging from Stereolab to Sheila Nicholls.
5. MAGNOLIA - wow, just a downright masterful working of Aimee Mann's material as well as some other nice touches too, just superb.
6. EYES WIDE SHUT Great misunderstood film from the late Stanley Kubrick, but if one thing is for sure, this guy knew how to make music work for his films, see also #7 and #8, and #9.
7. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE - most people do not view this film as a futuristic film, but this soundtrack clearly demonstrates some of it's Science Fiction desires and again, highly memorable Kubrick film and the music helps forge that.
8. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY - if you wanted to find one location of some of the greatest classical works ever written than you need to look no further than this soundtrack, which was uncommon during it's time, but it has now become so cliched and overused that it's nearly a mockery. I recall hearing Also Sprach Zarathustra when I saw the film in it's restored print a few years ago and I was trembling at the amazing power of both sight and sound at those moments...it was chilling.
9. BARRY LYNDON - if you want some classical tunes that are perhaps not nearly as popular as those found on the 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY film, than BARRY LYNDON is your ticket. Handel's Sarabande and even the Chieftain's Women of Ireland make this soundtrack/score a high recommendation, despite being a harder film and CD to track down.
10. HEAVEN'S GATE - OK, enough Kubrick and over to Michael Cimino and the brilliant original score put together by David Mansfield. This CD can be found on Ryko disc and is absolutely fantastic...I can't recommend this one enough!
Full Review: THE HOURS
The year 2002 was a strong year for soundtracks as well as film. In fact there were so many great films that sadly not all of them could win at all the award ceremonies ranging from Cannes to the Oscars. First there is Thomas Newman’s terrific score that perfectly captures the essence of ROAD TO PERDITION, certainly one of the finest pictures of the year, even though it was slightly cut short by certain critics. Then there is Elmer Bernstein echoing his own composition from the classic 1962 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD for which he supplied to the Todd Haynes film FAR FROM HEAVEN. The score sets the tone of this melodrama intentionally designed to replicate the films of Douglas Sirk and even Rainer Werner Fassbinder. There were many other films that contained great soundtracks as well ranging from ONE HOUR PHOTO to WINDTALKERS, but the finest film score (and perhaps best score written in the past 5 years) was Philip Glass’s work on Stephen Daldry’s THE HOURS.
To make such a bold claim requires a bolder explanation and support, which this review shall attempt. First we must cover some of the grounds of the actual film in order to better understand what Glass was attempting with his arrangement. The Hours is set during three time periods, the 20’s, the 50’s, and finally during the present day (2000’s). The typical way to score such a film might be to arrange three separate ‘genre’ pieces that accompany each era, allowing for a different feel for each of these eras. In doing so, the film would be jumpy, but the music would capture what we are seeing. For many films this would be appropriate, but not the case with this particular film. The reason for that is simple. The Hours is not trying to isolate the three time periods from which it takes place, but rather it is trying to blend these three periods. Most importantly it is combining the storylines from three women living within these periods. The first woman is Virginia Woolf (played by Nicole Kidman), who is writing her book Mrs. Dalloway in the 1920’s. The second woman is Laura Brown, a noble housewife trying to be happy in her 1950’s typical family life. The final woman is Clarissa Vaughan (Meryl Streep), an unhappy and confused bisexual woman living in the present.
Each woman lives a different type of life, yet certain aspects of their life are frightfully similar. Each woman has devoted her life to someone else, or put up her happiness in order to maintain peace between the ones that they are with. Glass structures the score in a way that certain melodies and phrases repeat throughout the film, which recall certain moods or feelings that happen on screen. Perhaps the greatest strength of this soundtrack though is its management of simplicity and complexity. What occurs is very simple phrases that have a repetitive tone, common in Glass’s work), but then it becomes more involved and elaborate without flinching. It builds, as our characters deteriorate. We see the contrast, and hear the influx of indecision within our stories as they unravel before our eyes.
If you listen to the soundtrack without seeing the film, you can instantly understand some of the common themes that it is creating and working around. There is pain, mystery, confusion, longing, sadness, and melancholy all mixed together, but arranged in such a way that the listener is hypnotized into a state of indecision, like our characters. We want to have feelings, yet the music almost forces us to become comatose, so relaxed we cannot think, or that our only thoughts are of nothingness.
Track Listing
The Poet Acts
Morning Passages
Something She Has to Do
For Your Own Benefit
Vanessa and the Changelings
I’m Going to Make a Cake
An Unwelcome Friend
Dead Things
The Kiss
Why Does Someone Have to Die?
Tearing Herself Away
Escape!
Choosing Life
The Hours
The tracks operate in a cyclical way, both as a whole, and individually, which give the score strength. Each track seems to start somewhere, and then end again at a place almost similar to where it began. Even as the music becomes more elaborate and involved (or even evolved), there is a pattern that is being created. It is a pattern that is somewhat tangible, yet our minds cannot make the distinction.
The film cuts very well to the music, as mentioned before that Glass’s signature trademark is a repetitive tone that becomes mesmerizing and droning. This is experienced in his scores for Godfrey Reggio’s KOYAANISQATSI and QATSI films. Also a similar marking in the brilliant Paul Schrader film MISHIMA. This type of repetitiveness is hard to pull off, but effective when done correctly. Glass is capable of doing so, simply because he is one of the few composers that is literate to the point that he understands complexity through simplicity. He understands that music can be simple and effective, but more than that – having order and balance can strengthen it. His ability to write music for the right instrumentations is also matched by very few. Here he uses the Lyric Quartet, which creates the appropriate amount of dreariness, yet restlessness associated with the film.
THE HOURS, both as a soundtrack and a film, is bold, daring, fascinating, complex, uncompromising, elegant, and most of all beautiful. It is a film that will last, simply because its story serves much relevance. It deservedly won the attention of many critics, and will hopefully find its audience for years to come. It asks questions that few can answer, but just the simple thought towards these questions is effective enough. The film would be nothing without the music Glass has worked out for this film, creating a perfect marriage between sound and celluloid. The images beg for the music here, they are united in ways that very few manage to do. Even by itself, the soundtrack makes you think and ask yourself, ‘Am I living for myself or for something else?” Do we have enough hours in the day to make the distinction? Find out for yourself.
1. THE GOOD, THE BAD, and the UGLY - highly memorable opening credits theme song, but also contains some incredibly good tunes along the way too, including the closing song during the dual at the end of the film. A must for any serious Western fan, but also anyone who loves Ennio Morricone.
2. THE HOURS - this is in many ways Philip Glass' masterwork and while I also like KUNDUN, or KOYAANISQATSI, this one really contains some of his best work and it's just layered with emotion, depth, beauty, and aching. Probably a CD that I have spun more than anything else. [see lengthy full-review below]
3. THE VIRGIN SUICIDES - great compilation of tunes that Sophia Coppola obviously spent much time really digesting these songs and working them into her film in compelling ways. Air, 10CC, it's all good.
4. HIGH FIDELITY - it's nearly impossible to make a serious film about a Vinyl store if you don't have a killer soundtrack, right? Well, this one really brings together a great grouping of songs ranging from Stereolab to Sheila Nicholls.
5. MAGNOLIA - wow, just a downright masterful working of Aimee Mann's material as well as some other nice touches too, just superb.
6. EYES WIDE SHUT Great misunderstood film from the late Stanley Kubrick, but if one thing is for sure, this guy knew how to make music work for his films, see also #7 and #8, and #9.
7. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE - most people do not view this film as a futuristic film, but this soundtrack clearly demonstrates some of it's Science Fiction desires and again, highly memorable Kubrick film and the music helps forge that.
8. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY - if you wanted to find one location of some of the greatest classical works ever written than you need to look no further than this soundtrack, which was uncommon during it's time, but it has now become so cliched and overused that it's nearly a mockery. I recall hearing Also Sprach Zarathustra when I saw the film in it's restored print a few years ago and I was trembling at the amazing power of both sight and sound at those moments...it was chilling.
9. BARRY LYNDON - if you want some classical tunes that are perhaps not nearly as popular as those found on the 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY film, than BARRY LYNDON is your ticket. Handel's Sarabande and even the Chieftain's Women of Ireland make this soundtrack/score a high recommendation, despite being a harder film and CD to track down.
10. HEAVEN'S GATE - OK, enough Kubrick and over to Michael Cimino and the brilliant original score put together by David Mansfield. This CD can be found on Ryko disc and is absolutely fantastic...I can't recommend this one enough!
Full Review: THE HOURS
The year 2002 was a strong year for soundtracks as well as film. In fact there were so many great films that sadly not all of them could win at all the award ceremonies ranging from Cannes to the Oscars. First there is Thomas Newman’s terrific score that perfectly captures the essence of ROAD TO PERDITION, certainly one of the finest pictures of the year, even though it was slightly cut short by certain critics. Then there is Elmer Bernstein echoing his own composition from the classic 1962 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD for which he supplied to the Todd Haynes film FAR FROM HEAVEN. The score sets the tone of this melodrama intentionally designed to replicate the films of Douglas Sirk and even Rainer Werner Fassbinder. There were many other films that contained great soundtracks as well ranging from ONE HOUR PHOTO to WINDTALKERS, but the finest film score (and perhaps best score written in the past 5 years) was Philip Glass’s work on Stephen Daldry’s THE HOURS.
To make such a bold claim requires a bolder explanation and support, which this review shall attempt. First we must cover some of the grounds of the actual film in order to better understand what Glass was attempting with his arrangement. The Hours is set during three time periods, the 20’s, the 50’s, and finally during the present day (2000’s). The typical way to score such a film might be to arrange three separate ‘genre’ pieces that accompany each era, allowing for a different feel for each of these eras. In doing so, the film would be jumpy, but the music would capture what we are seeing. For many films this would be appropriate, but not the case with this particular film. The reason for that is simple. The Hours is not trying to isolate the three time periods from which it takes place, but rather it is trying to blend these three periods. Most importantly it is combining the storylines from three women living within these periods. The first woman is Virginia Woolf (played by Nicole Kidman), who is writing her book Mrs. Dalloway in the 1920’s. The second woman is Laura Brown, a noble housewife trying to be happy in her 1950’s typical family life. The final woman is Clarissa Vaughan (Meryl Streep), an unhappy and confused bisexual woman living in the present.
Each woman lives a different type of life, yet certain aspects of their life are frightfully similar. Each woman has devoted her life to someone else, or put up her happiness in order to maintain peace between the ones that they are with. Glass structures the score in a way that certain melodies and phrases repeat throughout the film, which recall certain moods or feelings that happen on screen. Perhaps the greatest strength of this soundtrack though is its management of simplicity and complexity. What occurs is very simple phrases that have a repetitive tone, common in Glass’s work), but then it becomes more involved and elaborate without flinching. It builds, as our characters deteriorate. We see the contrast, and hear the influx of indecision within our stories as they unravel before our eyes.
If you listen to the soundtrack without seeing the film, you can instantly understand some of the common themes that it is creating and working around. There is pain, mystery, confusion, longing, sadness, and melancholy all mixed together, but arranged in such a way that the listener is hypnotized into a state of indecision, like our characters. We want to have feelings, yet the music almost forces us to become comatose, so relaxed we cannot think, or that our only thoughts are of nothingness.
Track Listing
The Poet Acts
Morning Passages
Something She Has to Do
For Your Own Benefit
Vanessa and the Changelings
I’m Going to Make a Cake
An Unwelcome Friend
Dead Things
The Kiss
Why Does Someone Have to Die?
Tearing Herself Away
Escape!
Choosing Life
The Hours
The tracks operate in a cyclical way, both as a whole, and individually, which give the score strength. Each track seems to start somewhere, and then end again at a place almost similar to where it began. Even as the music becomes more elaborate and involved (or even evolved), there is a pattern that is being created. It is a pattern that is somewhat tangible, yet our minds cannot make the distinction.
The film cuts very well to the music, as mentioned before that Glass’s signature trademark is a repetitive tone that becomes mesmerizing and droning. This is experienced in his scores for Godfrey Reggio’s KOYAANISQATSI and QATSI films. Also a similar marking in the brilliant Paul Schrader film MISHIMA. This type of repetitiveness is hard to pull off, but effective when done correctly. Glass is capable of doing so, simply because he is one of the few composers that is literate to the point that he understands complexity through simplicity. He understands that music can be simple and effective, but more than that – having order and balance can strengthen it. His ability to write music for the right instrumentations is also matched by very few. Here he uses the Lyric Quartet, which creates the appropriate amount of dreariness, yet restlessness associated with the film.
THE HOURS, both as a soundtrack and a film, is bold, daring, fascinating, complex, uncompromising, elegant, and most of all beautiful. It is a film that will last, simply because its story serves much relevance. It deservedly won the attention of many critics, and will hopefully find its audience for years to come. It asks questions that few can answer, but just the simple thought towards these questions is effective enough. The film would be nothing without the music Glass has worked out for this film, creating a perfect marriage between sound and celluloid. The images beg for the music here, they are united in ways that very few manage to do. Even by itself, the soundtrack makes you think and ask yourself, ‘Am I living for myself or for something else?” Do we have enough hours in the day to make the distinction? Find out for yourself.