I need a soundtrack for my car

[Johnny L.A.]

Theoretically, I have a 1966 MGB roadster. It's still in SoCal being restored. It's driving my crazy, now that it's perfect weather here for driving topless.

Anyway, I want to have some theme music for when I eventually get the car back. Theperfect song for driving the MGB is Peter Gunn Theme. But I can't just listen to one song all the time, so I'm asking for suggestions as to driving tunes I can compile. To give you an idea of what I'm looking for, here's what I have in mind so far (in no particular order, except for the first one):

• Peter Gunn Theme
• Pink Panther Theme
• James Bond Theme
• Secret Agent Man

I think Karl Zero's Songs for Convertibles y otros typos vehiculos fits well too.

[Mr. Blue Sky]

Since you're doing theme songs, might I suggest the "Hawaii Five-O" theme. It kicks ass when played really loud.

Since it's a British sports car, how about Boz Scaggs' "Breakdown Dead Ahead".




Please don't hit......

[ccwaterback]

60's British stuff, Mercy beat.

Peter and Gordon, Gerry and the Pacemakers, etc.

And Beach Boys, of course.

[Ranchoth]

I've got a list of good "car chase" music saved, from a previous incarnation of the boards. Would that work?

[Rico]

How about Radar Love by Golden Earring?

I've been driving all night, my hand's wet on the wheel,
There's a voice in my head that drives my heel.

Sounds perfect for driving the MG from Los Angeles to Bellingham...

[Johnny L.A.]

ccwaterback: Yeah, "mod" would fit the car well.

Rico: That reminds me: Don Felder's Heavy Metal (Take a Ride). Kenny Loggins's Danger Zone could be fun too.

But I think I'll see if I can fill a CD with jazz and British Invasion -- at least for the first soundtrack.

[Johnny L.A.]

BTW, Rico: It's been about 70°F and sunny here in the Bellingham area.

[Rick]

How about Steppenwolf's Born to be Wild?

Get your motor runnin'
Head out on the highway
Lookin' for adventure
And whatever comes our way

[Gatopescado]

Originally Posted by ccwaterback

60's British stuff, Mercy beat.

Thats Mersey Beat. But yours in pretty funny!

Check out Richard Thompson's tune, MGB-GT on the "Mirror Blue" CD. I like cranking up Reach Down by Temple of the Dog when I motor with the top down.

[Hampshire]

If you looking for a funked up version of The Peter Gunn Theme try the remix by The Art of Noise. It's usually on their Best Of cds.

[koeeoaddi]

Oooooo, I've got one:

My foot's on the throttle and it's made of lead
But I'm a fast ridding daddy with a real cool head
I'm a-gonna pass a truck on the hill ahead...

er, on second thought, perhaps not...

[Pushkin]

Ack, sod it all and go for the theme to Bullitt

[bughunter]

Oh, Yeah -- by Yello
Barrracuda -- by Heart

[Mr. Kobayashi]

Allman Brothers Band - Jessica

Theme for "Top Gear", you can't get much more 'car' than that.

[vl_mungo]

Driving Slow...
Green Onions - Booker T. and the M.G.'s
Low Rider - War

Driving Fast...
Pipeline - The Chantays (or even better, the Agent Orange version)
Motorbreath - Metallica

[Gadfly]

Miss Modular by Stereolab. Incredibly funky, and it has that car commercial feel.

[Critical Mass]

Alabama 3 - Woke up this morning (Sopranos theme)

You woke up this morning
Got yourself a gun,
Mama always said you'd be
The Chosen One.


The full version of the song kicks ass. Great driving song!

[Ranchoth]

•Getta Bloomin' Move On (Self Preservation Society) from the original Italian Job soundtrack.
•The main theme from In Like Flint
•The Guns and Roses version of Sympathy for the Devil (You know why.)

[SolGrundy]

Quincy Jones' Big Band Bossa Nova
Esquivel's Space Age Bachelor Pad Music

And in keeping with your original playlist:
"Collapse" by Soul Coughing (from Irresistable Bliss)
The theme from "The Avengers" by Laurie Anderson (the original series, NOT the horrible "movie")
The theme from "The Saint" (either the original or remix version by Orbital are acceptable)
The theme from the series "UFO"

Generally, dig around for the names: Laurie Anderson, Barry Gray, Henry Mancini, and Duane Eddy.

[Johnny L.A.]

Getta Bloomin' Move On (Self Preservation Society) from the original Italian Job soundtrack.

That song was stuck in my head a couple of weeks ago.

The theme from the series "UFO"

That theme was stuck in my head a couple of months ago.

[Capt. Ridley's Shooting Party]

Autophilia (Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love My Car) - The Bluetones

[yellowcakesolid]

For cruising around in a convertible in California, I’d go with the soundtrack from Get Shorty. To geek out, I’d try to record the introduction to the video game Pole Position….some theme music followed by “Prepare to Qualify.” That would be pretty sweet to play when you’re waiting for a light to turn green.

[widdershins]

I've been beaten to "Get A Bloomin' Move On", but the whole soundtrack to that film would work. Just be careful while driving during "On Days Like These", don't want to end up like in the film.

The opening theme to Bullitt is perfect, as suggested already.

"Making Time" by Creation.

"Autumn Leaves" by Miles Davis from the Somethin' Else album.

The entire Tide album by Antonio Carlos Jobim.

[Cervaise]

Get a hold of the soundtrack to Out of Sight. The instrumental stuff done for the movie by David Holmes is just too cool for school. Perfect for driving around with the sun on your face.

[vl_mungo]

One more that's good for very late night or very early morning drives...
Screenwriter's Blues - Soul Coughing

[gotpasswords]

If I were at home, I could aim you at a few other Art of Noise tracks that would do well for you.

How about Kraftwerk's Autobahn?

[SolGrundy]

Originally Posted by gotpasswords

If I were at home, I could aim you at a few other Art of Noise tracks that would do well for you.

How about, in decreasing order of appropriateness:
from In No Sense? Nonsense!
Galleons of Stone
A Day at the Races
Fin du Temps/How Rapid?
Roller 1
One Earth

from In Visible Silence
Legs!
Backbeat
Peter Gunn
Beatback

from Daft
Beatbox
Close (to the Edit)
Snapshot

from The Seduction of Claude Debussy
The Holy Egoism of Genius (starts slow, but picks up)

[gotpasswords]

OK, back at home and looking at the collection. iTunes says I've got 14 days of music, so this is just a tiptoe through the tulips.

Continuing on with Art of Noise...
James Bond Theme from their Below the Waste album
From The Best of The Art of Noise - Dragnet '88 and Peter Gunn Theme (The Twang Mix) Give a listen also to Legacy on this album - it's a remix of Legs.

Dragnet, James Bond and Peter Gunn are energetic tunes with (dare I say it?) drive. Legacy is a good bit more laid back, and feels like it'd match up with driving on a curvy road. Just curvy, and not punching through hairpins.

126 AoN tracks in my collection...I need to get another hobby!

Some random sightings as I scroll through the rest of my music...

Blue Savannah by Erasure for a nice sunny lazy cruise through farmland. Joe Satriani's Rubina's Blue Sky Happiness is another nice "happy" tune that's got some "drive" behind it.

How about some good ol' guitar jams?
S.R.V. from Eric Johnson's Venus Isle.
Lone Star on Stuart Hamm's The Urge.
Summer Song by Joe Satriani - just watch your speed with this one!

Suicide Blonde by INXS (On their X album)

Hopefully, you won't need this one: Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car, from U2's Zooropa.

Got car problems? Satan Is My Motor by Cake.

A lot of Alan Parsons' instrumentals, perhaps. They're conveniently bundled up on The Instrumental Works.

How could we pass this up? Prince's Little Red Corvette Heck, I could just jam with most of his stuff and call it a day.

Another "dare I say it?" vote goes to the Villiage People's Go West, assuming you're headed in that direction.

Driving Aloud (radio storm) by Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians.

Santana's Supernatural album has served me well on a hot summer night's drive.

If you tire of the MGB, try out The Key To Her Ferrari by Thomas Dolby.

And finally, you're done driving, the car is dirty, so it's time to head over to Rose Royce's Car Wash

[Johnny L.A.]

Hm. I haven't heard a lot (most) of the songs suggested. Is there a place to hear them before I shell out the bucks for 20 or 30 CDs?

[scout1222]

Oh, man, Johnny, that's gonna be so cool when you get the music and the car together!



Sometimes Amazon has snippets of songs that you can listen to. It's not going to be much, like maybe 10 seconds or so, but you could get a feel for whether or not it's your style.

[Cervaise]

Originally Posted by Johnny L.A.

Is there a place to hear them before I shell out the bucks for 20 or 30 CDs?

Amazon.com offers ten-second samples for a lot of their music selections, but some of the more obscure titles named here will probably not be included. Alternatively, you can go to a Barnes & Noble, where they have listening stations in their music department that let you hear pieces of damn near everything they have on disc. Make a list from this thread, then go to B&N and stand there for an hour and check "yea" or "nay" as you work through the suggestions.

[vl_mungo]

You can also check out some song snippets at All Music Guide... which is really good resource, regardless.

[Ranchoth]

Originally Posted by Johnny L.A.

Hm. I haven't heard a lot (most) of the songs suggested. Is there a place to hear them before I shell out the bucks for 20 or 30 CDs?

iTunes, man. iTunes.

[The Scrivener]

A few off the top of my head:

Dick Dale & the Del-Tones. Dick Dale was, is, and always will reign as the King of the Surf Guitar -- the emblematic musical style of Southern California in the mid-60's. Pick up a compilation.

The On Her Majesty's Secret Service soundtrack. Kick-ass music (nothing like those "Barry Bonds"!) and quite appropriate overall, although the choice car in that one was a '68 (I think) Mustang.

The Cars: their best-of compilation is terrific, and great music for the road.

The Propellerheads: with tracks like "History Repeating" and "Take California" (not to mention "Velvet Pants"), you can't go wrong.

[The Scrivener]

And more on the whole electronica/spy music thing: yes, the Art of Noise take on "Peter Gunn" is a lot of fun. But there's also the so-so (IMHO) Bond updates by David Arnold (including his annoying cover of the "OHMSS" theme on the Propellerheads LP, which also includes a Props track called "Spybreak") and other efforts. I have a not-bad* electronica comp (on the Hypnotic label) of various spy-related themes (Dance Music for Secret Agents) -- with takes on Schifrin, Mancini, Jan Hammer, and others, as well as the Monty Norman/John Barry stuff, but I bet there's tons recordings like this out there.


*Hard to say how good this one is. Honestly, I never listen to it; electronic updates on the classic spy themes have only reinforced my '60's-spy-theme conservatism. Give me the originals, baby!

[Lute Skywatcher]

Originally Posted by Cervaise

Amazon.com offers ten-second samples for a lot of their music selections, but some of the more obscure titles named here will probably not be included.

I'd use towerrecords.com instead.

Johnny seems to prefer instrumentals, in which case I'd recommend "Brontosaurus Stomp" by The Piltdown Men, "Forty Miles of Bad Road" by Duane Eddy, and pretty much anything by The Ventures.

[Johnny L.A.]

Just thought of something... I have a really good ska compilation CD around here somewhere. Coffee by 7 Minds (or something -- they changed their name) is a great one.

[astro]

"Hey Pretty" by Poe
"Crawling from the Wreckage" by Graham Parker
"Behind the Wheel" Depeche" Mode

[astro]

Keep your eyes on the road -- and turn down the Wagner

TUNES TO AVOID

The RAC Foundation for Motoring of Britain has found that loud music can cause driving accidents. Here are its top-five most dangerous songs to play while driving.

1. "Ride of the Valkyries" by Richard Wagner
2. "Dies Irae" from "Requiem" by Giuseppe Verdi
3. "Firestarter" by Prodigy
4. "Red Alert" by Basement Jaxx
5. "Insomnia" by Faithless

[astro]

Oh... and how could I forget this one!

[DaToad]

Johnny, I think you need some Chuck Berry stuff. (When I get the sound system up and running in my '62 Studebaker, lots of Chuck B. will be on tap.)

Maybellene
The motor cooled down the heat went down
And that's when I heard that highway sound
The Cadillac asittin' like a ton of lead
A hundred and ten half a mile ahead
The Cadillac lookin' like it's sittin' still
And I caught Mabellene at the top of the hill
Maybellene....

No Particular Place To Go
Ridin' along in my automobile
My baby beside me at the wheel
I stole a kiss at the turn of a mile
My curiosity runnin' wild...


Nadine
I saw her from the corner when she turned and doubled back
And started walkin’ toward a coffee colored cadillac
I was pushin’ through the crowd to get to where she’s at
And I was campaign shouting like a southern diplomat


The Scrivener mentioned Dick Dale. If you like him, check out the Cadillac Angels.

vl_mungo named Green Onions by Booker T. Definitely a classic, but also redone in fine style by Roy Buchanan.

One of my favorite driving CD's is Johnny Winter's, Second Winter, with his copy of Highway 61.

As far as soundtracks go, Casino and The Blues Brothers 2000 are both good.

[Ranchoth]

A recording of Ghost Riders in the Sky might do...I've heard the versions by The Ventures and "The Legendary Stardust Cowboy" recommended.

[NailBunny]

Police Truck by The Dead Kennedys.