I was plowing through some old CDs tonight and came across Purple Rain and I got to thinking, I don’t think there is another soundtrack that is as timeless as that one. Sure there are soundtracks that may have a few bigger songs or sold more copies but I don’t think any soundtrack has been as musically successful as PR.
For the record I am a hardcore metal guy but this CD still ownz. It trancends alot of musical boundaries.
Any soundtracks that can top Purple Rain as “Most Awsome/Lasting?”
The Mission
The Piano
I would probably go for American Graffitti - it’s like the Greatest Hits of Oldies.
Repo Man.
I think A Hard Day’s Night and Help! would qualify, though both contained half-an-album’s worth of songs each not included in the films, so maybe they wouldn’t count.
As far as Prince goes, I actually prefer Parade, which was also ostensibly a soundtrack to his crappy film Under the Cherry Moon, although again, I think it may have contained songs not included in the film (and there’s no way I’m going to re-watch that piece of shit to be sure).
Oh, and the most obvious other example I can think of is The Wall - though I can’t stand Pink Floyd, I’m sure their fans would agree.
Star Wars?
Or any number of Disney movie soundtracks…
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
Greatest soundtrack of all time.
I’ll see that, and raise you…
Hollywood Knights
and
Animal House
After 31 years, I still listen to and love the soundtrack from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Grease stands up pretty well , too, as does Risky Business.
Pretty in Pink and Boogie Nights are great compilations, while the Mean Creek and second Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet soundtracks are beautiful (mostly) instrumental albums. I’ve got an LP of Porky’s somewhere but it’s just for show.
I have had occasion to notice that Cunctator and I share similar tastes in music, but this post made me smile. I have both of these film scores on my PC at work.
Some other favorites -
Chariots of Fire: Adding a synthesizer score to a period picture is a trend that has not fared well in the film industry, and probably for the better. Anything short of Vangelis’ genius has a tendency to sound as if the producers didn’t want to shell out the bucks to pay an orchestra. But this score will forever be ranked among the greats, even if I still can’t sit through the film without dozing off.
Henry V: The chances that this film would be completed, let alone released, let alone sell tickets were pretty slim from the beginning. Unable to afford hiring anyone with actual experience to score his art house entry, Kenneth Branaugh assigned the task to Patrick Doyle, an amateur composer of synthesized background music for Shakespearan stage productions. Doyle’s sketches were skillfully orchestrated by Simon Rattle, and the resulting score is a work of beauty. The film is good by its own rights – but it becomes damned good with the addition of the music. In particular, there is the moment towards the end when an exhausted English soldier (the composer itself, as it happens) raises his eyes to heaven and sings a simple song of prayer (in Latin) for the dead of Agincourt. The verse is repeated several times, building itself up to a point where the biggest, toughest, most macho guys in the audience are fighting back tears. Pat Doyle, incidentally, has gone on to be a highly successful film composer, and recently stepped in for John Williams by scoring Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Schindler’s List: John Williams’ finest work, IMHO. Like his friend and collaborator Steven Spielberg, he tossed aside everything he knew about his craft and started from scratch on this project. The result is one of the most haunting pieces of music I’ve ever heard. Simple, even austere at times, yet incredibly evocative.
My favorites include:
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Amistad
Gladiator
Star Wars
Fellowship of the Ring
Henry V (for the reasons noted above)
Simon and Garfunkel’s The Graduate soundtrack
Sweet Sweetback’s Badassss Song by Earth Wind and Fire both defined and set the standard for the music of the whole blaxploitation era.
That reminds me of when I went to see that movie. I remember thinking, it’s really good that Spielberg didn’t use John Williams this time. This composer really set a certain mood that is perfect for the movie (which doesn’t sound like John Williams). Then the ending credits rolled and there was John Williams’ name.
Another vote for Henry V.
And I’ll add Casablanca. It’s just iconic.
I would agree with Hard Days Night, Help, the Graduate and maybe American Graffitti being the most durable.
I would probably put Fist Full of Dollars above The Good, Bad and Ugly while the latter movie is more memorable, the soundtack of the former is more heard. At least that’s the way it seems to me.
As for the best, I would say The Cincinnati Kid- some fantastic blues.
I’m sure these will not be universally appreciated, but I’d put The Sound of Music and Saturday Night Fever pretty high on any list of soundtracks.
Passion by Peter Gabriel
The Big Chill
Purple Rain
Singles
One from the Heart (Tom Waits soundtrack)
****If *Ferris Bueller’s Day Off * would have had a soundtrack, that would be a great pick.
My dad really likes the soundtrack to The Magnificent Seven, and I’m starting to like it too.
Donnie Darko has some of my favorite songs in it.