I am a Randy Newman fan. He has scored a number of movies.
"Toy Story" was a successful kids flick. "You Gotta Friend in Me" is the main song.
Randy Newman is one of kind as a writer. His songs are often stories. Brilliant song writer.
Randy Newman scored the Robin Williams' film "Awakenings". I really liked the film but never paid any attention to the sort of subtle, mellow instrumental music until I watched it again a couple of years ago and remembered how much I liked "Dexter's Tune" (toward the end of the film). Short, good listen. Piano only I think.
If someone would just read the lyrics to Randy Newman's songs. They are incredible.
Many are funny as hell. Others are deeply touching. Some seem personal. Some are about places and others about things that have happened.
I remember the first time I heard "Sail Away." I was like damn how could someone write a song about slavery and make it funny. The song is like someone telling slaves how good it's going to be in America.
In America you get food to eat Won't have to run through the jungle And scuff up your feet You just sing about Jesus and drink wine all day It's great to be an American Ain't no lion or tiger, ain't no mamba snake Just the sweet watermelon and the buckwheat cake Ev'rybody is as happy as a man can be Climb aboard, little wog, sail away with me Sail away, sail away We will cross the mighty ocean into Charleston Bay Sail away, sail away We will cross the mighty ocean into Charleston Bay In America every man is free To take care of his home and his family You'll be as happy as a monkey in a monkey tree You're all gonna be an American Sail away, sail away We will cross the mighty ocean into Charleston Bay Sail away, sail away We will cross the mighty ocean into Charleston Bay
Eddie and the Cruisers had a pretty good soundtrack as well. John Cafferty is really underrated.
I remember my mom being really into this movie and it being rewatched on Beta Max in the mid 80s in my house when I was about 5 or 6 years old. Old enough it made an impression.
Okay, now you've gone and done it! Now I'm going to have to stream the movie Paris Texas again on HBO plus. Rye Cooder is fantastic and so is that movie.
May as well cue up Crossroads as well. Plenty of Cooder there and a pretty damned-good movie.
I am a Randy Newman fan. He has scored a number of movies.
"Toy Story" was a successful kids flick. "You Gotta Friend in Me" is the main song.
Randy Newman is one of kind as a writer. His songs are often stories. Brilliant song writer.
Randy Newman scored the Robin Williams' film "Awakenings". I really liked the film but never paid any attention to the sort of subtle, mellow instrumental music until I watched it again a couple of years ago and remembered how much I liked "Dexter's Tune" (toward the end of the film). Short, good listen. Piano only I think.
I was surprised to learn Zimmer had only won one (11 nominations) so I wanted to see the "goat list"... I thought this was pretty crazy.
Which film composers have won the most Academy Awards?
Alfred Newman – 9 wins The 20th century American composer, Alfred Newman, received 45 nominations during his lifetime (1900 - 1970) for his soundtracks. Along with two of his fellow composers, Max Steiner and Dimitri Tiomkin, was considered one of the “three godfathers of film music”.
Over his forty year career he scored over 200 films, and was one of the most respected film score composers of his time.
Some of his most notable work includes the scores to: Wuthering Heights (1939), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), How the West Was Won (1962), and Airport (1970).
Alfred was the head of a family of major Hollywood film composers. His brother Lionel Newman won the Academy Award for Best Score of a Musical Picture for Hello Dolly! (1969).
His son, Thomas Newman, has been nominated for fifteen Academy Awards (notable scores include, The Shawshank Redemption (1994), WALL-E (2008), the James Bond films Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015). His nephew, Randy Newman, has won two Academy Awards for Best Original Song (“If I Didn't Have You” from Monsters, Inc. (2002), and “We Belong Together” from Toy Story 3 (2011).)
My favorite was "Sex Farm" though. I always thought that could be the type of tune you could sing acapella to a special gal you were trying to woo. Romantic, meaningful.
My mother loved that one. She really enjoyed listening to musicals from that time period. Another one of her favorites was "Paint Your Wagon". She played it so much us kids had the songs memorized. It was cool hearing Clint Easwood and Lee Marvin actually singing songs.
And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul. - John Muir
It was mentioned earlier, but I think West Side Story is marvelous. The 1961 movie won 10 Oscars and Leonard Bernstein was the most noteworthy composer.
Songs like Maria [which is still one of my favorite songs of all-time,] Somewhere, Tonight, I Feel Pretty, etc.
The movie also featured Natalie Wood as Maria and Rita Moreno as Anita. Two absolutely beautiful women!!!
I was wondering how long it would take for Almost Famous to show up. Probably one of my favorite movies, and listen to the soundtrack fairly regularly.
Not gonna lie... the Oliver and Company sound track was my go to during my senior year of high school track season... listened to 'Why Should I worry" before every race my senior year....
I was wondering how long it would take for Almost Famous to show up. Probably one of my favorite movies, and listen to the soundtrack fairly regularly.
Great movie and soundtrack. Crazy to think 'Almost Famous' is nearing its 25th anniversary.
Took the kiddos to see 'Air' tonight. Great movie; wonderful soundtrack.
Esquire did a piece on the soundtrack. They did not cover every song in the movie.
Glad to see things mentioning Broadway. A ton of top scores there. One of the great gifts my wife brought in to my life is Broadway. Without her influence, I probably would have never been a big fan of stage productions. Now going to NY to catch shows has become a big part of what we both enjoy.
One of my favorites.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn.
I think a lot of people underestimate how good the soundtracks are for some of the Disney movies. For example, in addition to Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King's soundtrack was awesome.
I doubt many have seen this movie but I always thought it was entertaining.
The movie is titled "Performance." It stars Mick Jagger. He plays a aging rock star who lives in a bohemian neighborhood in London. A gangster goes against the mob and is trying to escape the country and needs a place to hide. He rents from Jagger and gets introduced to a different kind of people.
The soundtrack includes cuts by Randy Newman, Ry Cooder, Mary Clayton, The Last Poets, Jack Nitzsche, and the Stones.
This is "Memo from Turner" with Ry on slide. Killer song
This is one of those times when I just can't join in with the gang.
I've picked up on a theme here: the soundtracks that are getting the most traction/action in this thread are movies which feature the adroit placement of contemporary pop tunes to set the ethos/mood/effect. I can't play with you guys on that field. For me, radiorock soundtracks to contemporary films are part of my personal background noise.
Sorry, I can't help it- I can only respect movies with proprietarily composed scores. That level of movie music is the "bespoke suit in an off-the-rack world." For me, placing contemporary commercial tunes in a movie is analogous to being a wedding DJ at an event when a live band is required.
I love composers/orchestrators. I love full symphonic scores, along with tight, small combo writing. Electronic. Make the music fit the story.
The best soundtracks most folks could ever experience can be found in the world of Italian Opera. The best musical example is anything by Giacomo Puccini (Jockomo PooCHEEnee).
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We now return you to your regularly-scheduled programming...
So, maybe skewing the pooch here, but what about "soundtrack" (albums) that are cinema-like as presented? A few come to mind: The Wall, Tommy (NOT the movie), Alice's Restaurant, even maybe The Rise and fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. They have their cinematic grow "organically" like Aristotle described. I see these as different from story songs like Paradise by the Dashboard Light. These seem different to me from pop spots speckling a film. Or Thus Spracht Zarathustra (just for Clemdawg!)
A fine topic!
"Every responsibility implies opportunity, and every opportunity implies responsibility." Otis Allen Glazebrook, 1880
I don't know. Maybe a little deep for my mind. I did like the Spiders from Mars album. Bowie type wasn't what I typically liked, but I liked that. I guess he was early punk. Him and Lou Reed were kind of at the forefront of that. I didn't care for Lou Reed all that much. I was still Walking the Line with Johnny Cash v Walking the Wild Side with Lou.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn.
I think that perhaps they are distinct categories, but other than that, I agree with you and I like the off-the-rack comparison.
That said, I think they both definitely have their place. For some movies, the pop music soundtrack is the right choice. After all, it is about adding a layer to the movie; it isn't the movie itself. Sometimes, however, there are times when the original score is just the best, purest way to go.
So, I will name two, one in each category:
Pop Soundtrack: Guardians of the Galaxy
Original Score: Star Wars
Browns is the Browns
... there goes Joe Thomas, the best there ever was in this game.
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