So, how has the summer of ten been treating you, cinematically? While I was genuinely looking forward to seeing Toy Story 3 and Inception in the theaters, my score card as it currently stands has only one visit to the multiplex – Iron Man 2. It was a good movie, but one you get less and less enthused about once you’ve left the screening room. I’m afraid I’m becoming one of those that prefers their film experiences in the comfort of their home.
My love of film music is not so easily diminished. This probably pigeonholes me as the ultimate music geek that I put John Williams and Carter Burwell right in with some of my favorite songwriters. To anyone who would give me grief, I would say, just listen to some of the music from these movies, separated from the visuals. Sure, as Joe Queenan observes (and rightly so) that serious theft of Wagner, Holst and Copeland constantly takes place in the studio when a score’s being recorded, I counter that Bob Dylan’s “To Make You Feel My Love” has been covered a gazillion times. Stop counting beans and listen.
This megamix originally was put together for my friend, writer Justin Vellucci, who lives in California. I’m out in sultry (meaning sticky, humid, vomit-inducing hot) New Jersey. We have this thing going where each month we send mixtapes of what we’re currently listening to; he gets the even months, I get the odd. No shock there, right? Well, the July mix is odder than usual, as I’ve strung together some memorable movie music moments into one long sitting. I set some rules for myself though, the first being no music from the Star Wars movies. The second, no music from the Lord Of The Rings. I attempted to avoid some instantly recognizable themes, but I couldn’t resist now and then. I mean, if you need to follow up something from Raiders Of The Lost Ark, why can’t it be the theme from Raising Arizona?
So here it is, in one compact MP3. The pieces of the mix include:
Brazil (Michael Kamen), Being John Malkovich (Carter Burwell), Vertigo (Bernard Herrmann), Minority Report (John Williams), Gattaca (Michael Nyman), Raiders Of The Lost Ark (John Williams), Raising Arizona (Carter Burwell), Psycho (Bernard Herrmann), The Dark Crystal (Trevor Jones), The Nightmare Before Christmas (Danny Elfman), Tron (Wendy Carlos), Akira (Geinoh Yamashirogumi), Fargo (Carter Burwell), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (John Williams), The Abyss (Alan Silvestri), and a stinger from THX-1138 (Lalo Schifrin). Enjoy!
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