Soundtracks and Film scores, your favourites


 I love the cinema and some of my favourite albums are from films, TV and shows. There seem two basic variants, a score written for the film and compilations of existing tracks, used in the film. So what are your favourites? I'll start.

 Original scores:

  Hard to avoid Hans Zimmer and why would you want to.

   Hans Zimmer, "The thin red line"   Not his best known, but a great score.

   Honourable mention:

    Korngold, "The Sea Hawk"

Compilation scores:

   "Dead man walking" A really great film too.

    Honourable mentions:

      "Philadelphia"

      "The Sopranos" That's the original from the first series

 I am sure you can all think of better ones.


david12
Hi David,

You'll find this thread from last year to be of interest.  From one of my posts in that thread:

Almarg 8-26-2016

"The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" -- directed by Jacques Demy; music by Michel Legrand.

"Marry Me! Marry Me!" -- directed by Claude Berri; music by Emil Stern.

Both are 1960s French films. "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" is pretty much unique among non-operatic films in that all of its dialogue is sung, not spoken, and it is also exceptional in terms of its use of color.

Also:

"2001: A Space Odyssey"
"My Fair Lady"
"West Side Story"

Best regards,
-- Al
 
I rarely think about this category but here is my contribution:

I've heard the "Dead Man Walking" and it's outtakes on cd. Wonderful!
Philadelphia is great!
"Help!"
"Dracula"
'10cc The Original Soundtrack"
"Whiplash"
Check out Peaky Blinders TV series - great music - PJ Harvey, Dead Weather, Raconteurs, Nick Cave - etc - dark atmospheric Brit style blues/alternative.
Some that I like with both good music and sound quality are:

American Hustle
Them
Missouri Breaks
Interstellar
The Ghost & Ms Muir
Wish I had started this thread, but glad the OP did!  

Here is a list of fine TV and Motion Picture Soundtracks in no particular order.

  • The Patriot - One of the very Best Mel Gibson films with a wonderful soundtrack extremely well recorded (sweet).  Appropriate to the movie but stands well on its own worthy of a listening session.
  • Elizabeth - The Golden Age - Cate Blanchett IS Elizabeth both in this sequel and in Elizabeth.  Beautiful musical themes and performance along with beautiful sound quality.  Sweet strings and great dynamics.
  • Glory - Another soundtrack recording triumph with a wide, deep, deep soundstage, glorious choral voices and kick butt bass.  I have this on CD and 180 gram vinyl.  Those deep bass attacks will help inform you as to the quality of your vinyl set-up.
  • Gladiator - Great film, compelling music that helps establish the grandeur of the movie scenes.  This recording is often used as a system showpiece, with good reason.
  • Star Trek The Motion Picture and Star Trek Generations.  Great sound with the iconic themes specific to the Star Trek franchise. Dramatic musical moments both dynamic and intense as well as soft and touching.
  • Game of Thrones - Seasons 2, 4, 6  Ramin Djawadi has managed to immerse himself in the world of Westeros.  Very well performed orchestral themes, excellently recorded with individual songs that integrate the GoT lietmotifs yet present as individual songs.
  • Alias - Yes, the TV series that put Jennifer Garner and Bradley Cooper on the Hollywood map.  This is fun stuff as the sound quality is excellent with the music being an appropriate mixture of orchestral and electronic with awesomely tight, deep bass.
  • Gettysburg - If ever there was a soundtrack that expressed the anguish and yet the heroism of significant Civil War moments this is it with a nod to Glory mentioned above.  It's hard when watching the movie's depiction of Pickett's Charge to concentrate on the visuals as you get so swept up in the grandeur of the music.
  • Superman Returns - I pull this disc out all the time.  You can picture the movie as you listen to it, but you can revel in the dynamism of the music without ever having seen the film.  Indeed the music puts the movie to shame.  Crystal clear, open and dynamic sound.


It was mentioned a couple of times in the link Al suggested, but I'll emphasize it here again.

I've used the LP of "The Mission" for more than 20 years as a revealing test record and for pleasure.  It is very spacious with a very wide soundstage, dynamic, and includes a wide variety of instruments plus choir to evaluate tonalities.  And the music if fun, particularly if you remember the film.

Unfortunately a couple of friends who heard it here bought CD versions and those pale in comparison.

Of course there are many other recordings in the soundtrack category with great and sometimes exciting music.  But no point in repeating those again after this and Al's link posts.
Off the top of my head:

"The Umbrellas of Cherbourg"

"Such a Long Journey"

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"

"Angela's Ashes"

"Monsoon Wedding"

"The Big Chill"

"Nashville"

"The Point"

"The Last Days of Disco"

"Anything Goes"

DeKay
Two of my favorites:
Nebraska -  instrumental sound track by Mark Orton
Big Night -  beautiful Italian male vocals, Louie Prima, and some jazz
To start with the obvious...random order

'The good the bad and the ugly'
https://youtu.be/AFa1-kciCb4

Bridge on the River Kwai Theme
https://youtu.be/83bmsluWHZc

The Third Man - Anton Karas
https://youtu.be/2oEsWi88Qv0

Zorba The Greek
https://youtu.be/dzlcxN0lxSo

(High Noon)
https://youtu.be/A4a_1UhwgFU

Gunfight at the OK Corral
https://youtu.be/ZqyiRwlLa80

more recent ones...

Get Carter
https://youtu.be/jhisIT_CuQ8

The Warriors Soundtrack - Theme Song
https://youtu.be/9p7EE1F80fU?list=PL7w_sRPEyRv9qSKGRbzr-8uaklaGvBNJJ

Das Boot Theme
https://youtu.be/Qxx_heoUO-U

Paris, Texas
https://youtu.be/X6ymVaq3Fqk







A minor clarification to the characteristically excellent post by Alex. The version of the "High Noon" theme he linked to, sung by Frankie Laine, while having been a hit recording, was not the version used in the film. The singer of that version was Tex Ritter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKLvKZ6nIiA&t

Regards,
-- Al
 
I've only seen it available as a download, but the final season of "The Leftovers" had a killer soundtrack.

Not certain about the previous seasons.

DeKay
"Police" - the film score was the only vinyl recording of Gorecki's Symphony of Sorrowful Songs (#3). One of the most important pieces of modern, serious music, IMO.

"Rocky Horror", a guilty pleasure.

Some great ideas here. I agree with

Paris Texas

The Mission

Gladiator

Crouching Tiger

A lot of the others are new to me, next call Amazon.

Cinema Paradiso - Ennio Morricone (pretty much anything by him)
Glory - James Horner
Until the End of the World
Das Boot
The soundtrack that Richard Thompson did for the "bear guy"

"Almost Famous"
I am not a movie fan but David Lynch has the same taste in music as I. 
1492 by Vangelis is my favorite Vangelis effort
The Killing Fields by Tangerine Dream
Body Love, vol. 1 & 2 by Klaus Schulze: never watched the movie (some German porn according to Google) but love the music
Gladiator with Lisa Gerrard wailing finally pushed my favorite band, Dead Can Dance, into the mainstream



John Carpenters "Vampires" has an excellent soundtrack. Really good stuff.....

"The Hot Spot"  Nice!

"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" 2013 Soundtrack is pretty darn good too....

I always think of Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid because of Knocking On Heaven's door, but in all honesty I have to say (and this although I really like and respect Bob Dylan's writing and singing) the rest of his work on that left me a bit cold.  But I guess if a sound track produces a Knocking On Heaven's Door . . . it doesn't matter what else is there or not there.

Maybe a year or so ago I watched Talladega Nights (the Ballad Of Ricky Bobby)  for the fourth or fifth time and I really really really enjoyed the music that time.  (I think before I just really enjoyed the music.)  Steve Earle, Waylon Jennings, a different version of a Lucinda song I cannot think of off the top of my head. . . .

 

Along with liking the movie, I always loved the music in Jurassic Park by John Williams and is one of those relatively rare iconic scores that really helped define the movie a la Star Wars and Rocky just to name a couple. Recently I pulled it up in high res on Qobuz and really enjoyed it as it has the ability to take you on a journey through the movie even without the visuals. Plus, just listening to the music on its own reveals how much beauty there is in it, and to me it really stands on its own as a wonderful piece of music and is well recorded, which is always a nice bonus.

I was listening to Leonard Cohen this afternoon and thought of Natural Born Killers.  I am late to a lot of parties, and I did not discover Leonard Cohen or The Cowboy Junkies until Natural Born Killers came out on VHS.

@danager +1 one of my favorite albums. Mostly unknown and unappreciated. 

One from the heart by Tom Waits and Crystal Gayle

Vangelis - L’apocalypse des animaux

Various/Roger Waters – When The Wind Blows

Heavy Metal soundtrack, especially All of You by Don Felder

The Graduate soundtrack, especially Mrs. Robinson by Simon and Garfunkel

Casino Royale soundtrack, especially Look of Love by Dusty Springfield

Top Gun soundtrack, especially Danger Zone by Kenny Loggins

Peter Gunn soundtrack, especially Dreamsville by Henry Mancini

Saturday Night Fever soundtrack by the BeeGees

Thomas Newman - Road To Chicago

(Road To Perdition Soundtrack)

Thomas Newman - Road To Chicago

 

Thomas Newman - Rock Island 1931

(Road To Perdition Soundtrack)

Thomas Newman - Rock Island 1931

John Barry Some where in Time and Out of Africa, the guy has so many Sound track Albums...

TAXI DRIVER , Ben Hur ,The Sandpepbles, The French Connection, Pulp Fiction.