"Dead Man" - Original Score/Soundtrack by Neil Young - Classic or Dud?

I love the film, but think the soundtrack can pretty much stand on its own as well. It's minimal, but has a real apocalyptic feel to it, too. It's one of my favorite albums ever...

And what's the deal with Jarmusch and great soundtracks? The RZA from the Wu-Tang Clan's soundtrack to Jarmusch's Ghost Dog is really good as well.

Yeah, it's great how it's like an old-time film that way.

it has that 'minimal' (not minimalist heh) guitar quality to it.

I've only seen the movie and the soundtrack makes it bearable. A load of twangs it may be but the ways neil plays it keeps me from drifting off.

it's like the best Black Heart Procession song they never wrote.

i also happen to think dead man kind of gets the short shrift stacked next to other jarmusch films, but i love westerns.

About Jarmusch and music: he played in the Del-Byzanteens in the early '80s. see here

Neil Young gets the keening evil thing down, the ominous yawning of certain doom, so i guess you can't fault him (though as i mentioned above i think it's close enough to a type of stub-out-your-cigarette Eastwood badassness to effectively undercut some of the movie's strongest themes). my main prob - not confined to this movie or this director - is that Jarmusch and his sound editor make it barge in at every opportunity, like this camera-eye you can't escape from. I'm in the wild freakin west, man WHERE ARE ALL THOSE AMPS HIDDEN?? there are many beautifully haunting moments of loss, bewilderment, and even humor that are simply blindsided by Young's primordial reverbed drone-o-stortion - "oh yeah, THAT's how i'm supposed to feel", thanks Neil - that even divorced from the picture, frozen on wax, I honestly just can't forgive it.

(looks like i closed the pet-peeve section to early, sorry - my friends will all attest to my penchant for shouting angrily at anything that leans too heavily on the underscoring. including parties at people's houses. i cut Jarmusch - and his circumstantial accomplice Young - no slack on this count)

been in my ALL DAY and making me go buy a delay pedal tomorrow

my head

I've been on a real Neil Young kick of late. I even like the Trans album, which I know I might get clobbered for.

I'd like to hear this soundtrack.

Works fine with the film, horribly on its own. Trans cuts it easily.

Was this ever released on vinyl??

Caught up with this recently - a great, great movie, and the soundtrack is just perfect. Double bill with 'El Topo'?

I've only heard the soundtrack, which a friend demanded that I listen to last week. Never seen the film, though I definitely want to now.

Works fine with the film, horribly on its own.

I dunno, I really enjoyed it! That said, by the end of the album, I was in an absolutely awful mood, even though I was really just making eggs and toast in pajamas and reading a magazine. Ominous as hell.

Agree with Tracer's well-expressed sentiments in general, just not in regards to this specific film, which I love, soundtrack and all.

love this soundtrack and movie. also makes a nice background music for gardening/digging holes/landscaping

It's damn good and I usually don't like Young too much. You've inspired me to pull it out and give it a listen for the first time in ages. I remember it being especially powerful the first time I saw the film in the theater in 1996, just the way it would sort of roll up at just the right time in there

I had (have) a friend that used to love to play this on his guitar, all the time. Summer of 98

Was this ever released on vinyl??

yes

This is so fukkin classic. It's beautiful music.

I remember when it came out i made my friend buy it.

classic, classic, classic

beeeeeeyoooooooooiiinnnoooooooyyyooiiinnngggggggggggggggggwwwaaaaaaannngggggggggggggggggg

sigur ros for ry cooder fans

brrrrrrrrrrrrrang brankkkkk brankkkkk bvhhhhhzggggzzzz

terrible's what it is. i can't drink whisky like i used to could. my old belly just ain't no count. i git the shits every time.

burns like hellfire

i always liked how ebert described it as sounding like young was dropping his guitar over and over

these beans is shit

completely wrecks the movie

nah

great, great soundtrack

"bwwwwwwooooooooowwwwwwooooooooooonnnnngggggggggggg..... bwEEEEEEErrrrrrannnnnnggggg"

^^ bnw efficiently describes why the Dead Man soundtrack is an incredible gut-rattler.

this movie is really schizoid. some great stuff, some unwatchable stuff. funny stuff is not funny at all. and i LOVE stranger than paradise. jarmusch shot his bolt early and has been coasting for 25 years IMO.

i got an electric guitar recently and found out how easy this score must have been to make

Dead Man and Ghost Dog are slow moving, but somehow held my attention much more than his first movies. At any rate, any missteps are now forgiven, as this is just in:

All Tomorrow's Parties will return to Kutsher's Country Club, Monticello for the third ATP New York festival over Labor Day weekend, running from Friday 3rd September – Sunday 5th September. We are very excited to announce that legendary film-maker Jim Jarmusch, well known for his fantastic collaborations and documentaries with musicians will be the guest curator on Sunday 5th.

Born in Akron, Ohio, Jim Jarmusch lives and works in New York. His films include Permanent Vacation (1980), Stranger than Paradise (1984), Down by Law (1986), Mystery Train (1989), Night on Earth (1991), Dead Man (1995), Year of the Horse (1997), Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999), Coffee and Cigarettes (2003), Broken Flowers (2005) and The Limits of Control (2009).

As previously announced, Friday 3rd September features these performances as part of our Don't Look Back day:

IGGY & THE STOOGES performing Raw Power
SLEEP performing Holy Mountain
MUDHONEY performing Superfuzz Bigmuff + Early Singles
THE SCIENTISTS performing Blood Red River (first ever U.S. Show)
+ more to be confirmed!

Fuck yea!

Yeah that should be sick. Jarmusch has awesome taste.

he does have good taste. soundtrack albums often better than the movies! (see e.g. coffee and cigarettes.)

To be fair the soundtrack to virtually any movie is probably better than Coffee & Cigarettes.

the crow ost is the worst record i have ever heard

Touche.

on the topic of his tastes in music, this extended invisible jukebox session with jarmusch is v good

classique

i got an electric guitar recently and found out how easy this score must have been to make

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89Kz8Nxb-Bg

these beans is shit

― caek, Friday, February 12, 2010 7:31 PM (7 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^^ lane pryce from mad men btw!

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f325/caek/shot0001.png

I can do a really funny lane impression, but I have to hear him for a few minutes first

well my wife thinks it's funny

http://rlv.zcache.com/my_mom_thinks_im_cool_tshirt-p2356488707214501534xmd_400.jpg

yes

the lushly coarse physicality of the sleeve was the only thing that has ever tempted me to hear the soundtrack out of the context of the film – in fact, nor have I seen the film apart from once, in the cinema, alone, when it was first released. The combination of style, story and score on a GREAT BIG SCREEN with REALLY LOUD SPEAKERS in the DARK was so great that I walked out thinking “I don’t ever want to experience any of that in lesser surroundings.”

I saw it in the theater with a date. After the movie, I asked what she thought.
She said, "What do I think? I think we should have been on heroin for that thing!"

recently watched dead man projected outdoors. the sound was actually rather shitty and disappointing--just the way they had the speakes set up relative to our position i guess. think heroin would be a bad idea. booze imo.

if u did heroin and alcohol u could end up a dead man yrself

this is such a great film and score

last jarmusch film was waste

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f325/caek/Screenshot2010-09-29at004605.png

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f325/caek/Screenshot2010-09-29at004055.png

http://i.imgur.com/VA6Ra.jpg

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f325/caek/Screenshot2010-09-29at010521.png

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f325/caek/Screenshot2010-09-29at005241.png

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f325/caek/shot0004.png

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f325/caek/Screenshot2010-09-29at003052-1.png

I was stoned as fuck when I first wandered into the theater to see this - highly recommended

Jarmusch's best imho

here's white man's metal next to your heart.
I tried to cut it out, but it's too deep inside.
A knife would cut your heart instead...
and release the spirit from within.
stupid fucking white man.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jx3ajYfbzcw

i always liked how ebert described it as sounding like young was dropping his guitar over and over

― temple of butts (cankles), Sunday, February 22, 2009 12:09 AM (2 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ebert's not a Neil fan, apparently. He picked Year Of The Horse as the worst film of 1997.

I love the soundtrack, though. That descending figure that keeps recurring is one of my favorite moments of his whole career.

Wanted this on LP but it's like almost $400!!

What else is like it?

some of Earth's stuff

Brightblack Morning Light, kinda

Earth yes, don't know if I really hear it in Brightblack Morning Light.
This is one of the best soundtracks of all time and one of the best thing Neil's done. So, so good.

Also, Alan Sparhawk's Solo Guitar is kinda like this.

Billy Bob Thornton's delivery of the phrase "by God" is a thing of beauty

"it gives me the shits every time"

i put this on last night while cooking. holds up.

can't drink whiskey like a usedtacould