Soundtracks

Cinema ParaDISO - because the music is beautiful

ps. Xanadu...how we laugh.

or

Rushmore

or

Royal Tennebaums

recent-ish faves of mine are traffic and mulholland drive.

say, that reminds me. I got the Leone/Eastwood dvd box for my pop for christmas, watching it made me think: why doesn't more pop culture have this amount of art(for lack of a better word) in it? i mean, you have morricone doing this progressive minimalist soundtracks(progressive for westerns, i guess), and Leone with a visual style that wouldn't really be appreciated until a generation later...

fwiw, Mancini's been on my mind n' in my ears the most, lately.

(what i've heard of Williams and Elfman, say, has never impressed me much)

It's because he's not only the best film soundtrack composer but he's also the most prolific.

or is it pretty much just this one:

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf300/f374/f37441h03d1.jpg

John Berry - Bond theme etc. / The Persuaders theme
John Williams - Raiders.../E.T./Close Encounter...
Bernard Herman - Taxi Driver (THE BEST!!!!)

Great st composers:
Dittos on Morricone (I actually love his Untouchables st) and Clint Mansell's work on Pi and Requiem For A Dream.

Cliff Martinez's work for Soderbergh is always consistent, Solaris in particular.

Peter Gabriel's Passion is a must have (good interview with him on the Criterion Last Temptation Of Christ DVD, too). Birdy is good, too, but Long Walk Home (from Rabbit-Proof Fence) is hit 'n' miss. Sorta like his last album.

I love John Barry. Bond, Out Of Africa, Dances With Wolves.

John Williams is pretty good, The Empire Strikes Back being my definite favorite (The fucking Imperial March anyone? The Battle In The Snow? Rebels At Bay? The Asteroid Field? The Duel? Hyperspace? That disc is hitting my deck right now....)

Check out any of Prokofiev's compostions for Sergei Eisenstein films. Criterion released an awesome Alexander Nevsky/Ivan The Terrible boxed set.

Compilation soundtracks?

Vanilla Sky
The Beach (just for Underworld's 8 Ball!)
Salvation! (obscure Cabaret Voltaire and New Order, including Touched By The Hand Of God)
Welcome To Sarajevo (rare Massive Attack track)

You asked for The Best.

That's gotta be Stop Making Sense.

Actually, I just saw this film in repertory, and as soon as I got near a computer afterwards, I did a search. Columbia actually did do an EP soundtrack featuring the three songs used in the film. It's ong out of print though, so as you have already pointed out, "Songs..." is a welcome substitute.

I actually thought it kind of weird that an expanded soundtrack-- including some of the music played both by characters and on that jukebox contraption on screen-- has never been issued.

other favorites:

-mancini's "experiment in terror"
-krzysztof komeda's "rosemary's baby"
-alain goraguer "le planete sauvage" (he did a lot of music for serge... fantastic planet is a great animated sci-fi movie... fans of quasimoto would probably recognize the samples.)
-zorn's "naked city"
-whoever did the music for the shining. nutty stuff. i second the mention of clockwork orange... good stuff. 2001 is awesome as well. that collection if music is as classic as it is disturbing at times. very cool.
-"heat" had a good collection of kronos, u2+eno, moby, etc etc.

of course, rushmore and all of those. and the big action classics are all loveable... superman, star wars, indianna j, ET, close encounters and all. the music isn't strange or interesting, but i think it holds a special place along memory lanes.
m.

I don't know if this is the best, but it sure is a sweet little honey of a number:
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00004SZVS.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

But what about REPO MAN!?

If musicals count, though, then it's Oliver!

Let's post clips of our favourite bits from movie soundtracks.

A couple of fairly obvious ones from the amazing Carter Burwell:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Pjr0yzkAx0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8eA9BuuyjY

There's a bit of music from Fargo later in the movie that I maybe like even more, playing when Buscemi buries the briefcase in the snow.

heard this in an advert for Film4's war season the other day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05BtmSXUQ8A

The original Dawn of the Dead has such a good soundtrack....I like lots of Goblin's stuff. Suspiria one is good too.

I think Howard Shore's LOTR score is pretty great if you ignore all the fiddle-de-dee Hobbit stuff. To me it sounds more textural than most blockbuster scores.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi8CUdK3HY0

Takemitsu's score for Kwaidan is the only soundtrack that is, to me, genuinely scary in the context — especially during "The Black Hair" segment when all sound drops out but the music.

I remember the score to Kitano's Zatoichi being particularly good. This is the only clip of it I can find:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JligjnKnAQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m7g8F2F95g

Just watched Last Life In The Universe again last night and forgot how beautiful the score is. Anyone know anything about the artists responsible, "Small Room"?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2rr503GEgE

Goes a bit Moon Safari at times

(abstaining on any rating) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zOqked0rOs

beat street and it had 2 volumes!