Your ideal action movie soundtrack CD or CDR 80 -- Go! (other genres welcome)

Let's do this.

Summer is the time for action/road/gun comedy/suspense/explosion movies, so time to make one up in your head. Your first track can accompany the opening credits or otherwise kick things off. The last track or two can be expected to play as the credits roll. Make room for downtime or love scenes. Imagine these as part of a score or the whole thing, the songs playing partially or in their entirety. 80-minute limit. Break down what soundtracks what, or just slap together a cool soundtrack album, and otherwise expound on what makes a good movie soundtrack song.

Or go with a romantic comedy or horror, all genres welcome.

Go!

i made a tape once called "The Chase!". it was 90 minutes of chase instrumentals.

i have divided feelings about how to go on this. part of me likes a southwestern-y, spaghetti western-type vibe. part of me likes a film noir vibe. for summer, i guess it's the former.

i always thought there should be a band that plays nothing but movie soundtrack stuff. such a wealth of untapped material there. they could do instrumentals and vocal cuts. you could create dozens of great albums that way. if i knew how to play music i would do it. but i don't.

sorry, i'm not really helping here.

i think of both calexico and califone as that type of band, actually.

yeah, but not that "imaginary soundtrack" kinda band. there are those. just saying that there is so much genuinely great music on soundtracks and i would think someone could take advantage of that. music that hardly anyone has ever heard. and it would be different than just a comp of great cuts. i mean, people used to cover songs from soundtracks all the time, but hardly anyone does it anymore.

i mean, take one of my favorite soundtracks of all time as just one example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2m6U3p2Pcw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRsTsI7GX88&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA7_zOdaKAo

La Course de Manuel being top ten soundtrack cut for me. and it WAS actually updated by someone in the year 2000. which is cool. dance music people were always good at seeing the inherent grooviness of movie music.

i think i'd start -- over the opening credits and/or the first scene -- with something that sounds humid, a little jittery, a little disorienting and otherworldly. maybe this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1xOooGSjYQ

I want to take a moment to praise Danny Elfman's Midnight Run soundtrack (which you can find online somewhere). Granted, it's also a road movie comedy gangster buddy flick set partly on Highway 61, but its mixture of blues/zydeco/Americana and the seemingly required funkiness of all action seems like some kind of ideal balance.

xpost Roots of Chicha: Right the eff on! This is going to be fun.

Holy S, totally forgot how great the music in Z was.

that's an awesome track. the cumbia track.

thanks! next up on my soundtrack (since i mentioned them already):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLsQ_8PwwDs&feature=related

i always thought this song should be prominently featured in some film. it isn't even on one of their proper full-length albums!

This is a soundtrack (mix, really) I made last year for an imagined movie (and mix project). I thought it turned out well, as in I actually still listen to it about a year on.

http://i30.tinypic.com/140hy14.jpg

SUI JURIS: Music from the Motion Picture

Sui Juris is a Latin phrase that literally means “of one’s own laws”. The loose synopsis of this fictional film centers around a priest fresh out of the seminary in 1971 and spans the next 13 years (through 1984) as he takes an interest in the welfare of a prostitute, falls into an often exhilarating (and often violent) affair with her, begins questioning his faith and place in the world and eventually, when he's strung out on heroin, being murdered by the very woman who led him down his spiral.

Upbeat, uplifting stuff, yeah? The music sequencing serves the narrative whenever possible (however loose a narrative it might be).

1. ABBA - Arrival (Excerpt)
2. THE BYRDS - Jesus Is Just Alright
3. NEW YORK DOLLS - Trash
4. THE GAP BAND - Fontessa Fame
5. LEONARD COHEN - If It Be Your Will
6. JOE JACKSON - Steppin' Out
7. SHALAMAR - Right In The Socket
8. FLEETWOOD MAC - Walk A Thin Line
9. JOAN JETT - Bad Reputation
10. TONES ON TAIL - Happiness
11. JOY DIVISION - Disorder
12. SLADE - Everyday

i like that fleetwood mac-to-joan jett progression!

next up on my soundtrack, for a comedown/romantic first encounter scene, might be this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1orreicjE8

i just discovered it, tbh!

Wow, Johnny, did you design that cover and everything?

Falling in love with the soundtrack properties of "Bad Reputation" via Freaks and Geeks this summer. Daniel, I love the slow reveal!

That Calexico song is a perfect action-movie theme: Minor key (which seems necessary), evocative guitar effect or riff (wah-wah or surf, not quiet as necessary, but common), suggestive and easy-to-hear lyric (always a plus), funky beat (ditto), plus all the things that make it special and different from any other song fitting those criteria, so non-cliche (more important than Hollywood thinks). I've already made my soundtrack for this thread but will definitely use some of these for a second CD I'm making a friend.

I added all the type elements to an image I found when searching "priest" into GIS.

Actually made that before I sat down to watch the Freaks & Geeks series (like, a week before). When I found out it was the theme to the show, hearing it again and again 18 times when a new episode would start, I realized it wasn't as much of a rediscovered nugget as I had thought when assembling the mix.

did the tindersticks ever score a film? listening to them for the first time in a zillion years the other day and they definitely could have done a good low-budget noir type thing.

Daniel, I love the slow reveal!

lol, thanks, but the slow-reveal is mostly the result of my being slow-witted, and only coming up with one selection at a time! okay, so i guess my soundtrack will consist (largely) of a certain international sound primarily from the 70s. next, then, is something in a higher-gear: the duncan brothers' dreams, with amazing wah-wah guitar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF4FrJNUmRY

again, to me, this is a perfect summer movie soundtrack-type song.

Inspired, I'll do one song at a time too (not necessarily in order). First up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeCH6pGSyKM

my next one works well next to the duncan bros., i think (probably afterwards in the track order; it's in the same vein, but probably works as a comedown). anyway, i'm stealing from the city of god soundtrack, but since that movie and soundtrack are near-perfect, imma steal it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24t18rKCg2s

Reminds me a little of this, which would also work well (if the Atmosphere sample hasn't left it overplayed):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcVXYXg5fyQ

ohhh, i like that. okay, i'm switching to the U.S. for a contemporary song that sounds like it could have come from the era in which my imaginary film is set. all films of this era need a little morodor/summer, or their new counterparts:

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

my second to last song (when all looks lost, just before the dawn) is from the 2:00 mark of this one, forward:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gxw5cI9Bio

it works for me like god only knows worked in boogie nights, for a similar purpose. other connections b/w these songs are obvious.

That's like Scorsese-masterful. Dude should seriously steal that.

This might seem fairly obvious a choice, but to my knowledge nobody has used the In the Jungle Groove remix of James Brown's "Give It Up or Turn It Loose" for any warehouse shootout fight scene, letting the clapping interlude soundtrack a sneaking-around moment of suspense before the drums kicks in for a chase or escape or battle. Then again, it would be worse if a movie used this music and squandered it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf5CqSDgiLU

1.JTQ - the money spyder (opening titles)
2.Charles Sheffield - it's your vodoo working (Harry meets Setsuko)
3.Xeno & Oaklander - cold forever (an evening with Bilderberger)
4.Air - the way you look tonight (Love in the first place)
5.Ivy - while we're in love (Setsuko leaves the appartment)

6.The Ghouls - coffin nails (bloodbath at costas)
7.The Volcanos - krakatoa (Palmers getaway)
8.Cousteau - last good day of the year (Harry Who in Rio)
9.Satans Pilgrims - music to watch girls by (holidays extended)
10.DJ Kiva - i don't wanna fight no mo (adios babylon / closing credits)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk-WRQu1DcY

Meisenfek, you have plastered a smile on my face that a car crash could not remove.

Another obvious one, and I'm sure this has been used somewhere--sounds made for Hollywood: Moby's "Honey"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8d9SgRtEkBo

That DJ Kiva is a great exit.

Re: "Super Metroid Music": The hero's much-needed and time-honored electro theme!

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

(Not that I have one in my soundtrack. Looked though.)

I love the suggestions guys, but I'd love to see more stuff like Johnny Fever's and less YouTube links.

In a perfect world we'll have both: Only problem with Johnny Fever's comp is I can't hear it.

Ah, all right... feel very sheepish after seeing how much cooler others' choices are!

Action Movie Soundtrack 1

1. "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen," Sam Cooke, Night Beat (opening credits and early-morning highway, introducing badass character; song ends)
2. "Into the Open," Heartless Bastards, All This Time (music picks right up for new scene after last songs ends, for another partly wordless sequence, also in early morning, which involves something routine for the character but jarring for us)
3. "Bad Mutha," Lord Finesse & DJ Mike Smooth, Funky Technician (car music or slow-walk)
4. "Do You Want New Wave or Do You Want the Truth?," Minutemen, Double Nickels on the Dime (could be I've let the teacher-movie in my head infect the action movie in my head, but think this would be great for any scene of heavy contemplation before the storm)
5. "Give It Up or Turnit a Loose" (Remix), James Brown, In the Jungle Groove (warehouse firefight)
6. "Honey," Moby, Play (slow-build back up to action, road-movie-ish now: The chase is on; cheesy as this song is, it stands up)
7. "Nzale," Tabu Ley Rochereau with Afrisa International, The Voice of Lightness: Congo Classics (downtime music: the beginnings of romance?)
8. "Who Am I," Beenie Man, DanceHall 101 Vol. 1 (The bad guys catch up, requiring sneaky evasion)
9. "Song 2," Blur, Blur (fight scene)
10. "Mama Said Knock You Out," L.L. Cool J, Mama Said Knock You Out (extended gun battle; this and the last one are a nod to my friend I'm making the CD for: He's got action-movie footage somewhere where this song works perfectly)
11. "Midnight in a Perfect World," DJ Shadow, Endtroducing..... (love scene on the run, mingled with soemthing reminding us we're not out of danger)
12. "Spin Cycle," Eyedea & Abilities, By the Throat (open-highway music, edited to hear mostly end)
13. "Welcome to Jamrock," Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley, Welcome to Jamrock (but things get complicated)
14. "So What'cha Want," Beastie Boys, Check Your Head (heavy artillery fight)
15. "Oh, How to Do Now," the Monks, Black Monk Time (sometimes comedic foot chase)
16. "K-Stars," Stereolab, Peng! (downtime that leads shockingly into last action sequence--final confrontation with no dialogue)
17. "Medicine Show," Big Audio Dynamite, This Is Big Audio Dynamite (freedom and the open road, happy ending)
18. "Private Eyes," Daryl Hall & John Oates, Private Eyes (credits--was this a private-eye movie?)

> 15. "Oh, How to Do Now," the Monks, Black Monk Time (sometimes comedic foot chase)

ah!
now i know what i've been missing

A sometimes comedic foot chase?

like in pulp fiction

Ha, Point Break.

this band pretty much sucked, but club foot by kasabian makes me want to jump a motorcycle through a plate glass window

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l4SY8r4HHw

Ha, this is vintage. First 45 seconds of Fugazi's "Break" make me want to break into a high-security headquarters via the elevator shaft, but the song as a whole loses that spy-movie quality after that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPEqasj1uMI

Actually, that's the case with lots of Fugazi songs.

(Meant that Kasabian is vintage.) Hey, Daniel, how does your movie end?

I'd probably rip off the theme song from St Elmo's Fire movie (nevermind the disney video - it just had better sound)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8d9thIPddFw

my movie would be epic because people would be like "this song is cool as Highway to the Danger Zone!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI-EDF9PtRY

i know they're totally obvious and must have been used by someone, but my perfect movie ends w/ either

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmB1eYOjgug
(as heroes actually ride into sunset)

or

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfzoyDOXfzY
{cut to credits on black at the guitat solo)

Great closers. "St. Elmo's Fire" has the added laugh of appropriating another film's theme song (which I guess Tarantino did with "Across 110th Street," but not for a laugh).

As far as recent minor-key, action-sequencey stuff: School of Seven Bells' "Dust Devil"; M.I.A.'s "Born Free." Not perfect, maybe not even great, but heading in the right direction...

Another obvious one, and I'm sure this has been used somewhere--sounds made for Hollywood: Moby's "Honey"

I was watching "Holes" the other week and this was in it. Not an action movie, but the scene was in a youth labor camp. I don't think you could use this in a hardman action movie. Maybe a buddy cop comedy.

Here's my soundtrack to a Wes Anderson sci-fi movie:

Prelude- After the Gold Rush- Prelude
A Dream Goes on Forever- Todd Rundgren
Quark, Strangeness & Charm- Hawkwind
905- The Who
Tomorrow's People/The Children of Today- McDonald & Giles
Nature's Way- Spirit
Urban Guerilla- Mudhoney
Behind the Mask- Yellow Magic Orchestra
Strip Tease (from(La Planete Sauvage) - Alain Goraguer
Only the Loneliest Feeling- Ramases
Starship Trooper- Yes
My Face in the Rain- Vangelis
It's All Too Much- Steve Hillage
Spirit of Joy (alt. version)- Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come

disregard first 'prelude' obv.

This version is kind of perfect for that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6BzTCQ6Nqo

a Wes Anderson sci-fi movie

I'm totally picturing this, down the run-down '70s special effects.

Yeah it's about a clone who goes in search of his dad. Somebody come up with a title and I'll post the mix.

...That's the version I was thinking of (xpost)

How about Jettison?

Really I'm just reviving this because this thread makes me smile.

Here's the cover I did for it (while waiting for a suitable title)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/17598844@N06/4867529120/

I could actually post the mix as well I suppose...