Tag Archives: soundtrack

Jazz, magical, pop, soundtrack

Julee Cruise – Floating into the Night

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A great album for David Lynch fans, Julee Cruise in her greatest moment. Dream pop, calm, and sombre magical are the words for this album which created the mood for the must watch TV series Twin Peaks.

This album was created of the back of the Blue Velvet film, and used extensively for the soundtrack of Twin Peaks the television series. Angelo Badalamenti and Director David Lynch composed the music and Julee Cruise was brought in to perform the hauntingly beautiful album. Twin Peaks was a revolutionary television series with touches of the surreal based around the brutal murder of a high school girl, Laura Palmer, in a rural community.

Badlamenti was tasked by David Lynch to create ethereal music for the earlier Lynch film Blue Velvet. Cruise was selected on the basis of her participation in a Theatre Workshop that Badalamenti had produced. When Badalamenti was commissioned to create the soundtrack for Twin Peaks Crusie was the perfect choice.

 

The single was called falling and it made the Billboard charts while the album sold half a million copies.

Released
1990

Lyrics
Yes this album is a breathy showpiece. All lyrics were written by David Lynch and all music was composed by Angelo Badamamenti.

Mood
Calm and relaxed is what this album is all about.

Good to work to
Great album to relax to.

Like
Like a jazzy mood album of the past, mixed in with a dose of dark magic.

The Artist/s
Julee Cruise who sings the tracks is an actress and singer.

David Lynch the lyricist is an acclaimed film director

Angelo Badalamenti is a composer who has worked on a host of soundtracks and other musical projects

Other works
Julee Cruise did release other albums after this but it would be fair to say there is no way it could be compared to this.

What I would recommend is the Blue Velvet soundtrack. This was another Lynch Badalamenti collaboration and the first where they brought in Julee Cruise on the track Mysteries of Love. The success of this collaboration gave the impetus for the latter album. It is different as it is a more traditional soundtrack featuring the music of other artists such as Roy Obison with In Dreams and Bobby Vinton on the title track Blue Velvet.

Angelo Badalamenti was a continued collaborator with David Lynch so you might want to check out some of the other soundtracks they worked on such as the darker follow up Twin Peaks movie Fire Walk with Me, likewise other movies such as Mullholland Drive. I wasn’t able to find much of this on itunes, although I’m sure it’s there if you search hard enough. Below is a link to the official Twin Peaks soundtrack.

 

You may also like Dark night of the soul, a musical/visual project of Sparklehorse and David Lynch with a range of musicians and featuring Lynch singing on a few of the tracks. A different style to the featured album, but interesting

Where Can I buy it, and in what formats
A bit pricier on vinyl these days, but fairly cheap on iTunes and a winner from start to finish.

The Verdict
A great album, just what you need to send yo on to another world. This album definitely has a presence that may work for you.

instrumental, Jazz, magical, Music to write to, soundtrack

Vince Guaraldi Trio – A Charlie Brown Christmas

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Existential cartoon kids and their dog Snoopy make TV Christmas special, bring on the piano jazzman with music tailormade to chilling by the fire. One of the best selling Christmas albums of all times, it’s made up of a mix of standards and remakes with a jazz tinge.

The Vince Guaraldi Trio don’t rock, but definitely swing A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Charlie Brown and his friends were very popular from the fourties through to the nineties. There were movies, the regular cartoon strips, and merchandising, Charlie Brown and Snoopy were everywhere. The characters in Charlie Brown were flawed, sweet, selfish and funny. They had human stories that touched on simple truths. Guaraldi with his jazz roots was a natural to do the soundtrack

I’m a sucker for the little drummer boy and the version that’s here is a killer. Have a listen I can’t really do it justice with words. It puts me in a happy place.

Released
1965, re-released 2006

Lyrics
Instrumental mainly piano, bass and drums, but on a few of the tracks there is a sweet little children’s choir.

Mood
Happy and festive you can’t go wrong with this little number. It’s a really sweet piano album that makes me feel calm and happy. It’s also better than your average Christmas album.

Good to work to
Definitely great for work, but maybe ideal for more contemplative tasks. Very calming, at least for me.

Like
A cross between a Christmas album and a soft jazz album.

The Artist/s
Vince Guaraldi was a jazz groover putting out a steady number of jazz recordings and soundtracks from the 50s to 70s. It’s all chilled music. He reported chest discomfort to his doctor who advise him he had nothing to worry about. He died unexpectedly of a heart attack.

Jerry Granelli – drums
Vince Guaraldi – piano, Hammond organ, arrangement
Fred Marshall – double bass
Additional musicians
Colin Bailey – drums on “Greensleeves”
Monty Budwig– double bass on “Greensleeves”
Children’s choir of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in San Rafael California.

Other works
Although of a totally different genre, this is a commercial album commisioned by the Coca Cola company, just like LCD Soundsystem‘s cracker album  45:33 was commisioned for Nike. Maybe they both paradoxically felt free of commercial constraints when they made their album.

Guaraldi has stacks of other albums like this one below, but I’m not enough of a connossieur to recommend anything in particular. Much as I don’t like to do it, but how about you listen to his best of and see what tickles your fancy.

Where Can I buy it, and in what formats
You can get this album most places. It was such a popular album that it has ensured it stayed in print. Of course you can also get it digitally on iTunes. I really like this album, but maybe I’m just sentimental.

The Verdict
Thumbs up, buy it.

Classical, latin american, Native American, World

Philip Glass – Powaqqaatsi

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Powaqqaatsi is a Hopi Indian word that means life in transition. Powaqqaatsi is a classical/world music soundtrack to second film in the Qatsi trilogy of films. It was designed to follow the transitions from natural to industrial world, which makes perfect sense when you listen to it.

The format of the movie means that it is designed to tell a story. I can only compare it to other movies that of a similar vintage in a style that was popular that tell the same kind of thematic story without story or traditional storytelling. My old favourite was Baraka. I’ve never even seen the movie and it works on me.

There are some really great sound effects used throughout this album, from pan pipes, deep voices, full orchestra including Brass, whistles, percussion, and acapella choir. The different sounds and sound effects make it a very effective collage to paint the background to your working while you work.

This album rolls over you smoothly like a wave. The peaks drive you along, and the troughs always give you a chance to regather your thoughts and consolidate what you’ve written. The whole album has an organic feel which is at times infectious and driving. The reason why I like it so much is that it drives me. I personally like repetition and recurring motifs, something Glass is also a fan of.  I don’t want to have to concentrate on something all of the time. With that said there is also a lot of variety on this album, as the director takes the movie in different directions. This is an album that worked for me on first listen. It is not an overly intellectual album you have to listen to several times before you get it in any way.

Released
1988, with the film of the same name Powaqqaatsi.

Lyrics
No lyrics, or not enough to really distract you.

Mood
Meditative uplifting, speedy.

Good to work to
Fantastic, makes you feel positively triumphant. I also like the emotional palate of this album. It is at times contemplative, and at others upbeat and happy sweeping you along. This may just be my particular internal rhythm, but I don’t move all at the same pace. I move by fits and starts.

It is the kind of music I would especially recommend if you only have a set amount of time to write to. It will push you along and by the end of the emotional journey you will feel like you’ve got somewhere.

Like
I can’t really describe anything this album is like. It has orchestral flourishes, percussive fiesta moments, middle eastern sounds, south american pan pipes and other things, spooky mystical moments.

The Artist/s
Philip Glass born in 1937 and still going strong. Some call him a minimalist, he prefers some other term which also means nothing to me. He is a contemporary of other musicians like Stepen Reich who went through the famous Juilliard musical store. He was also a well connected Fullbright scholar. He has experimented with other cultures and collaborated with people like Ravi Shankar, and exposed himself to other cultures most notably the Tibetans such as the Dalai Lama.

I have only seen Philip Glass once a few years ago in 2011, at the Sydney festival where he lead a quartet who provided the score onstage while an antique silent movie version of Dracula played to chuckles from the audience. At first it was hard not to keep staring at the quartet especially it contained the famous Philip Glass. After a while I along with most of the audience were engrossed with the movie only occasionally glancing at the quartet under the screen onstage as there music fitted seamlessly with the music.

Other works
A massive back catalogue of music. Philip Glass is a renowned soundtrack artist and composer. To be honest I haven’t explored his catalogue enough to be able to recommend anything else. I did buy his first album in this trilogy Koyaanisqatsi, but to my shame I have not given it enough a listen to have a firm opion.

Where Can I buy it, and in what formats
It’s old but you’ll be able to get it digitally, you may be pushing it to get it on vinyl.

The Verdict
Yes, oh Yes. Run out and get it straight away. I find this is a great energising album that definitely sweeps me away.