Bloggerhythms

Nicholas Britell has made a name for himself composing music for both television and films. He's a Phi Beta Kappa graduate from Harvard where he was a keyboard player for an instrumental hip-hop group. He also has a degree from Julliard. Apparently, he's a very smart dude. Britell's music has been influenced by an unusual combination of artists and composers. Among them are Phillip Glass, Sergei Rachmaninoff, George Gershwin, Quincy Jones and Dr. Dre. Britell has composed scores for over two dozen movies. Even though HBO's Succession was his first effort writing for television, he quickly proved he belonged by winning an Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme. The composer's instrumental arrangement is unique. Most notably, the lead piano is deliberately out of tune. It employs hip-hop beats, a drum machine and a dark, classically based, string arrangement. If Britell's intent was to create a mood for the viewer to match what they wer...

"Woke Up This Morning" has an unusual backstory. It was written and recorded by Alabama 3, a band from London, England. In the United States the group always uses the name A3 instead so they don't have to worry about any delicate or unfortunate legal entanglements with Alabama - the American country group - over the use of the name. It's difficult to categorize Alabama 3 because they don't cling to a specific style. They easily blend jazz, R&B, hip-hop, rock and dance music into something unique. The band wrote "Woke Up This Morning" after hearing about a highly publicized British murder case involving a woman, Sara Thornton, who stabbed her very abusive husband to death. Primary songwriter and vocalist, Rob Spragg, told Q Magazine that "We started with a Howlin' Wolf loop, but a lot of blues lyrics are quite misogynistic. So, I turned it round to be about a woman who's had enough and gets a gun – it's quite iron...

Today's post is about a song that is probably the most obscure piece of music on my entire top ten list. Anyone who puts it on their ballot deserves a huge round of applause because it's a marvelous, moody, blues-fueled, jazz vocal song. More than four years ago I wrote about a virtually unknown soundtrack album from a long-forgotten, 1982 movie that I have never seen. The music to One From The Heart was composed entirely by Tom Waits with country star Crystal Gayle as a featured guest vocalist on six tracks. The sessions were produced by Bones Howe. The celebrated Francis Ford Coppola directed the picture   starring Frederic Forrest, Teri Garr, Raúl Juliá, Nastassja Kinski, Lainie Kazan and Harry Dean Stanton. Bloggerhythms' post about  the complete soundtrack  included a brief discussion on the flick's title track that Waits sang as a duet with Gayle. So, for #8 on my list of greatest songs from movies and TV I'm simply going to lift my own word...

"That Thing You Do," the theme song to the 1996 movie of the same name, was composed by the late Adam Schlesinger, leader of the fun power pop quartet, Fountains of Wayne. This Academy Award nominated record for Best Original Song reminds me of another fantastic one-hit wonder, The Knickerbockers' "Lies,"  a big hit from 1965 that many people believed was actually The Beatles. It's easy to be reminded of the Fab Four while listening to this exuberant production that only reached #41 - especially when you realize the film's story takes place in 1964, the same year the Liverpool guys hit the big time in America. It deserved a much better fate, but power-pop wasn't being played very often on the radio during this grunge infested year of 1996. The fictitious liner notes from the soundtrack CD claimed "That Thing You Do" reached #2 on the Hot 100. The four actors who played The Wonders in the movie didn't record the so...

"Before the Deluge" has always been one of my all-time favorite Jackson Browne songs. Yes, it's political - and therefore controversial - but it also has a gorgeous melody that was helped in no small part by the late, great - and always drug free - David Lindley whose sad violin work on this track is the highlight regardless of its intended message. "Before the Deluge" is one of Browne's most memorable songs. It's from Late for the Sky (1974) - an album most people consider his best. I loved the original studio recording, but it was easily topped five years later by this live version from the historic No Nukes soundtrack that made the original sound lifeless by comparison. To me, it's the definitive performance of this great song and it made me realize just how important Lindley was to Browne's music.  Browne continued to have a long and moderately successful recording career, but I always believed that after Lindley left...

To celebrate the relationship between music and movies Starbucks Coffee, Sundance Channel and BMG Music jointly opened a coffeehouse in an old Elk's lodge in Park City, UT, the town that annually hosts Robert Redford's renowned festival featuring new, independent films. Where Music Meets Film: Live from the Sundance Film Festival is a 1999 soundtrack CD with fifteen songs from the gala's after hours, live music shows. While none of these songs were written or performed specifically for films they were released as part of a made for TV documentary. A portion of the profits were donated to the non-profit Sundance Composer's Lab. The disc's liner notes get right to the point. "From silent film to contemporary cinema, music has always been part of the movie experience. It enhances the story and helps set the mood of the film." The CD features a few established stars - John Hiatt, Lyle Lovett, and ...

I've never seen the 1991 Irish film, The Commitments , but curiosity got the best of me when I discovered the soundtrack on CD for $2 at a local church fair. After only one listen it became clear that I've missed out on some great music that stands on its own even without seeing the movie. There is nothing remotely Celtic about the enthusiastically performed fourteen songs on this disc that make a strong case that this small, music loving, island nation has a powerful affection for American R&B. The movie is about that love affair and how a bunch of young, working class Dubliners try to hit the big time simply by playing the music they love best. The group's most talented lead singer is clearly Andrew Strong whose career took off after the flick became a hit. He has toured with Elton John, The Rolling Stones, Prince, and Lenny Kravitz and released several best-selling albums. Strong possesses a powerful voice, and here he turns in two Wil...

I don't know where to begin. "Over The Rainbow" is my favorite song from The Wizard Of Oz - my all-time favorite movie. As a child I fell in love with the film, the music, even Judy Garland as Dorothy. Many decades later I feel the same way about this masterwork of fantasy films. Beginning in 1956, and for many years afterward, the 1939 classic was shown on TV every year with gargantuan ratings, and in this era before home video and streaming were available I had to watch it on network TV every year. I believed that Garland's performance of "Over The Rainbow" was so wonderful that I never wanted to hear anyone else sing it. Cover versions just never rang true, and I've often said a law should be passed preventing anyone else from ever singing it. Immunity will only be given to Israel  Kamakawiwo'ole  (better known as Iz) for his Hawaiian folk version performed solo on a ukulele. "Over the Rainbow" was writt...

Roger Ebert memorably described One From The Heart , Francis Ford Coppola's 1982 flop  as “a major disappointment" saying the  director had released “an interesting production but not a good movie."  In addition, a ccording to Wikipedia , the film was "a colossal critical and commercial flop." I've never seen it so I'll just have to take everyone's word that the movie deserved its fate.  Fortunately, the same can not be said about the accompanying soundtrack album that was entirely written and performed by Tom Waits and featured Crystal Gayle as his guest vocalist. He invited the country star to sing on the soundtrack after his first choice, Bette Midler, was unable to participate due to scheduling conflicts. After Midler declined Waits' offer, he heard Gayle sing "Cry Me A River" on the radio, and the job was hers. My copy of the album is on an old bootlegged, twelve-song cassette that I just transferred to CD using my home stereo ...

I was a Dire Straits fan from the very beginning. Their first single "Sultans of Swing," from their debut album released in 1978, knocked me off of my feet. The band's third and fourth albums, Making Movies (1980) and Love Over Gold (1982), were among the best rock records I heard in the 80s. Both were big hits in the U. K. and America. I have to admit I was a little smug when the rest of the world suddenly discovered the band a few years later with "Money for Nothing" from their 1985 album Brothers In Arms . I said to myself, "This album is good but you haven't any idea what you missed." The band's leader, Mark Knopfler, consistently mixed classy guitar playing and singer-songwriter intelligence within the framework of a rock 'n roll band. The combination placed Dire Straits way above many long forgotten 80s synth rock bands, hair bands, and punk rockers. To this day Knopfler remains my favorite guitarist. As much as I liked Dire Str...

Released this past March,  Wall in the Desert is a solo project by jazz bassist Joël Dilley. The San Antonio native played all of the instruments and arranged, recorded, mixed, and produced it himself. It's quite an accomplishment. The approximately thirty minute soundtrack is part of a documentary of the same name about the notorious and extremely controversial wall along America's Southwestern border. I have only seen the trailer, not the entire film, so I can only make an educated guess about its message but the music is good enough to stand on its own. According to an April 2020 press release from Dragon Lady Records , "all proceeds from digital sales and streaming will benefit the Interfaith Welcome Coalition, a faith-based collaborative movement meeting the changing needs of asylum seekers and immigrants at risk." Wall in the Desert  is a different kind of listening experience. If you're looking for hooks, riffs, and memorable melodies you won't find th...

As a movie offering us a good love story La La Land easily satisfies. Actors Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling are excellent and they have a great rapport with each other. They look and act like a real couple, something that is a must for a romantic film to be successful. This best film nominee of 2016 is well paced and looks great. Both things can be attributed to Damien Chazelle who is quickly establishing himself as a fine director. Much of the plot of La La Land is driven by Gosling's character who is an aspiring jazz musician. Chazelle is also the man behind the award winning Whiplash , a 2014 film about a jazz drummer at a music conservatory. Apparently, the director is a big jazz fan. La La Land gets four stars for its acting, plot, direction, cinematography and all of those neat little things Hollywood gives awards for. Unfortunately, the music is not as rewarding. The jazz, pop, show tunes, and instrumentals - all composed by Justin Hurwitz who also worked with Ch...

A few years ago I wrote about Mark Knopfler's soundtrack to the movie Local Hero . It featured some of my all time favorite movie music and it just happened to accompany one of my all time favorite flicks. Back in 1983 I believed the situation was unique, but then the same thing happened again in 1991 with Thelma & Louise . Not only is Ridley Scott's picture another one of my most loved films it too has a soundtrack that moves me just as much as the film does. Because lightning struck twice I now firmly believe that great music and a great film will definitely complement each other. The eleven track CD is a real mixture of styles. It offers blues from B.B. King (a fine performance of "Better Not Look Down)" some R & B from Martha Reeves (a soulful cover of Van Morrison's "Wild Nights"), and British invasion star Marianne Faithful delivered "The Ballad of Lucy Jordan" with lyrics by Shel Silverstein. Country singer Kelly Willis be...

The original vinyl release of this 1969 cartoon film soundtrack had one full side of orchestral music composed by legendary Beatles producer George Martin. The rest of the album contained a couple of previously released Beatles oldies that appeared in the film and only four new original songs. Yellow Submarine Songtrack contains those four songs ("It's All Too Much," "Only A Northern Song," "Hey Bulldog," and "All Together Now") plus eleven previously issued tracks The Beatles recorded spanning the period of time from Rubber Soul through Magical Mystery Tour . All appear in the film, and for this disc, all have been remixed from their original versions. Except for restoring an additional verse to "It's All Too Much" that lengthens the song a bit, none of the re-mixes add anything to the superior originals. In many cases the differences are barely noticeable. If you still need the four songs that were first released with ...

Those of you interested in the more traditional forms of jazz from the 1940s and 1950s will find a lot to like about jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves and this superb movie soundtrack album, Good Night, and Good Luck . The accompanying band, featuring two excellent instrumentalists, saxophonist Matt Catingub and pianist Peter Martin, were born to play in the smoky jazz clubs the mood of this CD evokes. Reeves' voice and the band complement each other nicely. All of the songs were selected by the movie's producer, George Clooney, who wisely included many top notch jazz classics such as Nat King Cole's "Straighten Up And Fly Right," Frank Sinatra's "One For The Road," and Duke Ellington's "Solitude." I'll leave it to others to determine how the music fits in with the plot line of this historically important film. After listening to it one will realize there is no need to even see the movie to enjoy the music because Reeves and c...

In 1975 film director Jim Szalapski had a burning desire to film a documentary showcasing the new generation of singer-songwriters and performers he believed were about to change the face of country music. Fortunately his dream came true even though it took six years for the fruits of his labor, Heartworn Highways , to be released in 1981. Many of the unknown artists featured in Szalapski's film include now respected alt-country or outlaw-country artists Townes Van Zandt, Steve Earle, Guy Clark, Rodney Crowell, David Allan Coe, and John Hiatt. Lesser known but still talented performers such as Larry Jon Wilson, Gamble Rogers, and Steve Young are featured here too. Detailed liner notes stress that this CD version of Heartworn Highways is not a "literal soundtrack" to the film because producers David Gorman and Michael Nieves wanted a "CD that stood on its own as an audio companion to the movie." Gorman and Nieves sought to create a specific mood for ...