The Soundtrack To My Life. 07/06/2012.

Here’s what I’ve been filling my ears with over the past few weeks…

“The Flaming Lips And Heady Fwends”. (2012).
Artist: The Flaming Lips & Their Pals.
Why You Should Get It: Over to you Wayne…

“Locked Down”. (2012).
Artist: Dr. John.
Why You Should Get It: Because although he’s usually off of his head on heroin, Dr. John has released the best album I’ve heard this year so far!
Here’s the teaser…

“Two Sides Of Dave Van Ronk” (2002).
Artist: Dave Van Ronk.
Why You Should Get It…

“The Day The Earth Stood Still” (OST). (1951).
Artist: Bernard Herrmann.
Why You Should Get It: Bernard Herrmann does it yet again! This score is well worth tracking down. It’s very unusual in that it’s scored for electric bass, electric violin and…TWO THERMAINS! Why do you need two theramins? One for treble and one for bass of course! Makes perfect sense and it also sounds GORGEOUS…

“Tadpoles” (1969).
Artist: The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.
Why You Should Get It: Because it’s insane. All of it. It’s just insane music made by an insane band for insane ears…

“Kill Bill: Volume 1” (OST). (2003).
Artist: Various Artists.
Why You Should Get It: Quentin Tarantino has outstandingly good taste in music. Every song in every single one of his movies is a stunner. From the “Kill Bill” soundtrack I’d say that this is my favourite:

“Kill Bill: Volume 2” (OST). (2004).
Artist: Various Artists.
Why You Should Get It…

“Preliminaires” (2009).
Artist: Iggy Pop.
Why You Should Get It: The strangest Iggy Pop album to date, “Preliminaires” even includes Iggy singing in French! Definitely worth a listen or two…

“Moondance” (1970).
Artist: Van Morrison.
Why You Should Get It…

“Early Takes: Volume 1” (2012).
Artist: George Harrison.
Why You Should Get It: An outtake and demo collection, it’s mainly just Harrison and an acoustic guitar or two and it mostly sounds like he’s sitting right beside you…

Here are some of the albums I listened to recently which, for one reason or many, just didn’t do anything for me:

* “Stars And Satellites” (2012) – Trampled By Turtles.
* “God Told Me To” (2012) – John5.
* “Celebration Rock” (2012) – The Japandroids.
* “Live In Berkely” (2009) – Bob Dylan.

The Soundtrack To My Life. 08/05/2012.

“Twisted Nerve” (OST). (1968).
Artist: Bernard Herrmann.
Why You Should Get It: You probably already know it from “Kill Bill“.
Recognise THIS?

“Kill Bill”. That’s where I first heard it but the full “Twisted Nerve” soundtrack is so much more than whistling. I’ve been going through Bernard Herrmann’s scores and soundtracks at a rate of one per week and I’ve yet to hear any of his music and not find myself in a complete atmospheric trance.

I’ve also yet to see “Twisted Nerve” but I’ll get around to it.
Here’s the trailer:

“Odelay” (2 Disc Deluxe Edition). (2008).
Artist: Beck.
Why You Should Get It: You probably have it right? Everybody has “Odelay”. Don’t they?

I don’t play this record often enough. I hadn’t listened to it for years but as soon as I put it on, that was me! I was off dancing on down the street like the honky I am.

You don’t need the 2 Disc Deluxe Edition. The second disc is full of long remixes and bland B-Sides. It’s filler with lovely cover artwork but the original album sounds better than you remember!

“Electric Dirt”. (2009).
Artist: Levon Helm.
Why You Should Get It: Helm’s reworking of The Grateful Dead’s tired sounding ‘Tennessee Jed’ into a swinging and swaying slide guitar Americana classic!

The late great Levon Helm kind of worked backwards. His music got better as he got older and “Electric Dirt” was his last studio album. You can hear the effort he put into every single song.

“The Lost Notebooks Of Hank Williams”. (2011).
Artist: Various Artists.
Why You Should Get It: Speaking of Levon Helm…he’s on this album which contains arrangements of Hank Williams’ incomplete, unreleased and unrecorded final songs.

This is a real treat for lovers of Hank Williams and his music. The lyrics to these songs were found in the car that Williams died in and were passed around over the years until they found their way into the hands of the SONY / ATV company who had the good sense to hand them over to Bob Dylan.

Setting Hank Williams’ lyrics to their own melodies, Bob Dylan completed one song and various other artists including Levon Helm, Jack White, Merle Haggard, Norah Jones and Sheryl Crow finished up other tracks and it’s really interesting to hear. There’s no honky tonking or yodelling but the words are Hank through and through.

…Which leads me to…

“Together Through Life”. (2009).
Artist: Bob Dylan.
Why You Should Get It…

“Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike”. (2005).
Artist: Gogol Bordello.
Why You Should Get It: Because it’s Ukrainian Gypsy Punk Music and frankly, it’s insane…

“New Boots And Panties!!” (1977).
Artist: Ian Dury.
Why You Should Get It: Because Ian Dury was a Clever Bastard…

“Sticky Fingers”. (1971).
Artist: The Rolling Stones.
Why You Should Get It: I’m not big on The Stones but even I can’t deny that this is a fucking peach of a record!

Due to many years of hearing pub bands cover it, I couldn’t listen to ‘Brown Sugar’ for a long time but I’ve since realised that loud, drunken heckling sorts this right out.

“The Band”. (1969).
Artist: The Band.
Why You Should Get It: Every single song on this album is perfect.
Every single one.
This entire album is completely perfect.
Listen to THIS, THIS and THIS and as an extra treat, here’s a documentary about the making of the album:

You May Also Be Interested In:
* Bob Dylan Changed My Life.
* Neil Young’s Sound.
* The Soundtrack To My Life. 15/04/2012.

The Soundtrack To My Life. 15/04/2012.

“A Night To Remember” (Audio Book). (2010).
Artist: Written by Walter Lord. Read by Martin Jarvis.
Why You Should Get It: This is a complete and compelling moment by moment account of The RMS Titanic disaster as told by the survivors themselves.

I bust my audio book cherry with “A Night To Remember” last week and it has left me completely stunned.
Highly recommended!

“Cape Fear” (Original Score). (1991).
Artist: Bernard Herrmann & Elmer Bernstein.
Why You Should Get It: Click HERE.

Ah, Bernard Herrmann. I’ve listened to his work every week ever since I got the “Taxi Driver” soundtrack last year! Did Herrmann ever write something that wasn’t completely brilliant? I can’t find any evidence if he did.

This is of course the soundtrack to the 1991 Martin Scorsese film “Cape Fear” and not the original 1961 film of the same name and so, what we have here is Bernard Herrmann’s original score adapted and arranged by Elmer Bernstein.

And it works!
It’s gloriously ominous.

“Left My Blues In San Francisco”. (1967).
Artist: Buddy Guy.
Why You Should Get It: Click HERE.

“A Wasteland Companion”. (2012).
Artist: M. Ward.
Why You Should Get It: Click HERE.

I had to get M. Ward’s “A Wasteland Companion” because last month he supported the brilliant Leslie Feist in Glasgow all by himself and I thought he carried it all off well. When he opened for Feist, Ward only used an acoustic guitar and (I think) a loop pedal and it was really great y’know? He’s a magical guitar player with really interesting and unusual chord patterns.

“A Wasteland Companion” is a very nice album but it’s mostly full-on band material instead of the stripped down bare bones I saw at the Feist gig. It’s probably one of those albums which I’ll listen to a few times before forgetting BUT!
– As I was typing this, I asked my pal Sean if he’d ever heard M. Ward’s material and he said that he has his first two albums which are bare and stripped down so maybe I should go and dig those up before I go any further with M. Ward.

“Grinderman”. (2007).
Artist: “Grinderman”.
Why You Should Get It: Click HERE.

I like Grinderman much more than I like Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds and despite what everybody I know told me, I thought that “Murder Ballads” was a fucking terrible album.
SO THERE YOU GO!

“Romeo And Juliet”. (2001).
Artist: Sergei Prokofiev.
Why You Should Get It: Just click HERE.

“Deja Vu”. (1970).
Artist: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
Why You Should Get It: Click HERE.

“Deja Vu” (or as I’ve come to call it, “Davie Who?”) is a complete classic of an album and I guess now is as good a time as any to explain how I have an almost mint condition vinyl copy in my house.
Basically, I stole it.

Way back in the mid 1990’s my girlfriend’s Dad had “Deja Vu”  on vinyl and he never played it. It was such a hard to find album back then and I could not wait to hear it. I couldn’t even believe that he had a copy nevermind a mint conditioned vinyl copy.

I constantly asked him for a loan of the album or if he could even see his way to playing the album for me. Just once. It wasn’t a lot to ask but he wouldn’t do it so one day I just removed it from his house and moved it into mine. I still have it and I play it all the time but I am sorry that I stole it.
No really, I am!

“The SInking Of The Titanic / Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet”. (1975).
Artist: Gavin Bryars.
Why You Should Get It: Click HERE.

I don’t really have any words to describe how great and profound this music is. If I think of any, I’ll come back and write them down.

“The Godfather PART II” (Original Score & Soundtrack). (1974).
Artist: Nino Rota.
Why You Should Get It: Click HERE.

“L.A. Woman” (40th Anniversary Edition). (2012).
Artist: The Doors.
Why You Should Get It: Click HERE.

I’ve always loved the “L.A. Woman” album and I’ve always loved The Doors. I think every single song on the album is a belter and the remastered 40th Anniversary version sounds AMAZINGLY clear.

Jim Morrison recorded his vocals for this album in a bathroom and you can really hear it in this version. Matter of fact, unless you have “L.A. Woman” on vinyl, you should pick up a copy of the 40th Anniversary Edition.

– But make sure you get the correct edition because strangely, this is the second 40th Anniversary Mix of this album. It was first remixed, remastered and released in 2007. Weird eh? I really don’t know why that was.

The version I’m recommending to you contains 2 discs and was released in 2012.

You May Also Be Interested In:

The Soundtrack To My Life. 13/03/2012.
The Soundtrack To My Life. 04/02/2012.
Balls & Noise.

“Death Proof” OST – Stuntman Mike’s Mix.

Y’know, there’s a lot to be said for bootleg records which never really gets said because…well…they’re bootlegs.

I listen to a lot of soundtracks and one of my favourites is the soundtrack to my favourite Tarantino film “Death Proof”.
I bought it as soon as it came out and it introduced me to some artists that I otherwise maybe wouldn’t have discovered.

Here’s the track lising for the “Death Proof” soundtrack:
1. “The Last Race”— Jack Nitzsche.
2. “Baby, It’s You” — Smith.
3. “Paranoia Prima” — Ennio Morricone.
4. “Planning & Scheming” — Eli Roth & Michael Bacall (Dialogue).
5. “Jeepster” — T. Rex.
6. “Stuntman Mike” — Rose McGowan & Kurt Russell (Dialogue).
7. “Staggolee” — Pacific Gas & Electric.
8. “The Love You Save (May Be Your Own)” — Joe Tex.
9. “Good Love, Bad Love” — Eddie Floyd.
10. “Down In Mexico” — The Coasters.
11. “Hold Tight!” – Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich.
12. “Sally and Jack” — Pino Donaggio.
13. “It’s So Easy” — Willy DeVille.
14. “Whatever-However” — Tracie Thoms & Zoë Bell (Dialogue).
15. “Riot In Thunder Alley” — Eddie Beram.
16. “Chick Habit” – April March.

My favourites were always “Down In Mexico” by The Coasters and Willy Deville’s “It’s So Easy” which I remember hearing for the first time in the controversial 80’s Al Pacino thriller “Cruising“.
– A pair of classics if you ask me!

I’m a bit of a completest when it comes to things like this and as good as the “Death Proof” soundtrack is, it has LOTS of tracks missing which appear in the film.
A few weeks ago, online, I found…
“Death Proof” – Stuntman Mike’s Mix.

This is it for me.
This is the definitive “Death Proof” soundtrack as far as I’m concerned.
It’s divided into Side A and Side B and set up like the jukebox and the records as they appear in the film.
Hell, it even makes the sound of the jukebox changing records inbetween tracks.
I don’t usually go this overboard with things like this but this sounds miles better than the official release and take a look at the track listing why dont ya! :

(Side A):
1. Keith Mansfield – “Funky Fanfare”.
2. Jack Nitzsche – “The Last Race”.
3. Smith – “Baby It’s You”.
4. Ennio Morricone – “Paranoia Prima”.
5. T. Rex – “Jeepster”.
6. Pino Donaggio – “Sally And Jack”.
7. Eddie Floyd – “Good Love, Bad Love”.
8. Pacific Gas & Electric – “Staggolee”.
9. Eli Roth & Michael Bacall – “Planning & Scheming”.
10. Jerry Reed – “East Bound And Down” (as referenced in the movie by Eli Roth’s character).
11. Rose McGowan & Kurt Russell – “Stuntman Mike”.
12. Joe Tex – “The Love You Save”.
13. The Coasters – “Down In Mexico”.
14. Robert Rodriguez – “Stinper”.
15. Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich – “Hold Tight!”
16. AMi jukebox sounds.

(Side B):
1. Willy DeVille – “It’s So Easy”.
2. Mary Elizabeth Winstead – “Baby It’s You”.
3. Bernard Herrmann – “Introduction”.
4. Ennio Morricone – “Unexpected Violence”.
5. Tracie Thoms & Zoe Bell – “Whatever-However”.
6. Eddie Beram – “Riot In Thunder Alley”.
7. Guido & Maurizio De Angelis – “Gangster Story”.
8. Franco Micalizzi – “Italia A Mano Armata”.
9. Stelvio Cipriani – “La Polizia Sta A Guardare”.
10. Hsun Chi Chen (as Chen Tsun-Chi) & Fu Liang Chou (as Chow Fook-Leung).
11. April March – “Chick Habit”.
12. April March – “Laisse Tomber Les Filles”.

Apparently, all of these tracks came sraight from Quentin Tarantino’s personal jukebox which incidentally, is the one used in the finished film.
That man has taste!