My Dear Friend,
I usually have so many words to say to anyone who will listen on the topic of soundtracks, and then it comes to writing to you about the mix I made for you of soundtrack songs and my mind is blank. Perhaps because there is so much to say that it is all stuck in a traffic jam of sorts.
I’m neither a musician nor a film maker, but have endless love for the craft that goes into selecting or composing the right song to add extra dimension to an on-screen moment. Epic or fleeting. Music that is inspiring, uplifting, raucous or on the flip side, fills your soul with sorrow. Sound that builds anticipation, breathes emotion. Brings tears to your eyes recollecting a devastating moment, fills your heart up with joyous overflowing froth at remembering some saccharine encounter. Despair, hope, longing, familiarity, love, joy, excitement, adventure and all the words for all the feelings of which there are too many for me to list.
There are some truly epic moments in cinematic history that go with some of the songs in this playlist. Others are purely sentimental additions that have been part of my narrative in some way, shape or form (I’m looking at you Hunger Games Soundtrack and the endless nights of working at my desk after littles had gone to bed). In any case, I hope you enjoy.
A vocal edition will follow soon. And then perhaps genre segmented versions because it was so tough to pick an hour and a half worth of music from such a rich and fruitful world of good stuff from the past almost 80+ years.
As always, the mix comes in under an hour and a half (because that’s all you can fit on a C-90 tape and I’m old-school about the idea if not the delivery vehicle of the thing).
Tell me your favourite soundtrack moments, TV or film are welcome, there may even be a special gamers edition by my son at some point if there’s call for it…
Start a mix tape conversation… And look out for my track by track break down on Notes - that’s a new thing I’m hoping to add but my brain can be pretty flaky, so please be kind if it’s shy to appear.
With love,
V.V
P.S If you love a list or don’t have Spotify, the playlist is below.
End Credits - Choir and Orchestra - "With Open Eyes"
Nicholas Britell - Succession: Season 4
Star Wars (Main Theme)
John Williams, London Symphony Orchestra - Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
O Verona - From "William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet"
The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra - Romeo + Juliet
Phone Call
Jon Brion - Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
I Love NYE
Badly Drawn Boy - About A Boy
Kanada's Death, Pt. 2 (Adagio in D Minor)
John Murphy, Underworld - Sunshine
Clothes From Miss Mabel
Mychael Danna - Where The Crawdads Sing
The Poet Acts
Philip Glass - The Hours
Tears in Rain
Vangelis - Blade Runner
Claire de Lune
Claude Debussy, Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy - Ocean's Eleven
To The Cave
Maurice Jarre - Dead Poets Society
Horn Of Plenty
James Newton Howard - The Hunger Games: Original Motion Picture Score
The Revenant Main Theme
Ryuichi Sakamoto - The Revenant
Alan Turing's Legacy
Alexandre Desplat, London Symphony Orchestra - The Imitation Game
Shawshank Prison - Stoic Theme
Thomas Newman - The Shawshank Redemption
Solomon
Hans Zimmer - 12 Years A Slave
The OA - Main Theme
Geek Music - The OA
I Won't Remember?
Bryce Dessner, Aaron Dessner - C'mon C'mon
Cornfield Chase
Hans Zimmer - Interstellar
Crater
Justin Hurwitz - First Man
Valley of the Shadow - Instrumental
Thomas Newman - Little Women
Planetarium
Justin Hurwitz - La La Land
Raising the Sail
Philip Glass - The Truman Show
EVE
Thomas Newman - WALL-E
Theme From Jurassic Park
John Williams - Jurassic Park
James Bond Theme
John Barry, Monty Norman - James Bond
Stuff We Did
Michael Giacchino - Up
Why Do We Fall?
Andrew Zack, Hans Zimmer, Lorne Balfe, Mel Wesson, Junkie XL - The Dark Knight Rises
Portals
Alan Silvestri - Avengers: Endgame
Raiders March
John Williams - Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Night At The Museum
Alan Silvestri - Night At The Museum
Which Story do you Prefer?
Mychael Danna - Life of Pi
"Poor Things" Finale and End Credits
Jerskin Fendrix - Poor Things
The Monthly Mix is a love letter to the mix tapes of my youth. Carefully curated and crafted, just for you. You can find more playlist joy right here. To make sure you don’t miss the next one…
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This month’s mix. Love it? Hate it? Recommendations? I’m here for all of it, please do share your thoughts in the comments below.