As far as I can remember, I have only ever purchased two soundtrack albums. Both of these were from films that I saw whilst a student back in the 70s. The soundtracks are:
I had never heard anything by Curtis Mayfield at the time, so his music made quite an impression on me, and I bought the soundtrack album almost immediately.
and:
The film was very disturbing, but two things made a lasting impression. The soundtrack by Walter (now Wendy) Carlos which was definitely like nothing else I had heard at the time, and the turntable featured in the film. âSwitched on Bachâ and âSwitched on Bach 2â by Walter Carlos became favourites of mine, and as a result of watching the film, I ended up spending all of my vacation job money on a hi-fi system that included a Transcriptors Hydraulic Reference turntable (by Michell).
I donât have the Transcriptors turntable any more, but the âSwitched on Bachâ albums still get a regular outing on my Michell Orbe turntable.
I like most of Hans Zimmerâs work. He is the one composer I am aware of who has started using a stable of composers. That is, he farms work out to them and then quality controlâs it; reminds me of Churchillâs approach to writing his history books!
In fairness I find ALL film composers plagerise themselves, Horner and Barry are typical examples. The most egregious example I feel is Leonard Rosenman who wrote an excellent soundtrack for the animated Bakshi âLord of the Ringsâ. He then copied this for âStar Trek 4 - The Voyage Homeâ, for which he received an Academy Award nomination!
TBH I think that soundtracks made up of songs already in existence eg Pulp Fiction, Baby Driver, Trainspotting etc can be great. But original soundtracks just donât do it for me - they are intended to be heard while viewing the scenes they were written for. Without that they just donât work for me as music in their own right. YMMV
I think this is a valid criticism, although not one that prevents me enjoying film music, after all it is written to evoke emotion. Some composers have addressed this by developing their score into a concert piece, such as Howard Shore.
I find the best film scores to be inventive, moving and exciting. Sure, there are better and worse ones, but thatâs true of any art form. I can (and do) listen to many film scores without âthe picturesâ, get an enormous amount out if them, and have done so for decades. Iâm profoundly grateful to those who produce it.
