Film soundtracks and the electric guitar - a DGMFS playlist
I was prompted to put this Spotify playlist together by a couple of coincident things, one genuinely saddening, one revelatory: the death of John Barry and the release of the collected Werner Herzog soundtracks by Popol Vuh. Barry's death was announced a couple of days ago as I write; I won't add to the virtual column inches written in tribute to his genius - far more learned commentators than me have spelled this out. But the announcement, and the subsequent listening no doubt lots of us have been indulging in since, got me thinking about the use of the electric guitar in film music - something I'd been ruminating on since picking up the aforementioned Popol Vuh box set from the estimable Boomkat just last week. Let me explain.
I'm something of a newcomer to Popol Vuh, the group founded by the late Florian Fricke in 1970; likewise, I'm way too unfamiliar with the Herzog oeuvre to consider myself a cineaste (and to be clear: I don't). So I dived into the box set and the accompanying notes with more curiosity than excitement, unsure what to expect. And to be frank, what i didn't expect was quite so much great electric guitar music. I knew of Fricke's reputation as a proponent of the synthesizer - the Moog in particular - and of his subsequent electronic music apostasy, as he turned to more "organic" forms. But like I say, I didn't know about the degree to which he deployed electric guitar of an especially clarion type, a bit Jerry Garcia, to be sure, but also really redolent of much later music; Spirit of Eden Talk Talk and - in a film context - Gustavo Santaolalla's recent work both come to mind.
All of which - combined with hearing the Bond soundtracks all over again got me thinking: if the the electric guitar is one of the defining sounds of the twentieth century, why is it mostly absent from the century's defining artform? I guess it's in no small measure something to do with the gravitas-granting stranglehold late 19th Century Romantic orchestralism has on cinema, something brilliantly explored in Philip Brophy's 100 Modern Soundtracks. The electric guitar sits ill, I would suggest, with the orchestral palette - witness sonic disasters from Deep Purple and The Moody Blues to more contemporary daftness from Yngwie Malmsteen and the strangely revered Turnage piece Blood on the Floor (I reserve, however, the right to admire and even love The Mahavishnu Orchestra's Apocalypse and Steve Vai's Sound Theories - no really, I do). But there's plenty of non-orchestral film soundtracks out there and how many of them feature electric guitar? It's just plain weird.
Nonetheless, there are some wonderful examples and I've put together a selection in this little Spotify playlist.
A couple of things to note.
I've avoided diagetic music; this selection features no in-film appearances from bands (The Yardbirds in Blow Up or Bad Seeds in Wings of Desire.
Films about music aren't allowed - they're a cop out.
No "placed" music cuts it - again, too easy
Spotify gaps: I'll be writing soon about what appears to be Spotfy's increasing number of catalogue holes, but in this case the lack of original spag-Western period Morricone mans this playlist has a pretty massive Once Upon A Time In The West-sized hole.
... so I cheated and put in the extraordinary cover of the theme on Zorn's Big Gundown tribute
I've put in the Bond theme, and Spotify credit it to Barry so I will. I really don't want to open the whole Monty Norman-John Barry legal can of worms.
It's a pretty mainstream, or at least mainstream-indy list - to have started down the underground film route would have been to go down a whole new rabbit hole
Ditto with regard to nationality - this is something of a Euro-American affair and I'm sure misses out a smörgåsbord of South and South East Asian and African film. Let's explore that some other time.
Finally, this is very much a first stab. As ever, I'll be adding to it as I go along I'd really welcome additional suggestions.
Here's the tacklisting with any relevant Amazon links.
John Barry Orchestra – James Bond Theme - from Dr. No.
Gustavo Santaolalla – Amores Perros - from Amores Perros
Ry Cooder – East St. Louis - from Trespass
Gustavo Santaolalla – La Salida de Lima - from The Motorcycle Diaries
John Barry & His Orchestra – Beat Girl - from Beat Girl
Popol Vuh – Der Ruf - from Herz auz Glas
Neil Young – Guitar Solo, No. 2 - from Dead Man
Carter Burwell – The Hoax - from The Hoax
Howard Shore – Crash - from Crash
Herbie Hancock – Main Title from Blow Up
Lalo Schifrin – Sampans - from Enter the Dragon
Scott Johnson – Persistence Of Vision - from Patty Hearst
John Zorn – Once Upon A Time In The West - from The Big Gundown
Alberto Iglesias – La Visita De Ray X - from Broken Embraces
Miles Davis – End Credits - from The Hot Spot
Marvin Gaye – Main Theme - from Trouble Man
Isaac Hayes – The End Theme - from Shaft
John Barry – Goldfinger (Instrumental) - from Goldfinger
