Saturday, September 21, 2024: Dream Theater - Pull Me Under

"Our dreams drench us in sense, and sense steeps us again in dreams."

-Amos Bronson Alcott

Saturday, September 11, 2010: Dream Academy - Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want (Instrumental)

While Tangerine Dream made the best movie soundtracks, John Hughes definitely used the best music in his movies. Hughes' movies were always filed with little clips of the coolest music that fit their scene perfectly.

Just take Sixteen Candles as one example. Amazon.com has put together a list of all the incidental music used in the movie, for a Make Your Own Sixteen Candles soundtrack.

This, friends, is a cornucopia of coolness. Using the theme from Dragnet when Farmer Ted makes his moves on Molly Ringwald, or playing New York, New York as Ted mixes martinis for Jake after the party. "Rev-Up" by The Revillos, "Young Americans" by David Bowie, "Lenny" by Stevie Ray Vaughn, and this is just a fraction of what's there. All music used in perfect syncopation with the plot, the action, the characters and the scene. Brilliant.

Now, take that attention to detail and expand it to include most Hughes' body of work. Then, maybe just then, we can all start to fully appreciate the significance of his passing.

When I started thinking about Movie Week, I was always going to include something from Ferris Bueller's Day Off. It was a given, an absolute, like the firmness of the earth. Choosing the song itself, however, was a bit more difficult.

The first obvious choice was "Oh Yeah" by Yello. Sure, it works perfectly, magnificently in that famous Ferrari scene. But, upon listening to the song on it's own, it just falls flat. It's cool in the movie, sure, but on it's own?  Not so much.

Ok, yes, even more obvious that "Oh Yeah" was "Danke Schoen" by Wayne Newton, or "Twist and Shout" by The Beatles. But those were really, painfully too obvious.  Besides, Danke Schoen suffers the same shortcomings as "Oh Yeah", cool in the movie, not so much on it's own.

Next was March Of The Swivelheads by The English Beat. It's the chase scene near the end with Ferris on the run to beat his mom and sister home.  Good choice. Very good actually.  Close.  Very close.  But just. not. there.

I toyed around with using "Love Missile F1-11" by Sigue Sigue Sputnik, just for the novelty value, but then I realized this is Cool Song Of The Day, not Novelty Song Of The Day.

Which finally led me to my proper CSOTD selection: Dream Academy's instrumental version of The Smiths "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want."  Dream Academy had two songs in the movie, the other being "The Edge Of Forever", though I can't really remember where what was in the movie.

This song, however, is from the Art Institute Of Chicago scene, one of my favourite scenes in the movie. As those crazy kids go on their exploration of Chicago, smack dab in the middle of the mayhem, slapstick, angst and adventure there is this pause, this wonderfully touching scene where the trio roam around AIC looking at art.

And, man, what art!   I doubt paintings or sculptures were ever better presented in a better light than in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.  Fact.  Whether just standing in quiet meditation or getting caught up in a school trips daisy chain, this scene endures as a powerful advertisement for the joys of going to a museum.

Which all cumulates in Ferris and Sloane kissing in front of  Mark Chagall's "America Windows", an impossibly romantic backdrop to their moment of intimacy.  Running parallel, however, is Cameron's obsessive gaze into "Sunday Afternoon on La Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat, to the point where he almost seems swallowed up into the canvas.

Being engulfed with art.  A perfect ending.

And thus ends MOVIE WEEK on CSOTD.    I hope you had as much fun as I did.

Onward to even more coolness next week!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010: TWOfer Tuesday - Tangerine Dream Did The Absolute Coolest Soundtracks Ever Edition

I really dislike Danny Elfman.

Sure, he was great when he was with Oingo Boingo. That group was cutting edge, fun, clever and very cool. But, his soundtrack work is just, well..... lazy.  I challenge you to hum the theme tune for Alice In Wonderland.  Or any Spiderman movie.  Mars Attacks, anyone?  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?  Surely you can whistle the theme for Sleepy Hollow, yes?  No?

Now, hum the Star Wars theme.  See, that's what I'm talking about.   John Williams writes memorable music.

So, why aren't we doing a John Williams TWOfer Tuesday on CSOTD Goes To The Movies Week?

Because, while Williams is memorable, he's a catchpenny hack and a petty thief to boot.

But, ultimately, he's just not cool.

Cool movie soundtracks are a rare breed.  And they never got any cooler than Tangerine Dream.

German electronica/ambient pioneer Tangerine Dream was founded in 1967 by art student Edgar Froese after his R&B covers band played for Salvadore Dali. Dali rocks your world. Fact.

After disbanding his band The Ones, Froese began compiling the musicians he needed to explore his expanding musical horizons. While there is a lot to be said about their underrated contribution to music in general, for our purposes here we just need to focus on their movie work. And what work it is.

Firestarter was a no-brainer when planning this.  Not only is it one if their best known works, it's just a stunning piece of music.  I can't imagine better accompaniment, the synthesizers provide the perfect blend of menace, apprehension and sheer otherworldliness.  In fact, I demand the whole movie be recut with all the dialogue taken out and nothing but Tangerine Dream playing over every scene.  It will be epic.

The second choice was a whole lot tougher.

A strong contender was Love On A Real Train from Risky Business, the subtle but disconnected sensuality of the music perfectly complimenting that famous scene.  Or, maybe a selection from the ominous Near Dark, or even something from Legend.

For a long while I was determined to use something from The Keep.

The Keep was one of the first times I read the book before I saw the movie.  F. Paul Wilson's meditation on the nature and levels of evil set against the backdrop of a Nazi occupied fortress in the Transylvanian Alps was far too complex for my young mind to comprehend fully. I couldn't understand why it was great, I just knew it was great.

In 1983, Director Michael Mann, (Director of the good - Manhunter, the better - Ali, and the masterwork - Heat), released the film adaptation.  To be fair, Mann didn't actually release the version we know today, he was fired after production wrapped.  And The Keep went on to be a colossal failure.

And rightly so.  The story was amputated, dumbed down and ultimately incomprehensible. The rumor mill has always hinted that Mann had actually cut a 3 hour version.  Paramount Studios freaked, fired Mann and released the roughly hour and a half version instead, cutting Mann's vision literally in half.  I have even heard tell that a UK Film Festival has only just recently screened the mythical 3 hour directors cut, but I'm still trying to source that info out.

Meanwhile, back in 1983, I go see The Keep in the theater.  Since I didn't understand the book, it's fine that the movie is unintelligible. I'm hooked from the opening sequence. Those images and THAT music. Transcendent, machine-like yet divine music. And those images; illuminated crosses, mythical buildings, Nazi uniforms, they all sparked my imagination like few movies had done before, and even fewer would do since.

The Keep got under my skin when I was a boy, and it has never really left.

However, after thinking and writing about The Keep for so long, I've decided against it.  The clip I chose for the official CSOTD nod was, alas, not from The Keep, but from another forgotten classic, William Friedkin's long lost work Sorcerer.

This clip won out for several reasons.  Firstly, visually this is a better compilation piece than anything I found for The Keep and second, I believe it plays better as a stand-alone piece.  The music for The Keep is somewhat more effective as a unified work, especially paired with Mann's stunningly acute direction.

But, what tipped it over the edge was the lovely Roy Scheider tribute at the end of the Sorcerer clip.  One of the greatest actors ever given a small but unique, obviously heartfelt and totally deserved rememberance.

Enjoy.

Ok, I'll concede this; regarding my original criticism of Danny Elfman I'll admit that you probably won't be able to hum any of these selections either.

But, I promise you that, unlike Elfman, you will not forget the music of Tangerine Dream any time soon.

I know I haven't.