Mix Tape October 2000

by Cary Wong

If you're a hardcore collector like I am, you can rack up over 30 soundtracks a month, and my non-soundtrack collecting friends always ask, "Do you have time to LISTEN to all of them?" As much as I would love to, the answer, unfortunately, is no. With all the new scores out every month as well as the many re-releases and the many older CDs which I finally pick up, it just seem impossible for me to listen to all my soundtracks -- ever!

For the last couple of years, I've made myself mix tapes of scores, simply entitled Mix Tape with the month and the year. Each month, I compile selections from scores, either from new CDs I've bought, from old scores I love or from scores I want to familiarize myself with. This way, I can hear these scores without having to actually pack it up for portable CD player and listen to the whole thing. I mean, there is a joy of listening to the whole score whenever possible, but this just makes life a little more bearable.

Below you will find the first 45 minutes of my mix tape for October 2000. Why 45 minutes? First, it's the length of a side of a 90-minute blank tape, and it's perfect length to record on a CD-R. (I don't have a CD-Recorder, but if an electronics company would like to sponsor me with one, I will be glad to call my mixes the Aiwa Mix CD-Rs or the Philips Mix CD-Rs. Product placement is a grand tradition). Also, if you have your own radio station, and have an hour of empty programming (Sunday at 3:00 in the morning? I'll take it!), this is the perfect 45-minute playlist (plus 15 minutes for ads). You can also host your own Oprah-like listening party, and debate the merit of each selection between the chips and salsa and the cake. 45 minutes is also my commute time from Brooklyn to Columbus Circle in Manhattan where I work.

I'll explain my methodology as I go along, but suffice it to say, I have a bias toward recent scores or new re-releases. I try to balance the genres and I try not to double any one composer per 45 minutes. I rarely put actual songs in the mix, except when they're an instrumental cue or it's very integral to the movie, like the brilliant "Sinnerman" by Nina Simone as heard in the recent remake of "The Thomas Crown Affair." I try not to have a theme for my mixes (like "Horror Movies" or "The Best of John Williams") although I will make additional mixes such as Academy Award Nominees 1996 or The Best of 1999. Like a mini-time capsule of each month, I can pick up an old mix and listen and reminisce about the scores of movies past.

So, without further ado:

The Piano (Michael Nyman) 1993

My favorite score of the last decade, and the one that usually pops up on these mixes. The main theme is so beautiful and reassuring, it's like an unexpected phone call from an old friend when I hear it. This particular cue is the piano solo without orchestra, and it's rather short, which can round out a mix (if you need something short), or it's a good burst to start a mix.

2) Building the Crate - 3:32

Chicken Run (John Powell + Harry Gregson-Williams) 2000

The best score of summer 2000. I predicted earlier this year that I will play this cue over and over again, and sure enough, in October, I still find it fresh, funny and totally melodic!

3) The Day All My Dreams Come True/ - 1:28

4) Kissing in the Rain - 3:03

Great Expectations (Patrick Doyle) 1998

I saw this CD on my shelf and I remembered how wonderful the theme was, so I knew I had to include it. If the cues are too short, sometimes I combine it like I did here. The first one being a slower more methodical version of the second cue. This is one of the overlooked scores of the 90's, and when you listen to these two, you will know why. It's a contemporary score by a classically influenced composer.

5) Theme from Papillon - 2:15

Papillon (Jerry Goldsmith) 1974

I recently picked up this old Goldsmith score and while I remember liking some of it, I knew the theme has a special place in the hearts of Goldsmith fans. For that reason, I included it. Love the accordion.

6) For the Love of a Princess - 4:07

Braveheart (James Horner) 1995

I decided I needed something lush and romantic next. The great thing about a Horner score is that there is usually a cue that sums up the best of the score (without having to sit through 70+ minutes... even more for "Braveheart" since there are 2 volumes). This score as well as "Legends of the Fall" reminds us that Horner is a master of historical romantic melody.

7) North by Northwest: Prelude - 3:08

Alfred Hitchcock: 100 Years (Bernard Herrmann) 1959

I have been debating if I should buy the Rhino re-release of this score, so I included this re-recording by Elmer Bernstein, used for an Alfred Hitchcock compilation CD from last year. It's a very different style from Herrmann's usual stuff for Hitchcock.

7) The Woman Cries - 3:34

Golden Gate (Eliot Goldenthal) 1993

Goldenthal's score is the best thing about this forgettable movie (directed by John Madden before "Shakespeare in Love") and this particular cue mixes jazz and Asian melodies together, climaxing in a brilliant cacophony of sound. Very dramatic.

8) God Moving Over the Face of the Water - 6:58

Heat (Moby) 1995

Eliot Goldenthal is also the composer for Heat, the high energy cop movie by master director Michael Mann, but this song made such an impression in the movie, that you can almost consider it part of the score. An instrumental track, mostly piano, by ambient-dance guru Moby who has contributed songs to many movies and has even released a CD called "I Like to Score," which this song is a part of. I think someone should give this master musician a shot.

9) The Globetrotters - 5:10

A Guide for the Married Man (Johnny Williams) 1967

Not to plug this release from Film Score Monthly shamelessly, this is one of the new CDs I got last month, and I always try to sample any new Williams CD in my mixes. While this track has the same Burt Bacharach feel of the rest of the score, it also incorporates a more serious use of the orchestra that caught my attention.

10) Angel Pen - 3:35

The War (Thomas Newman) 1994

Thomas Newman is currently my favorite composer working and since he didn't have a new score this summer, I decided to go back to one of his older score which I don't know that well. At first listen, this sounds close to another one of his score from this time period, "Fried Green Tomatoes."

11) Rocket Boys - 3:53

October Sky (Mark Isham) 1999

I remember seeing this movie on cable and remember how much the score fit the feel of this corny, old-fashioned movie about a boy in a small coal town whose head is in the clouds. Apart from the movie, however, the score seems pretty redundant, but I remember how much this cue affected me and is one of Isham's best.

12) End Credits - 3:30

The Quick and the Dead (Alan Silvestri) 1995

Usually at this point, you only have a certain amount of time left, so the length of the last cue is usually the deciding factor as to why you're enclosing it in the mix. I wanted to end the mix with a bang, and I prayed this cue would fit my tape, and it did! Silvestri gave us a playful version of the traditional Western score for this over-the-top movie by Sam Raimi starring Sharon Stone. This cue is the highlight of the score.

Oh, no! No more music. That means the tape/CD-R/radio show/party is over. But there's still next month, and meanwhile, I think this mix tape is a pretty good one. Have fun making your own version, substituting stuff you may not have with your own favorites. It's always fun to make it personal. (Suddenly I feel like Martha Stewart.) It's a good thing.

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