Welcome to Synth soundtracks – the OFFICIAL SampleNerd lowdown: part VI This is the SampleNerd.com catalogue of the best synthesizer soundtracks listed as being amongst the best of the genre. According to Redbull.com; movieweb.com and MusicRadar.com.
Let’s go!
Videodrome
Videodrome
Year: 1983
Score: Howard Shore
We’re almost there; the last leg of this cinematic journey. I hope you’ve enjoyed it! Kicking off we have Cronenberg’s Videodrome. Not that Cronenberg needs any introduction, or for that matter composer Howard Shore. Who at the Zurich film festival reported by Variety.com said:
If you think about cinema, you go into a dark room and all this imagery starts appearing. You are in a dream-like state and I like to use that idea when I write music for film.
I don’t study a film: I listen to it. I listen to the rhythm of the actors, the sounds.
Directors don’t tell you what they want. They express ideas through the making of a film.
You can have a dialogue with the audience the director is not even aware of.Variety.com (Oct. 6 2024)
Following on neatly from Clockwork Orange this movie also turns the light on demented behaviors of which humans are capable.
Perhaps this movie more prescient than the previous as James Woods plays the titular character of Max Wren channel owner who’s nerd Harlen pirates obscure fetish driven video content to his niche audience. So far synth light.
Not that you need SampleNerd to show the relevance of this subject in light of the Internet…
Slow drawn out notes accompany dialogue, with the first synth appearing as the sh*t gets real. Slow ominous notes on the synth.
Ramping up the synth involvement with a prescient depiction of Virtual Reality. Max learns he has been duped into surrendering his channel 83 for escape from the macabre.
Learning he now has to destroy Videodrome, Max becomes the conduit for its destruction.
As this film by subject matter book ends The Clockwork Orange we remember that in the book of Genesis God flooded the world because of its violence…
To say, yet again, the movie was on a synth soundtrack list there was hardly any synth at all! 🤔
Image credit: Kilian Eng, Reddit
Manhunter
Year: 1986
Score: Micheal Rubini & The Reds
Verdict: A ‘phat’synth note with high held notes is our invitation to this pre-Silence of the Lambs thriller based on a Thomas Harris book.
With good cinematography, this first installment of the Lecter franchise, follows loosely a sequence of events that because of the Silence of the Lambs we may already be familiar with.
That is probing one serial killer to catch another one. Admittedly a clever story device by Thomas Harris.
Score wise there isn’t much action. With analogue synth deployed for low and contrasting high notes.
Filling out musically the second half of the film, and actually finding some pretty decent tunes to boot. Though certainly not as musically inspiring as a few others in this collection, the music that is there does it’s job adequately.
Image credit: allocine.fr
Footloose
Year: 1984
Score: Tom Snow, Jim Steinman, Kenny Loggins, Dean Pitchford, Miles Goodman
Verdict: What is it about dance movies that can generate a dance craze?
A film that revolves less around music itself to dance as a necessary expression of youth. The narrative of the religious community banning certain forms of free expression due to a previous event was – I thought, an unusual premise for a dance movie.
Nonetheless, it was done rather well, and without the need to be critical of the religious views of the community. Even if they were seen as overtly unsympathetic by the kids with fidgety feet!
Written and recorded specifically for the movie ‘Footloose’ represents one of those rare events where two media forms unite to produce a culturally significant event. Dirty Dancing being another.
Image credit: doublefeature.fm
The Shining
Year: 1980
Score: Wendy Carlos, Rachel Elkind
Verdict: with lots of string scraping this Kubrick horror thriller is certainly worth the million plus words that must have already been written about it by now.
Worthy of a low rating on Booking.com the decor and events at the Overlook hotel have not only spawned its own documentary but also a place amongst NASA conspiracy enthusiasts.
Musically speaking it has to be said the score is very much of its time. And were it not for the infamy of the movie itself might have been forgotten like so many horror film soundtracks.
It does however, blend very well orchestra and noise elements to create something that is as unnerving as the picture itself.
Shelley Duvall 1949 – 2024 R.I.P
Image credit: pics.alphacoders.com
Purple Rain
Year: 1984
Score: Prince & Michel Colombier
Verdict: A welcome change of pace finds us in the company of the Purple One.
Musician, performer, writer, actor, singer, there wasn’t much the late disciplined and talented artist couldn’t do.
Prince’s committed mix of melody, pure musicianship and an ability to cross genres is on display in this 40 year old film about a gigging musician whose aloof character keeps his love interest on her heels.
A triptych mix of low key scenes, drama and intense live performance, Purple Rain is not afraid to depict its star in a negative light as the film recounts the enduring fable of the emotionally complex musician.
Image credit: flicks.co.nz
Chariots of Fire
Year: 1981
Score: Vangelis
Verdict: Speaking of fables (infer irony) we take a trip to the God-fearing England of 1924 and from the start line we get the palatial theme played on the now legendary CS-80. As dashing Cambridge University students make a dash for the Paris Olympics.
Indeed he returns with more analogue treats as Number 7 comes in.
Is this movie the first master and acolyte depiction? Whether it is or not, Vangelis provides an uplifting melody layered over arpeggiation.
For the next synth slab we have up-tempo arpeggio and stabs with a Timp accompanied finish.
A curious coincidence that I’m watching this 100 years from this Paris Olympics!
A pulsing note to gentle electric piano notes, provides the coverage of score for our British entrants.
And we close with victory for the British and another hearing of the theme tune, which exemplifies a perfect marriage of synth and piano!
Image credit: mycast.io
Hero image credit: samplenerd.com