Hey there, and guess what? I found – on vinyl! – (I always hear that in the voice from Half Baked when they say, “on weed!”) the score to Twin Peaks. I consider this a holy grail, basically. I am so thrilled to have this. I didn’t have time to sit and listen to it – on vinyl – until after my holiday. But I played a digital copy of it on my headphones for the flight. In anticipation. Since I’ve been back it’s all I’ve been playing. Well, that’s not quite true, but it’s been on high rotate.
Here’s a really weird confession: right now I am listening to the soundtrack to The Bodyguard. Weird, because a) it’s true, b) I’ve never heard it at all before, all I know from it is Whitney’s cover of the Dolly Parton classic and c) I have never seen the film. I bought this (on CD) for $1. And no, I didn’t need it. But I’m just in that deep with this soundtrack thing…
I also picked up the soundtrack to season one of Stranger Things. How about that show, right? Oscar and I worked through all four seasons just recently. I’d seen the first season back when it debuted, I liked it, but didn’t feel the need to follow through. I wanted to start it again though so that this time I could follow on through all four seasons and thought Oscar might like it. We devoured all four and loved every second of it. The music a highlight. I love the original score and across the episodes there were many great music-moments.
The big news – for season four – was Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill and Metallica’s Master of Puppets. Both extraordinary songs and so well positioned in the show. Both finding whole new audiences as a result. Isn’t music the best? Isn’t it so wonderful when that happens!
A couple of weeks ago, Radio New Zealand asked me on to talk about the Kate Bush song. But what could I say? Why get an old white guy to talk about that wonderful music. I’ve talked about Kate Bush on radio before, sure, but my time has been. I had my turn. I truly believe that. I’m done. It’s time to step aside. So, I turned down that offer to work for free, it can be someone else’s turn.
But I did enjoy reading this piece about the 25 greatest ‘needle drops’ in Stranger Things. I liked it so much I made a playlist featuring every single one of those mentions, bookending it with the show’s opening theme – which I never skip when the little button pops up giving me the chance to skip it and save a few seconds. I have to watch those opening credits all the way through every time. It’s not a long time. But it’s always a good time.
Anyway, I thought you might like to check out that playlist too. Mostly very well-known songs. Some songs you might have thought you don’t need to hear again (American Pie) but a funny thing happens when you group songs together on playlists. And in soundtracks. This is part of the reason I’m so besotted with soundtracks. I love the connections that happen between songs – they’re in dialogue with each other as well as sending messages to us.
Oh yeah, I also reviewed the actual score from Stranger Things 4 recently.
You know, when I quit Facebook earlier in the year, I think it’s fair to guess that I lost three-quarters of my audience. That’s probably why I refer to myself now as a 75% retired music writer.
I don’t regret it at all.
It’s not that I wanted to lose the eyeballs, it’s that I wanted to get back some sense of myself.
I really feel I’ve done that. And when I get up at 5 or 6am or stay up until 3 or 4am – it alternates by the way, it’s never at the same time, on the same day – I listen to my new age music, my classical, my instrumental scores from movies and I get to keep those things for myself. It’s beautiful. All mine. Just for me.
But I still like sharing things – here. On Off The Tracks. I’d share them anyway, even if someone could prove to me that it makes no difference to the world at all or that no one at all is reading them. That’s fine. It keeps me happy. And busy. I like to be both.
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