Friday Playlist: Movie Soundtracks

Hello and welcome to the Friday Playlist where this week we will be running down some of our favourite music from the world of the silver screen. The movie soundtrack is tricky to get right, however when it is done well it can make a movie and sometimes turn out better than the film itself. Before you ask - No! There will be NO FROZEN featuring on this list - pretty sure everyone over the age of 7 has had their fill of that for one year. Lights, camera...

Daisy

I do love a good movie soundtrack - a fact that made this list fairly difficult for me. I feel like I've missed out some gems and if I had longer to think about it I might come up with a completely different set. Having said this I really like all the ones I have chosen and stand by them as amazing soundtracks. I banned myself from including Beatles films as of course the soundtracks are the actual albums and then the list would have ended up as them exclusively!

1. The Great Gatsby (2013)

Whilst Baz Luhrmann's film extravaganza of the classic Fitzgerald novel got mixed reviews, the soundtrack received high praise and I though was perhaps the standout feature (other than sweet Leo, of course). I personally love the juxtaposition of the 20s setting with modern music but I'm a fan of this in general - I think its just really, really cool - with Luhrmann's 'Romeo and Juliet' being another soundtrack favourite of mine. I think all the songs are really smartly chosen and although I dig the jazz inspired party numbers my stand-out tracks are three of the more dramatic numbers; Lana Del Rey's 'Young and beautiful', Jack White's 'Love is blindness' and Florence + the Machine's 'Over the love'. After I saw the movie I became particularly obsessed with 'young and beautiful', there was one afternoon where I listen to that and Justin Timberlake's 'Mirrors' one after the other, on repeat, for about two hours. It was weird.

2. Death Proof (2007)

Of course there HAD to be a Tarantino soundtrack on here somewhere seeing as they are always the shit and my pick is Death Proof. This lesser known Tarantino film came out as part of his Grindhouse double feature and stars a whole host of strong, sexy, kick-ass female characters along with a very creepy Kurt Russell and a deadly muscle car. This is an incredibly smooth and slick soundtrack and a film I would highly recommend- my favourite tracks have to be April March's 'Chick habit' (listen to this track if nothing else) and 'Hold tight' by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Titch. Who the hell are they you ask? Well to quote one of the films many leading ladies Jungle Julia - 'For your information, Pete Townshend, at one point, almost quit The Who. And if he had, he would have ended up in this group, thus making it Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick, Tich and Pete. And if you ask me, he should have'.

3. Almost Famous (2000)

This Grammy winning soundtrack totally captures the 70s rock vibe of this cult classic film. I love this era and genre of music so its no surprise that this film and its soundtrack really tickle my fancy and for a movie all about the 70s music scene it really would have been a bad job if they didn't get the music right. The most famous musical moment in 'Almost Famous' is of course the Elton John 'Tiny Dancer' scene and thus is a major highlight of this amazing soundtrack. My other favourites include David Bowie's 'Waiting for the man', The Beach Boys' 'Feel Flows' and Thunderclap Newman's 'Something in the air' but every single track is great. Just an all round eargasm.

4. The Big Lebowski (1998)

Another cult classic with a killer soundtrack: The Big Lebowski. Featuring classic tunes, covers and an original score from Carter Burwell the eclectic soundtrack is always highly praised - its pretty much all over the place but somehow it really works. Standouts for me are Kenny Rogers' 'Just dropped in', Creedence Clearwater Revival 'Lookin' out my backdoor' and the incredible Gypsy Kings cover of 'Hotel California'. Someone get me a white Russian.
(This YouTube playlist is a bit all over the place but just skip tracks at your leisure)

5. Help! (1965)

I'M SORRY! I tried, I really did but to not include a Beatles film would just be lying! I hope you can forgive me. I first saw 'Help!' about five years ago and it is what got me into the band in the first place. It was my first real exposure to their music that wasn't drunk people singing 'Hey Jude' and what lead me to their other albums and to fall in love with them. This album marks The Fab Four's step away from mop-top boy band and towards seriously good songwriting - even if you aren't a mega fan this is a truly great seminal album that represents a landmark in the history of music. Its hard to pick favourites but at a push I would say 'The night before', 'Another Girl', 'I need you', 'You're going to lose that girl', 'Ticket to ride' 'Its only love' and the single most covered song of all time 'Yesterday'. Just listen to it - you will not be disappointed.
If you're a fan watch the film as well - to many its a pretty corny but its a fangirls dream come true.

Honorable Mentions

American Hustle (2013) - Elton John 'Goodbye Yellowbrick Road' , Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) - Jefferson Airplane 'Somebody to Love', School of Rock (2003) - Stevie Nicks 'Edge of seventeen', Kill Bill (2003) - The 5. 6. 7. 8s 'WooHoo', Easy Rider (1969) - Jimi Hendrix 'If 6 was 9'.

Lily 

(From Daisy - I strongly approve all of these choices)

1. Avengers Assemble (2012)

As if The Avengers film could get any cooler, it also has an awesome rock fueled soundtrack.  Although not technically included in the soundtrack, a part me and my dad love is when Tony Stark arrives as iron man playing 'Shoot to thrill' by AC/DC and puts Loki in his place. I love the whole soundtrack but some of my favourite tracks are; 'Live to rise' by Soundgarden, 'Shake the ground' by Cherri bomb  & 'Even if I could' by Papa roach.                                                                        

2. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003)

The soundtrack to The Lord of the Rings make the trilogy so much more epic, Howard Shore created the perfect songs for the battle scenes which just gets you pumped up even more.  The use of a full orchestra for the soundtrack fits so perfectly and really gives the films a more fantasy feel to them which I love. So much time and consideration were put into the making of this soundtrack to fit each scene, and it really shows, there are some beautiful pieces of music. My favourite tracks would have to be; 'The fellowship', 'In dreams', 'The sacrifice of Faramir' ft. Billy Boyd (which is awesome on the trailer for the hobbit) & Foundations of stone (this song gives me chills).                             (This video is three hours long and has all three films in one so its probably best to open in in YouTube to choose tracks)                   

3. The Shrek Films (2001-2010)

The Shrek films are some of my favourite childhood films ever, they're films you could watch at any age and still love Them. The soundtracks are full of feel good songs and a wide range of genres. They feature some classics songs, my favourites including; 'Funky town' by Lipps inc. , 'Ever fallen in love' by Pete yorn, 'Accidentally in love' by Counting Crows (which is an adorable song), 'Hallelujah' by Rufus Wainwright & 'Holding out for a hero' performed by Jennifer Saunders. 

4. Sherlock Holmes (2009) 

The soundtrack by Hans Zimmer really makes the Sherlock Holmes film it’s just so f-ing cool, I love the quirkiness and the old fashioned feel to it which perfectly reflects the Sherlock Holmes as a character. My favourite track would have to be the opening song called 'Discombobulate'. 

5. Jackass 3D

The Jackass films are some of favourites, I’ve watched them soo many times and I still piss my pants laughing every time. The soundtrack to Jackass 3D is a mixture of awesome and hilarious songs which is basically what jackass is all about, awesome guys doing hilarious things. My favourite tracks are; 'The kids are back' by Twisted Sister, 'Party in my pants' by Rodger Alan Wade, 'Afterworld' by CKY & 'You can’t roller-skate in a buffalo herd' by Roger Miller (one of my favourite parts to the movie).

There we have it, another Friday Playlist done and dusted! Hope you enjoyed our picks.
Have a lovely weekend.

Daisy and Lily