by Paul Tonks
soundtrack -- n. / Pron. "sound ( trak"
1. The narrow strip at one side of cinema film carrying the sound recording.
2. The music that accompanies a movie.
3. A commercial recording of such music.
4. A bastardised phrase record labels use to sell you crappy songs that have nothing to do with the movie they're apparently associated with.
Here’s a piece that’s been brewing for a while. Every so often a new marketing idea makes soundtrack enthusiasts sit up and take notice. And not in a good way. So let me take you in to a parallel universe / timewarp scenario, to look at some fanciful…
SOUNDTRACK MARKETING PLOYS YOU NEVER SAW
ALIEN 1979
Cardboard packaging of scores is something that reeeeeeeally ticks off collectors (THE PHANTOM MENACE: ULTIMATE EDITION / THE LOST WORLD). If the impact of the key shock moment of the film had been known in advance, maybe the record label would have thought of something like this. Would this have upset a few stomachs?
GONE WITH THE WIND 1939
Dedicated websites for soundtrack releases is suddenly a major marketing tool. Just how many people are actually trading film music E-cards, or eagerly anticipating announcements of bands signed to a project they won’t have seen, is a bit of a sore point. But just imagine what they might have done with a www.gonewiththemusic.com if they’d had the chance…
HIGH NOON 1952
There haven’t been all that many second volumes of score albums. More usual are follow-up song CDs. Those that have appeared have been really rather pointless. For all that TITANIC fans missed their “Nearer My God To Thee," I doubt many really wanted to wade through so much other repetitive nonsense to get it (on BACK TO TITANIC). Here’s a daft extreme extrapolation of the idea…
SOMEWHERE IN TIME 1980
What is it about Paul Oakenfold doing score theme remixes? PLANET OF THE APES / DIE ANOTHER DAY / THE MATRIX RELOADED. Some have been great, but every time I see his name emblazoned on a starburst sticker above that of the composer’s, I get all itchy. Would they have got him to do this one? Oh they would pal – believe me!
PSYCHO 1960
A Disco PSYCHO remix is something I amused myself with the idea of years ago. Of course it would have come out in the late ‘70s and so a fluorescent yellow vinyl 12” single is exactly what the marketing folks would have gone for!
SPARTACUS 1960
Multiple “Collector’s Covers” has to be one of the biggest cons soundtrack fans have been subjected to in the last few years. It’s bad enough when magazines do this to the wallets of the die-hard collector, but at CD prices it’s just outrageous. Just think of all those individual “I’m Spartacus” collectors’ covers there could have been…
THE EXORCIST 1973
Albums purely of songs “Inspired by” a movie are blah blah blah – I’ve been carping on about this since Day One here. See the introductory heading up top of every single Column. How fantastical is my choice of THE EXORCIST to jokingly demonstrate an “Inspired by” album that could have been? Well, let’s see what they do with Michael Kamen’s score for EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING later in the year shall we?
ANNIVERSARIES:
We celebrate the following Birthdays:
Danny Elfman (BATMAN / EDWARD SCISSORHANDS / A SIMPLE PLAN)
- Born 29 May 1953, Amarillo, Texas.
Marvin Hamlisch (BANANAS / THE SPY WHO LOVED ME / THREE MEN AND A BABY)
- Born 2 June 1944, New York, New York.
We also commiserate the anniversary of the death of:
Duke Ellington (ANATOMY OF A MURDER / PARIS BLUES / CHANGE OF MIND)
- Born 29 April 1899, Washington, District of Columbia.
- Died 24 May 1974, New York, New York.
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