These days, movie soundtracks can go many different ways. There’s the compilation of pop songs,  songs scored specifically for the movie, and the original scores. Whether the movie or the music came first, a good soundtrack makes you feel like you’re watching the movie again when you’re listening to it. Following up J.D.’s Top 10 Soundtracks list from last week, here is an updated version of my favorite soundtracks, featuring me taking every possible chance I can get to cram more than one soundtracks under each number. I simply have too many to fit in one ordinary Top 10. Enjoy!

10. Over the Edge (1979)

In the wake of controversy over gang violence movie “The Warriors,” this teen angst classic was prevented a theatrical release, doomed to find its audience on HBO. This twist of fate couldn’t diminish its honesty and power, as a whole host of teens who saw Matt Dillon in his first role ever can attest. The soundtrack was hip and angry for its time, and is still a great, edgy rock listen today. Featuring multiple songs by Cheap Trick, Van Halen, The Cars, and “Teenage Lobotomy” by the Ramones, the music illustrates the sense of futility and raw anger expressed by the teens in the movie, who live in a generic suburban planned community. Unfortunately, it has never been released on CD, so you’ll have to look up the track listing and make your own (or play inflated collector’s prices for vinyl)!

9. The Graduate (1967)

The movie that really began the trend of using original rock songs (not performed onscreen) as a score, this Simon & Garfunkel-heavy soundtrack doesn’t hold up quite as good as the movie does. Dustin Hoffman’s alienation is echoed by “The Sound of Silence,” while his parents’ era is epitomized by the other half of the record, Dave Grusin’s foxtrots and instrumental jazz numbers. It’s an uncomfortable marriage that re-iterate’s the movie’s themes, but makes for a challenging listening experience. You may want to pick up some Simon & Garfunkel seperately, because the versions here were slightly altered for the film. This one is on the list, though, because it started the era of the rock-scored soundtrack. Legend has it that when director Mike Nichols showed the duo a rough cut of the movie, they took a song they had about Joe DiMaggio and other American icons, changed some lyrics and the title in another room, and came back some minutes later to play him “Mrs. Robinson.”

8. This is Spinal Tap (1984)

The best movie ever made has an attention to detail that most films can’t even come close to. Because of this, the “black album” (Sorry Metallica and Prince, the Tap was ridiculing your pretentiousness before you even came up with it!) is a soundtrack of hilariously convincing original songs written by its director Rob Reiner, stars Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer (better known as Nigel Tufnel, David St. Hubbins, and Derek Smalls, the core of Spinal Tap). Performed by the Tap (the actors actually singing and playing their own instruments), this soundtrack is full of pitch-perfect parodies of all different touchstones of rock history. There’s innocent 50s rock (”Gimme Some Money“, psychedelic 60s rock (”Listen to the Flower People“), and a lot of bombastically silly late 70s/early 80s heavy metal (“Big Bottom,” “Sex Farm”). Not since Neil Innes and Eric Idle’s Beatles take-off (The Rutles in “All You Need is Cash“) has rock been lampooned so precisely. What’s more, the infectious little numbers on this classic album are now lodged securely in their own myth, ensuring the fake British “band who couldn’t” a special place in rock n’ roll history and several legitimate wordwide tours. Tap lives!

7. Boogie Nights Volume 1 and 2 (1997), Magnolia (1999), and There Will Be Blood (2007)

Paul Thomas Anderson’s epic portrait of outsiders on the porn fringe is a constant high followed by an extended hangover. The music is the same way, mixing 70s disco hits like The Emotions’ “Best of my Love” with oddball one hit wonders like Melanie’s “Brand New Key,” all the while carefully avoiding the more campy hits like Carl Douglas’ “Kung Fu Fighting,” an annoying piece of kitsch that ruins every disco/funk compilation it touches. The one exception, beware: Volume 2 includes “You Sexy Thing”—have your skip finger ready! Besides mixing in the macho-tuneful earnestness of the 80s with Night Ranger and Rick Springfield, the soundtrack also veers off successfully into non-era specific tunes like the Beach Boys’ lilting “God Only Knows” that recall the film’s emotional montage and wrap things up, like Dirk Diggler and Amber Waves’ lives, on a melancholy note. As an extra added bonus, Dirk and Reed’s hilarious studio magic on “Feel the Heat” and “You Got the Touch” appear on Volume 1. Following in the footsteps of “The Graduate” and more contemporary soundtracks like “Good Will Hunting” featuring Elliott Smith, one artist makes up the majority of the music in Paul Thomas Anderson’s bold, adventurous L.A. ensemble piece “Magnolia.” That artist is Aimee Mann, and Anderson says her music actually inspired him to write the movie. The director weaves it in and out of the film as if the songs themselves were the narrator. At one point, all the characters actually sing with Mann’s “Wise Up” during a riveting montage. It makes for a more cohesive record, too, until the end when two Supertramp songs and somebody named Gabrielle threaten to mess it up. Jon Brion’s “Magnolia” theme blends in well, however, since it was he who produced most of Mann’s tracks. Paul Thomas Anderson’s epic, nihilistic “There Will Be Blood” features the most memorable soundrack of any movie in recent memory. Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead composed the score, which featured excerpts from a work he was comissioned to compose for the BBC in 2004, and therefore made him ineligible for the Oscar for Best Original Film Score earlier this year. Too bad. This disturbing and sinister score evokes the turn of the 19th Century even at it lambasts you with dissonant strings and rhythmic punches to the gut. If anything in this movie truly lived up to the horror that it’s title suggested, it would be Greenwood’s haunting score.

6. Dancer in the Dark, Bjork - Selmasongs (2000)

There is no official soundtrack to Lars Von Trier’s disturbing “Dancer in the Dark,” but this is as close as you’ll get. It is also the rare soundtrack album that improves upon the music that’s actually heard in the movie. Since actors David Morse and Peter Stormare weren’t really up to the task of singing in the first place, Bjork replaced and rearranged all their original vocal tracks from the movie, where, freed from the structural limitations of a musical, they become an even more pleasurable listening experience. In the film itself, the tenuous singing voices and rambling arrangements suit the characters and storyline. (One classy lady who pulled it all off is legendary actress Catherine Deneuve—watch and listen here!) But listening to the album alone immediately gives you that familiar feeling from the movie with a clearer focus on the songs. Thom Yorke (the second Radiohead member to make an appearance in this Top 10) even shows up to duet with Bjork on “I’ve Seen It All.” (Although she was solo on the Oscars that year- click on the song title to see the infamous swan dress performance!) I was way behind on appreciating Bjork’s music, but “Dancer in the Dark” made me an instant fan. This is my favorite record of hers, and the movie is assuredly the most emotionally raw musical I’ve ever seen.

5.  L.A. Confidential (1997) 

Sandwiched between two short bits from Jerry Goldsmith’s brilliant score (which is available in its entirety on a seperate album) are 12 playful and moody jazz vocal classics from the likes of Dean Martin, Johnny Mercer, and more. Proof that the songs in “L.A. Confidential” is especially potent: the DVD itself includes a special feature where you can just listen to the film’s music. With its long stretches of silence during extended scenes of dialogue with no music, it’s a strange way to listen to the soundtrack, but perfect for mundane house chores like cleanng the kitchen. The movie is easily the best neo-noir since “Chinatown,” and like the other films on my Top 10, this evocative use of songs help bring the film’s time period to life, this time transporting the listener to 1950s Los Angeles, where booze and bullets flow freely. I usually prefer instrumental jazz, but lovely renditions of standards like Chet Baker’s “Look for the Silver Lining” instantly melt my cold heart. Kay Starr’s playful “Wheel of Fortune” is at the other end of the emotional spectrum , but no less fantastic.

4. Superfly (1972)

American soul icon Curtis Mayfield (formerly of the Impressions) had the high point of his career with this unlikely hit record, a soundtrack to the blaxploitation film of the same name. This record was so good that it shot to the top of the charts immediately and became one of the few albums to actually outgross in record sales its accompanying movie at the box office. Not only was Mayfield’s concept album socially aware without explicit moralizing (unlike the movie, which pretty much glorifies drug dealing), but the songs on it are amazing and nearly all of them are considered  classics now—“Pusherman,” “Freddie’s Dead,” “Superfly,” “Little Child Runnin’ Wild.” It’s the kind of record that, when you listen to it for the first time, you’ll recognize certain beats and bass lines and realize where half the stuff you hear in contemporary soul and rap came from. And here’s the thing—put it on today and it still sounds like the coolest thing you’ve ever heard.

3. Pulp Fiction (1994), Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill Volume I and II (2003/4), and Death Proof (2007)

How’s this for cheating? The one thing these amazing soundtracks all have in common is that they were put together with an encyclopedic knowledge of film and music, making something new and exciting from the old and forgotten. “Pulp Fiction” (recenly named the best film of the last 25 years by EW) is here because with this formula, director Quentin Tarantino re-invented the modern soundtrack. Who else would put the Statler Brothers and Dick Dale on the same album as Al Green and be able to make it all work? Urge Overkill’s is-it-tongue-in-cheek-or-not tribute to Neil Diamond, “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon,” reamins their best known song. “Jackie Brown” is similar, combining obscure Johnny Cash with obscure soul by The Delfonics. But poo-poo to both soundtracks and QT for also rekindling the horrible and annoying idea of using dialogue from the movie between the song selections. It’s funny once, but it gets old real fast. And what of the “Kill Bill” music? The most obscure AND the most fun of them all. Tarantino singlehandedly made half these songs high profile, and now they’re all over commercials and other movies. (At least when he ripped them out of other movies, they were still obscure!)  Somewhere, the 5,6,7,8s and Tomoyasu Hotei are collecting some mad royalty checks. As far as “Death Proof” goes, which is another great collection of semi-obscurities featuring April March and Pacific Gas & Electric, I have QT to thank for exposing me (during the movie’s grisly and unforgettable collision) to Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich’s dirty-guitar/poppy 60s anthem “Hold Tight.” Unfortunately, now every time I hear it in while driving or riding in a car, I get real nervous.

2. Yellow Submarine: Original Songtrack (1969/99) 

This is cheating, I know, but J.D. already put “A Hard Day’s Night” on his list, so now I have a chance to give props to an overlooked animated movie that warped my impressionable little mind at a very young age. This film is a strange little curiosity that still holds considerable charm and sounds even better on DVD. The original soundtrack paired four new Beatles songs with two previously released tracks, and a score by longtime producer George Martin. The movie itself, however, featured nine more Beatles originals. These nine were finally released with the first six on a “songtrack” upon the film’s re-release in 1999. The songtrack’s lineup brings me back to a beautiful time in my childhood when the Beatles and this psychedelic slice of movie weirdness had true transformative powers. This movie introduced me to “Nowhere Man,” one of the best Beatles songs ever, and the image of twisty-talker Jeremy is burned in my brain forever. And how about “Only a Northern Song” ? The animated Beatles (who were created and voiced by others) were my friends and opened up a whole world of British comedy to me that continued with “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” and “Monty Python’s Flying Circus.” (The actual Beatles appear only during the movie’s last scene.) As for the songtrack, it is still the best Beatles compilation on the market (and yes, that includes “Love”).

1. Dead Presidents: Volumes I and II (1995)

Sometimes the best soundtracks come from the worst movies. The Hughes brothers’ film isn’t horrible, but it is too long and rambling; a forgettable nostalgic melodrama that may be most notable for a featuring a dramatic Chris Tucker role. Listening to the fantastic music in it, however, is a pure joy. I’ll say it here right now: There is no better introductory compilation of late 60s/early 70s soul around than Volumes I and II of this soundtrack. These two volumes mix in some widely known hits (O’Jays’ “Love Train,” Al Green’s “Tired of Being Alone,” Sly and the Family Stone’s “If You Want Me to Stay”) with some darker, lesser-known tunes (Curtis Mayfield’s “If There’s a Hell Below” and “Right on for Darkness” and The Intruders’ “Cowboys to Girls”) to create a more cohesive, moving experience than even the movie could. These albums jump-started my need to discover a fruitful time in R&B that is often times unfairly overshadowed by the oldies radio-dominated success of early Motown. So many compliations of this nature often focus on the cheesiest crap from the period (“Shake Your Booty,” anyone?) in order to sell the most records they can to soccer moms who love to karaoke once a year when they’re feeling “crazy.” Skip the movie, buy the soundtracks.

Eric’s Runners-up: The Blues Brothers, More, The Valley, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Good Will Hunting, I Heart Huckabees, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Pieces of April, Rushmore, The Last Waltz, Trouble Man, Help!

Tags: boogie nights, Dancer in the Dark, dead presidents, pulp fiction, There Will Be Blood, This is Spinal Tap, top 10 movie soundtracks, top ten movie soundtracks, yellow submarine

Recently I reflected on the Top 10 films that have impacted me the most through repeated viewings in my “Top 10 Films You’ve Actually Watched the Most.” It seems only fitting that I take the time to consider what movie soundtracks have had a similarly lasting effect. Arguably, not since the soundtrack to “Oh Brother Where Art Thou?” stirred up a fuss in 2000, has a film’s soundtrack made as much noise as this year’s musical masterpiece “Once.” We did this list two years ago, but things change and I feel compelled to expand and update my own, very personal ten favorite movie soundtracks of all time. As an extra bonus, here’s one extra (that I just couldn’t resist) to start you off in the “Danger Zone.”

11. Top Gun (1986)

In the summer of ‘86 if I only knew I thing, it was that I absolutely loved “Top Gun.” For better or worse, this is one of those films that made me realize the power of the big screen, both good and terrible. As much as I had wanted to be Han Solo just a few years earlier, I was now a Naval fighter-pilot wannabe. It proceeded to get worse every time I saw “Top Gun” and heard Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone.” Of course, I now recognize the massive cheese factor here, but I would be lying if denied my unadulterated love of this soundtrack as a kid. Come to think of it, why aren’t I lying about this? In addition to Kenny Loggins’ other psuedo-hit from this soundtrack, the bi-curious anthem “Playing with the Boys,” the “Top Gun” soundtrack includes a subpar, but likable song “Mighty Wings” by one of the greatest rock bands of all-time, Cheap Trick. Oh yeah, and that “Take My Breath Away” song by Berlin.

10. Star Wars (1977)

Like it was yesterday, I remember taking my double-LP vinyl copy of the “Star Wars” soundtrack by John Williams to show and tell in Kindergarten. I proudly showed off my favorite record with its bold black cover and inside gatefold shot of the two droids on Tatooine, and couldn’t wait to get home and throw it back on our gigantic RCA all-in-one TV stereo cabinet (a monolithic triumph of the late 1970’s that took up the vast majority of our humble living room and would eventually shepherd me right past Debbie Boone and Alabama on into the marvelous age of rock gods like Kiss and Queen). On this day however, my dreams of Mos Eisley cantina jams and Imperial themes would be smashed to pieces right along with my “Star Wars” album. On the way out of class that day, one of the fragile discs slid, seemingly in slow motion, out of the sleeve and shattered right in front of the very kids who moments earlier coveted its mysterious power. Childhood really is brutal. No, it’s not likely to make your “Up-Beat-Part-Mix,” but this is literally the soundtrack to defining mythology of the first quarter of my life.

9. Say Anything (1989)

This soundtrack has two unstoppable songs that are brilliantly used during the film. The obvious first is Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes,” which has an instant effect on any person with even a shred of sentimentality, and no one can forget the boombox scene (especially Fishbone, whose song was actually being playing by John Cusack during the filming, but was later subverted with the massive Gabriel classic in the actual movie). The second is “Within Your Reach” by The Replacements. There are several unsung heroes of the late ’80s, but only equally influential band The Pixies can rival The Replacements as the most under-appreciated late 1980s pioneers. The soundtrack also includes Living Colour, guitar-maestro Joe Satriani, Fishbone, and yet again, Cheap Trick.

8. High Fidelity (2000)

John Cusack’s fairly righteous retelling of the classic Nick Hornby novel was full of all the right musical references to draw in the new kids. It also had plenty to appease the know-it-all music snobs of the world, which allowed everyone to sit back and enjoy a great little movie with a stellar soundtrack and enough inside winks and nods to make your head spin. The soundtrack’s highlight is most definitely Stevie Wonder’s “I Believe (When I Fall In Love it Will Be Forever), which so beautifully finishes the picture. I’m a huge Stevie fan, but “High Fidelity” was the first time I sat up and took notice of this truly timeless track which originally appeared on Wonder’s 1972 album “Talking Book.” Other notable tracks include “Dry the Rain” by The Beta Band (which received a memorable record-store spin in the movie that sent everyone rushing to the counter to buy it) and “Shipbuilding,” a stellar track from pop music’s most talented lyricist, Elvis Costello.

7. Magnolia (1999)

Paul Thomas Anderson has balls. To use a new song by a contemporary artist like Aimee Mann and create a sequence in which all your principle cast of characters (including “The Cruise”) lip-sync the lyrics as a connecting device is no small idea. Can you believe the nerve? This soundtrack includes a great deal of work from the remarkable Ms. Mann which serves to set the unique tone of the film, and stands as an example of an artist at the absolute pinnacle of her power coinciding with the release of her flawless 3rd solo album “Bachelor No. 2, or The Last Remains of the Dodo.” Her music is used so pervasively in the picture that she is, in a sense, another character– the haunting voice of an omniscient observer floating above the tangled webs at play. Throw in a couple Supertramp classics and you’re on your way to one classic soundtrack.

6. Highlander Soundtrack / Queen - A Kind of Magic (1986)

Despite the suggestion during the closing credits of “Highlander” that the film’s soundtrack would be available, it was not to be. British rock gods Queen had written songs for the soon-to-be cult-classic and eventually released them as a new full length record dubbed “A Kind of Magic.” Here is where I should exercise restraint and not admit yet again that I saw this film 17 times in the theater and that I may or may not have gone to local shopping malls, glaring at passers by and wearing a London Fog trench coat that may or may not on occasion have concealed beneath it a wooden sword. Fortunately for you, I don’t have that kind of fortitude, and I must confess that it’s true. Although the cheese factor is in the stratosphere for this one, songs like “Princes of the Universe” and “Don’t Lose Your Head” are campy and brilliant in the same way that Queen’s soundtrack for “Flash Gordon” was in 1980. “Who Wants to Live Forever” is a real gem, and proves, as he has on so many occasions, that no one in rock history had the presence and singular talent of Freddie Mercury.

5. Once (2007)

Songwriters and neophyte actors Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova had a big year with a storied win for best original song at the Academy Awards for “Falling Slowly” and the much-deserved accolades for their performances in the the best little movie of 2007, “Once.” I’ve mentioned this before, but the very instant the credits rolled I ran to my computer and bought this soundtrack on iTunes. It’s one of those rare records that I never seem to tire of. I can only hope that Hansard and Irglova team up again in the studio and create more new music. Their chemistry on camera and on record prove they are a magical match. Highlights include: “Fallen from the Sky,” “All the Way Down,” and “Say It to Me Now.”

4. This is Spinal Tap (1984)

Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer have teamed up many times over the years to our benefit, but on no occasion has their combined power been more perfect than “This is Spinal Tap.” The music is an integral aspect of the humor, not only did they write and perform all the music, but they did the impossible: write great “bad” songs. I would definitely have included Christopher Guest’s “Waiting for Guffman” on this list for the same reason, had its genius soundtrack ever been officially released. They say comedy is much more difficult than drama in terms of acting. In terms of music, it has to be the same or a whole lot worse. Trying to write funny songs and not end up churning out Barenaked Ladies tracks has just got to be a nearly insurmountable task. “Big Bottom,” “Hell Hole,” “Listen to What the Flower People Say”– are you kidding me? This stuff is absolutely pure gold! My favorite track has to be “Gimme Some Money,” a bouncy British Invasion-style number with lyrics that leave me in stitches if I even so much as think about it. “This Is Spinal Tap” is the best comedy of all time and its soundtrack is priceless.

3. Almost Famous (2000)

This is simply the second best fictional story about a fictional band ever told. That is, to date, of course. A composite of a number of the real bands that Cameron Crowe encountered on his journeys as a young music journalist, “Almost Famous” is a Crowe joint that hammers so close to my heart that it consistently gets a 4-5 times a year viewings at my house. In the history of film has there ever been a pop song used to more effect than the bus scene with Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer?” It is as if those two pieces of art are now inseparably fused together for all times. Hearing “Tiny Dancer” on the radio instantly snaps you back to that unforgettable moment on the Stillwater bus with Ms. Pennylane, Jeff Bebe, and Russell Hammond. An extraordinary collection of artists and songs help tell the story of a rock band on the verge of both success and implosion. Standouts include: “America” by Simon and Garfunkel, “Feel Flows” by the Beach Boys and Led Zeppelin’s “Tangerine” which doesn’t appear on the album, but makes the end of the film.

2. Purple Rain (1984)

Unless you really love bad acting and Morris Day and the Time, “Purple Rain” the movie was not so good. But its soundtrack is an undeniable classic. If this album had only one song on it, and that song was “Purple Rain,” it would still be #2 on my Top 10 Soundtracks list. The title track is not the only ridiculously badass song, in fact the rest of the album is just as electric and provocative. Hits like “Let’s Go Crazy” and “When Doves Cry” propelled Prince into superstardom right where he belongs. If you don’t own this record, seriously–what the hell are you thinking?

1. A Hard Days Night (1964)

The Beatles made a number of relatively good films, (”Help!” and “Magical Mystery Tour” both have superb soundtracks) but nothing beats “A Hard Days Night.” “A Hard Days Night” the film was a very slight exaggeration of the band’s hectic existence in the early years of Beatlemania. Musically, it’s a soundtrack album that was yet another step forward in the history of the greatest pop rock songwriting team that has ever been. The title track, taken from a Ringo-ism, is a “Name that Tune” gold mine with its instantly recognizable intro chord. In addition to it’s namesake track, “A Hard Days Night” includes “And I Love Her,” If I Fell,” and uber-classic “Can’t Buy Me Love,” all of which make it easily my favorite movie soundtrack of all time.

Tags: A Hard Days Night, almost famous, Cheap Trick, Glen Hansard, High Fidelity, Highlander, John Cusack, Magnolia, Marketa Irglova, Once, Purple Rain, queen, Say Anything, star wars, Stevie Wonder, The Beatles, This is Spinal Tap, top 10 movie soundtracks, top gun, top ten movie soundtracks