Is the best soundtrack by Coldplay, Radiohead ... or a hobbit?
WiTH film awards season here, a string of new soundtrack albums are out now. Some are packed with old hits, others with dramatic scores for the big screen . . .
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING
(Backlot Music)
A CONTeNDeR for best original score at the Golden Globes on Sunday, icelandic composer Johann Johannsson’s intimate soundtrack to The Theory Of everything combines lavish instrumentation with a delightful deftness of touch.
Skilfully mirroring the story of physicist Stephen Hawking and his first wife Jane, the music becomes progressively more complicated and poignant, with harp and electronics subtly added to atmospheric strings and a recurring piano motif. So stylish, it is even out on vinyl. ★★★★★
UNBROKEN (Parlophone)
FReNCHMAN Alexandre Desplat employs the London Symphony Orchestra for his backdrop to Angelina Jolie’s tale of war hero and Olympic runner Louis Zamperini. The results are poised and dramatic, although the music doesn’t really stand up away from the big screen.
The album, however, does contain an uplifting new track from Coldplay — accompanied by twinkling piano and guitars, Miracles should be in the frame for best original song when Oscar nominations are announced next Thursday. ★★★✩✩
THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE
FIVE ARMIES (Decca)
ANOTHeR contender for an Oscar nod next week is surely Howard Shore’s thunderous score for the final instalment of Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy.
The Canadian composer has already won three Academy Awards for his work on the Lord Of The Rings films, and this latest offering is suitably symphonic. Spread across two CDs, it mixes blustery strings and stentorian choirs.
The album also features one new song — the yearning ballad Last Goodbye is capably sung by Scottish actor and songwriter Billy Boyd (who played a hobbit, Peregrin ‘Pippin’ Took, in The Lord Of The Rings). ★★★★✩
PADDINGTON (Decca)
THe quirky instrumentals partnering the yarn of a marmalade-loving bear are the work of American musician Nick Urata, whose indie quartet DeVotchka were once a backing band for burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese.
There is, thankfully, nothing risqué about Urata’s jaunty melodies, augmented by chart hits from James Brown, Lionel Richie and Steppenwolf, as well as four calypso tunes evocative of Fifties Notting Hill — where Paddington settled down. ★★★✩✩
INHERENT VICE (Nonesuch)
AS BOOGie Nights and Magnolia demonstrated, Paul Thomas Anderson’s films have great soundtracks. And his forthcoming adaptation of the Thomas Pynchon crime novel, which opens here on January 30, is no exception.
Written by Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood and made with the Royal Philharmonic, its hypnotic qualities confirm Greenwood’s growth into a first-rate film composer.
Additional tracks include the late Minnie Riperton’s brilliant Les Fleur and an unreleased Radiohead song — Spooks — performed by American singer Joanna Newsom. ★★★★★
WILD (Legacy)
Like last summer’s excellent Guardians Of The Galaxy ‘mixtape’, the soundtrack to Reese Witherspoon’s forthcoming hiking film ( which opens next Friday), set on the Pacific Crest Trail, doubles as a themed playlist.
There is gritty, heartland rock from Springsteen and Lucinda Williams and classic singersongwriter fare from Leonard Cohen. Simon & Garfunkel’s Homeward Bound, First Aid kit’s Walk Unafraid and the Hollies’ hit The Air That i Breathe add to the widescreen, open-air feel. ★★★✩✩
BOYHOOD (Nonesuch)
ANOTHeR playlist- style soundtrack, the music from Richard Linklater’s comingof-age epic is vital to the story of central character Mason. As the film charts his growth from a cherubic child to a student of 18, so its songs cover the same 12-year period.
Opening in 2002, there is the alternative rock of The Hives and The Flaming Lips. The sequence continues, via Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy, through to recent songs by The Black keys and Arcade Fire.
There is even, courtesy of Mason’s dad, a vintage single from Wings. ★★★★✩
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER TIME (Nonesuch)
NOT so much a soundtrack as a film- related spin- off, this double live album unites the cast of folk music movie inside Llewyn Davis with the stars of Americana.
Recorded in New York, it features Joan Baez and Marcus Mumford singing of heartbreak and hard times. There is also a superb cameo by Jack White, who delivers a banjo-led version of The White Stripes’ We’re Going To Be Friends.
The film’s star, Carey Mulligan (also Mumford’s wife) appears, although Justin Timberlake, a revelation in the movie, is sadly absent. ★★★★✩