The Royal Tenenbaums

"I'm sorry for your loss. Your mother was a terribly attractive woman."

Today's Soundtrack of the Day is the soundtrack to Wes Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums. This is a complete cop-out for music of the day, and I'm basically justifying this blog entry by considering the soundtrack to be something of a playlist rather than an accompaniment to the film. It probably warrants a track-by-track analysis, though there isn't going to be anything of the sort today.

The Tenenbaums soundtrack is an interesting mix of classical instrumentation and late 1960's pop music. This is classic Anderson, who generally has film scores that are interesting if a bit grounded in his particular taste. Some major Woodstock-era fixtures are featured here: the Velvet Underground, Paul Simon, Nick Drake, Bob Dylan (with a nice, vocal-light "Wigwam"). I will give him credit for branching out, ever so slightly, and including the Clash and the Ramones (!!!) here, and even sneaking in an Elliot Smith tune. (Side note: I don't dislike Elliot Smith, but the general fascination with him is something that I've never completely understood.)

There's a clear disparity of style and mood between the popular songs, and the score-exclusive instrumentals - some of which are written by Anderson's sometimes-collaborator Mark Mothersbaugh, of Devo fame - but the union of the two works well, in the same way that a sweet fruit and a buttery, crisp crust come together to make a delicious pie. (This is what happens when a post gets written too close to lunchtime.) This is best illustrated in the last track of the album, an orchestral version of the Beatles' "Hey Jude". (Ironically, I couldn't tolerate this track and deleted it from my music library. Nico works better as the closer.)

Also, the Rolling Stones are notably absent from this soundtrack, despite having their music used in the film (as they are in just about every Wes Anderson film), because apparently the use of their song on this disc wasn't going to provide them with enough money to get Charlie Watts addicted to heroin again. So sad!

While I like this film, I'd be somewhat ignorant not to compare the similarities between the pacing of the film and the soundtrack. While the film is a visual spectacle, and has some genuinely memorable characters, it sometimes feels like a series of interrelated shorts rather than a carefully plotted narrative, for better or worse. The soundtrack has a similar feel, in that the songs work well individually, but there really isn't a common thread, or any sense of scripting to the order of the songs. Still, in both cases, the quality is evident, even if the concept sometimes outweighs the execution.

Anyway, the songs are somewhat out of order here, so they don't exactly evoke the same emotions as the film, but the listening experience is still fairly rich. This album might have benefited from a couple more upbeat songs, like the Ramones' "Judy is a Punk", but it wouldn't really be faithful to do so.

Still, there are plenty of good tracks here - Nico's "These Days" remains a treasure, as does Nick Drake's wistful "Fly". "Wigwam" is an inspired choice from the Dylan catalogue, and "Pagoda's Theme" is a welcome change of pace, if only for a single track. This is classic rock with string interludes, and while it seems more like a playlist with transitional pieces, it stands alone very well.

"You wanna play some word games, or do some experiments on me or anything?"

In Other News:
I really didn't give credit to the actual The Royal Tenenbaums film here today, in spite of it being one of my favorites. If you haven't seen it, well, you're bad at life.

I need a nap. Maybe coffee will have to suffice. Either way, I'm looking forward to the weekend, mostly. There's just no way around hours of driving, that's all.

Lost in Translation

Today's Soundtrack That Kind Of Suffices For An Album is the soundtrack to the film Lost in Translation. This soundtrack was in all likelihood put together by the film's director, Sofia Coppola, and really served to accentuate the moods of the various scenes. I don't want to give much away about the film, but it's one that I really liked and related to when it was in theaters several years ago. I have to admit that I rewatched it recently, and it hardly had the same effect - I attribute that mostly to my changed outlook on life. Maybe the film was never really that good to begin with. In any event, the soundtrack has aged very well.

The prevailing sound here is electronic and reserved - tracks by Squarepusher and AIR fit the mood if not set it. There are a couple upbeat songs - "Too Young" by Phoenix and "Just Like Honey" by the Jesus and Mary Chain - but even these tracks are as wistful and longing as anything on the album, perhaps just more direct with their emotions than some of the other songs. Kevin Shields contributes a couple tracks that work well alone and in the film's context - one of these (I think) is My Bloody Valentine's "Sometimes".

If I have a favorite track on this album, it's AIR's "Alone in Kyoto", a quiet instrumental piece that is probably my favorite AIR song as well. Really, this is a hushed, introspective soundtrack, and it really fits well with the movie, regardless of the merits of either. To discuss this sountrack more would require me to delve into the film, and I would have a difficult time doing so without taking a personal approach, so I think the blog entry ends here. Just be thankful you got anything today, there are kids in Africa who don't even get self-involved fools posting blogs about music.

In Other News:
Tomorrow I have a 7 mile run that should be ridiculous. I bet it will be fun for a couple miles, then I will just hope for it to end. Maybe there will be something to chase!