What are the best soundtracks?

[andrewducker]

I asked on my Facebook What instrumental movie soundtrack albums are better than Danny Elfman's Batman score?

And got a boatload of comments. Here are all of the suggestions in alphabetical order.

Sadly, there's no way for me to group these on Spotify to find later. But in the meantime, here's the list, and I'll be dipping into it whenever I fancy something instrumental in the background.

1492
2001
28 Days Later
300
Amelie
Baraka
Bladerunner
Braveheart
Clockwork Orange
Conan The Barbarian
Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon
Dances With Wolves
Dracula (Philip Glass)
Early Peter Greenaway
Escape From New York
Exotica
Forbidden Planet
Gattaca
Get Carter
Gladiator
Heathers
Hellraiser 2
House Of Flying Daggers
Inception
Interstellar
It Follows
Jaws
Koyaanisqatsi
LA Confidential
Last of the Mohicans
LotR
Metropolis (which one???)
Mishima
Much Ado About Nothing (Patrick Doyle version)
Naked Lunch
Near Dark
Once Upon A Time In The West
Paris Texas
Pirates of the Carribean
Powaqqatsi
Ravenous
Sleepy Hollow (soundtrack, not songs)
Social Network
Solaris
Sorceror
Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
Star Wars
Star Wars
Sunshine
The Fountain
The Incredibles
The Ipcress File
The Keep
The King's Speech
The Third Man
Tron: Legacy

Write-in additions:
The Skyrim Soundtrack
Carpenter Brut's "Trilogy" - which sounds like a soundtrack, and is well worth you listening to.

Comments

[davidcook]

Oooh ! Oooh !

When I saw this come across FB, nothing came to mind, but seeing the mention of Carpenter Brut up there reminded me. There's a group called Two Steps From Hell, and from what I've read the members of it regularly work on soundtracks for movies, but they also produce their own music, which sounds ... basically, like soundtracks for movies that don't actually exist :)
They've done a number of albums, the one that works best for me is "Invincible" (e.g. "Protectors of the Earth").

[rhythmaning]

And only now I think of one...

Assault On Precinct 13 (original). It's brilliant!

[rhythmaning]

And the Piano!

Nyman must rank highly.

[movingfinger]

100% of Michael Nyman scores are well worth listening to. Particularly good are The Draughtsman's Contract and Prospero's Books and I think Drowning by Numbers is among his best work of any kind.

[rhythmaning]

Oh yes! Prospero's Books is a wonderful film!

[rhythmaning]

Two more, I'm afraid: An American In Paris (Gershwin) and Battleship Potempkin (Shostakovich, mostly - Symphony #5).

[strange_complex]

As the suggester of Metropolis, I can clarify that I meant the 1927 Fritz Lang one.

[andrewducker]

You know, I don't think I've ever heard it.

[strange_complex]

But you've seen the movie, right? If so, you've heard the soundtrack, and will know whether or not you want to hear it in its own right more regularly. If not, rectify immediately! ;-)

[cmcmck]

Silent Running.

It still makes me cry all these years on.

[momentsmusicaux]

If you want instrumental music, why specifically film soundtracks, rather than classical music?

[andrewducker]

There's very little classical music I love that isn't a soundtrack. There are many movie soundtracks I love.

(Don't let that stop you recommending classical music)

[momentsmusicaux]

Bach cello suites are my go-to for when coding is getting tough, and I want something relaxing that's not going to make me listen.

Probably because the cello is a very smooth, relaxing sound. Don't try anything with the harpsichord, too strident.

String quartets are good too. I have Schubert and Mozart.

[franklanguage]

People also have an affinity for the cello because its range is similar to that of the human voice.

[momentsmusicaux]

That's interesting. I didn't know that!

(...and yet we all want to burn violas. Funny old world!)

[andrewducker]

Also, of course, there are numerous soundtracks which aren't classical.

(Tron: Legacy got several mentions, for instance)

I don't see Midnight Express in that list

[franklanguage]

Midnight Express had a pulse-pounding soundtrack by Giorgio Moroder; I don't see it on that list, but I'm sure it's an oversight!

Re: I don't see Midnight Express in that list

[franklanguage]

Oh: and I just noticed that both Koyaanisqatsi and Powaqaatsi both made the list; my anecdote about Koyaanisqatsi is that I was in the Columbus Circle subway station sometime in the 90s and ran into three of my cousins. They were on their way to see Philip Glass conduct the soundtrack to Koyaanisqatsi with a live orchestra and—coincidence of coincidences—they had a spare ticket.

So I got to see Philip Glass conduct the soundtrack to Koyaanisqatsi. Afterward, I went to Tower Records on Columbus Circle and bought the soundtrack, but I took a cab home and the cab driver hit on me; I was so alarmed that I paid my fare and rushed out of the cab, forgetting my bag of records and tapes.

[j_v_lynch]

I'm a little astonished that no one suggested The Mission.

[radiantfracture]

I've always liked the soundtrack to Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence.

[elf]

My ex used to listen to both the Akira and Terminator 2 soundtracks until I got sick of them. Before that, they were both pretty good.

If you're looking for good instrumental music these days, I'd look into video game soundtracks as much as movies. Off the top of my head, I'm fond of the Eufloria soundtrack and the Glitch soundtrack.

[movingfinger]

You might also like some programmatic symphonic music: Dvorak's last three symphonies, Grieg, Sibelius, and Rodrigo are all good matches for film music traits. For soundtracks (besides Nyman!), I'm very fond of Korngold's work; there's a compilation with the Adventures of Robin Hood, The Sea Hawk, and Captain Blood. Mendelssohn too; The Hebrides and Midsummer Night's Dream would suit your taste. Finally, try some ballet scores---Prokofiev in particular did film score work too, but you'll probably like his music for Romeo and Juliet.

[darkoshi]

The 2010 soundtrack is very good in its own right (if you can find it), apart from the 2001 soundtrack. It's more synthesizer than orchestral:
https://www.soundtrack.net/album/2010-the-year-we-make-contact/

[botrytis]

In addition to the Tron : Legacy soundtrack, there's also an album of remixes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tron:_Legacy_Reconfigured - which I find as good.