Friday, August 29, 2014

40 Year Itch : 1974 in Soundtracks




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Outside the pop charts, I think I've at least started to convince you 1974 was a great year for music. It was also a great year for film and film soundtracks. Consider the Oscar nominated films : The Godfather, Part 2, The Conversation, Chinatown, Lenny and well, The Towering Inferno. There was also Truffaut's Day for Night, the Mel Brooks 1-2 punch of Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein and Fellini's Amacord. Notable soundtracks include:



Paul Williams ( yes, the guy that wrote the "The Love Boat " theme) gets deliciously creative in this vicious take on the Glam Rock scene. Best soundtrack of 1974.




  Goldsmith (Patton, The Omen)  knocked out the year's most memorable film score in ten days but lost the Oscar to...





   Nino Rota composed the music for the best sequel ever made and won an Oscar. The soundtrack is , in many ways, a sequel to The Godfather, Part 1. It features several similar themes.






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When Christian Vander found out his bizarre band, Magma ( known for over dramatic prog rock sung in a completely made up language) , had their music stolen by a practically unknown  filmmaker, he got the filmmaker to promise that he could do the soundtrack for the next film. Both the film and the music are low-budget affairs . But the music, at least, is beautiful.




   Isaac Hayes did two soundtracks in 1974, Tough Guys and Truck Turner. That he starred in Truck Turner was inspiration enough to record his best soundtrack since Shaft. The nine minute "Pursuit of the Pimpmobile" wins "Best Blaxploitation Title Ever" award...and the tune is good and funky





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