Ry Cooder: The Long Riders [Original Sound Track]

The Long Riders Review by Steven McDonald

Ry Cooder's soundtrack for The Long Riders received a top-notch treatment from Warner Bros. (Japan), who not only did an excellent remastering job, but backed it up with English lyrics to the songs, notes, and a Japanese insert. Cooder was in fine form with this score, using original material, unusual and anachronistic instruments (saz, tamboura, electric guitar), and elements of traditional songs from the Civil War period. As a result, the album can be appreciated as a unique entity, away from the film -- and bonded to the film, the music provides grace and power to the onscreen events. 

All Music

The Long Riders is a 1980 American Western film directed by Walter Hill. It was produced by James Keach, Stacy Keach and Tim Zinnemann and featured an original soundtrack by Ry Cooder. Cooder won the Best Music award in 1980 from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards for this soundtrack. The film was entered into the 1980 Cannes Film Festival.^[4]

The film is notable for having cast four sets of actual brothers to play the four sets of brothers in the James–Younger Gang.

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Ry Cooder

The Long Riders 

Original Sound Track

01 The Long Riders 02 I'm A Good Old Rebel 03 Seneca Square Dance 04 Archie's Funeral (Hold To God's Unchanging Hand) 05 I Always Knew That You We're The One 06 Rally 'Round The Flag 07 Wildwood Boys 08 Better Things To Think About 09 Jesse James 10 Cole Younger Polka 11 Escape From Northfield 12 Leaving Missouri 13 Jesse James

Ry Cooder (vocals/banjo/shamisen/bass)

Jim Keach (vocals)

David Lindley (banjo/mandolin/fiddle/guitar/lute)

Curt Bouterse (dulcimer)

Bill Bryson (banjo)

Mitch Greenhill (vocals/guitar)

Tom Sauber (fiddle/lute)

Jim Dickinson (harmonium/piano/organ)

Jim Keltner (drums)

Milt Holland (percussion)

Baboo Pierr (percussion)

Oscar Brashear (cornet)

Curt Bouterse (flute)

George Bohannon (trombone/horns)

Warner Bros. Records HS-3448: Released 1980

This One's From The Heart Soundtrack

One from the Heart is a soundtrack album of Tom Waits compositions for the Francis Ford Coppola film of the same name.^[4] It was recorded from October 1980 to September 1981. It was during this period that Waits met his wife Kathleen Brennan, an employee at the studio where it was recorded.^[4] While the film was released in February, the soundtrack album release was delayed until October of 1982 due to a dispute between Columbia Records and Coppola's Zoetrope Studios.^[7]

Crystal Gayle sings on the record, performing either solo or in duets with Waits. The soundtrack was nominated for an Academy Award for Original Music Score.^[8]

The movie was re-released on DVD on January 27, 2004, and the DVD contains remixed and remastered Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound of the soundtrack from Waits' original studio sessions, a documentary on the making of the soundtrack, as well as previously unreleased demo recordings and alternate takes. 

The Austin Chronicle wrote: "Of course Waits fans might chafe at the Crystal clarity of the country music siren's ringing cry, but like the last and best duet on the soundtrack explains, 'This One's From the Heart'."^[10]  

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One from the Heart is a 1982 American musical romantic drama film co-written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Frederic Forrest, Teri Garr, Raul Julia, Nastassja Kinski, Lainie Kazan, and Harry Dean Stanton. The story is set entirely in Las Vegas.^[2] The film was a critical and commercial failure.    Raed more...

This One's From The Heart Soundtrack 

feat. Tom Waits and Crystal Gayle

Side 1 00:00 - Opening Montage 05:15 - Is There Any Way Out of This Dream? 07:27 - Picking Up After You 11:20 - Old Boyfriends 17:12 - Broken Bicycles Side 2 20:04 - I Beg Your Pardon 24:30 - Little Boy Blue 28:11 - Instrumental Montage 31:10 - You Can't Unring a Bell 33:29 - This One's from the Heart 39:13 - Take Me Home 40:49 - Presents

Miles Davis - Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud

Recorded on December 4 & 5, 1957 at Le Poste Parisien, Paris Fontana1958 - 2002

Ascenseur pour l'Échafaud [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] Review by Michael G. Nastos

Jazz and film noir are perfect bedfellows, as evidenced by the soundtrack of Louis Malle's Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud (Lift to the Scaffold). This dark and seductive tale is wonderfully accentuated by the late-'50s cool or bop music of Miles Davis, played with French jazzmen -- bassist Pierre Michelot, pianist René Urtreger, and tenor saxophonist Barney Wilen -- and American expatriate drummer Kenny Clarke. This recording evokes the sensual nature of a mysterious chanteuse and the contrasting scurrying rat race lifestyle of the times, when the popularity of the automobile, cigarettes, and the late-night bar scene were central figures. Davis had seen a screening of the movie prior to his making of this music, and knew exactly how to portray the smoky hazed or frantic scenes though sonic imagery, dictated by the trumpeter mainly in D-minor and C-seventh chords. Michelot is as important a figure as the trumpeter because he sets the tone, as on the stalking "Visite du Vigile." While the mood of the soundtrack is generally dour and somber, the group collectively picks up the pace exponentially on "Diner au Motel." At times the distinctive Davis trumpet style is echoed into dire straits or death wish motifs, as on "Generique" or "L'Assassinat de Carala," respectively. Clarke is his usual marvelous self, and listeners should pay close attention to the able Urtreger, by no means a virtuoso but a capable and flexible accompanist. This recording can stand proudly alongside Duke Ellington's music from Anatomy of a Murder and the soundtrack of Play Misty for Me as great achievements of artistic excellence in fusing dramatic scenes with equally compelling modern jazz music.   AllMusic

Elevator to the Gallows (French: Ascenseur pour l'échafaud), also known as Frantic in the U.S. and Lift to the Scaffold in the U.K., is a 1958 French crime thriller film directed by Louis Malle, starring Jeanne Moreau and Maurice Ronet as illicit lovers whose murder plot starts to unravel after one of them becomes trapped in an elevator. The scenario was adapted from the 1956 novel of the same name by Noël Calef.

Associated by some critics with film noir,^[1] and introducing new narrative, cinematographic, and editing techniques, the film is considered an important work in establishing the French New Wave and the New Modern Cinema.^[2] The improvised soundtrack by Miles Davis and the relationship the film establishes among music, image, and emotion were considered ground-breaking.

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Miles Davis      

Ascenseur pour l'Échafaud

Original Motion Picture Soundtrack 

 

1. Générique  2. L'Assassinat De Carala 3. Sur L'Autoroute 4. Julien Dans L'Ascenseur 5. Florence Sur Les Champs-Élysées 6. Dîner Au Motel 7. Évasion De Julien 8. Visite Du Vigile 9. Au Bar Du Petit Bac 10. Chez Le Photographe Du Motel Complete Recordings 25:54 11. Nuit Sur Les Champs-Élysées (Take 1) 12. Nuit Sur Les Champs-Élysées (Take 2) 13. Nuit Sur Les Champs-Élysées (Take 3) (Générique) 14. Nuit Sur Les Champs-Élysées (Take 4) (Florence Sur Les Champs-Élysées) 15. Assassinat (Take 1) (Visite Du Vigile) 16. Assassinat (Take 2) (Julien Dans L'Ascenseur) 17. Assassinat (Take 3) (L'assassinat De Carala) 18. Motel (Dîner Au Motel) 19. Final (Take 1) 20. Final (Take 2) 21. Final (Take 3) (Chez Le Photographe Du Motel) 22. Ascenseur (Évasion De Julien) 23. Le Petit Bal (Take 1) 24. Le Petit Bal (Take 2) (Au Bar Du Petit Bac) 25. Séquence Voiture (Take 1) 26. Séquence Voiture (Take 2)

Bass – Pierre Michelot Composed By – Miles Davis Piano – René Urtreger Tenor Saxophone – Barney Wilen Trumpet – Miles Davis  

Ry Cooder - Paris, Texas

Paris, Texas [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] Review by Tim DiGravina

Suggestive of both the imagery of Wim Wenders' movie Paris, Texas and the desert itself, Ry Cooder's score is a peaceful, poetic journey into the soul of an acoustic guitar. "Paris, Texas," "Brothers," and "Nothing Out There" open the album as meditative blends of guitar twang and scratching ambient effects. The songs move at a pretty, slow place, and the opening track sees Cooder plucking his guitar's strings and letting that sound vibrate into thin air; it's a motif that he returns to repeatedly throughout the score. There's a bit of both humor and mystery to the stillness and the echoing, edgy sound effects that crop up. "Cancion Mixteca" includes a memorable turn on vocals by Harry Dean Stanton, singing in Spanish. "No Safety Zone" is almost completely ambient in its ethics, with fleeting experimental guitar playing, as the song works more as a mood-setter than a traditional song. "I Knew These People" begins with an extended segment of dialogue from the film before Cooder's somber guitar creeps in. The effect of the dialogue makes the track a fine, artistic statement, but the moment works better in the context of the movie than as a track on an album. The dialogue comes from a scene where the characters played by Stanton and Nastassja Kinski have a particularly emotional meeting. The majority of the score is delicate and stunningly pretty. The overall sense is that Cooder was reaching for spare, emotional movements. The score is stark, quiet, and as uplifting as it is sad. Cooder makes the music sound as modern and stylish as acoustic music can sound. The album is at once alien and organic. Since "I Knew These People" includes dialogue from Paris, Texas, the score works best for people who have seen the movie, but it's still a powerful and immensely evocative journey for those whose experience with the material is the album alone.

 AllMusic

Paris, Texas is a 1984 drama road film directed by Wim Wenders, co-written by Sam Shepard and L. M. Kit Carson, and produced by Don Guest. It stars Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski, Dean Stockwell, Aurore Clément, and Hunter Carson. In the film, disheveled recluse Travis Henderson (Stanton) reunites with his brother Walt (Stockwell) and son Hunter (Carson). Travis and Hunter embark on a trip through the American Southwest to track down Travis's missing wife, Jane (Kinski). 

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Ry Cooder       

Paris, Texas 

Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

The Hot Spot [Original Soundtrack]

The Hot Spot [Original Soundtrack] Review

 

by Eugene Chadbourne

  [-]

A return look and listen to this historical and breathtaking collaboration between two of the great figures of modern music should naturally be prefaced by a few key facts. Although this album presents itself as the soundtrack to the film The Hot Spot, like many such releases it bares little relation to the music that was actually used in the film -- not that much of this music was actually used. All one really needs to know about the film itself, other than the fact that it was directed by Dennis Hopper, is that it is awful, even by bad film standards. That it was the impetus for this marvelous music to be made is something listeners should be thankful for, particularly fans of either Miles Davis or John Lee Hooker. Anyone who grew up with the former artist during his electric transfusions of the '60s and '70s probably wondered why he wasn't playing with John Lee Hooker the whole time, since they both seemed headed in the same direction. In fact, one wonders why it took this crummy film and the personal appeal of its director to bring these two musical giants together. That they didn't seek to do something like this on their own can be looked at as a character flaw, one that can only be forgiven after listening to how wonderfully they interact here. An important aspect of the magic is their individual genius in the art of playing blues music in such utterly personal ways. There is no mistaking the sound of either Hooker or Davis for anyone else, with layer upon layer of detail backing that up -- the actual sound of their instruments is distinctive, their choices of notes and timing completely unusual and impossible to imitate, and they both have a knack for casually making even the most basic sort of band track sound as if it is a style of music that has never been played before. No matter how many times one may have heard a bar band break into what they think is a Hooker boogie, a brief recovery period will still be required after first exposure to the tracks here. Often during his recording career, Hooker was able to get a particularly scintillating rhythm section sound going with whatever pros had been assembled for the occasion. This is one of these sessions, but it indeed makes it seem like a royal visit to have Davis blowing over the top of these grooves. There are other dignitaries as well. Blues guitarist Roy Rogers adds some tasteful slide guitar, and it could be said that it presents another melodic direction for the interaction. But when one has a choice to hear Hooker or Davis instead, most listeners will simply wish Rogers had ridden off into the sunset on his faithful horse instead of coming to this session. Taj Mahal, on the other hand, adds nice textures with his dobro, an instrument that is wonderfully versatile yet so often overlooked in anything other than bluegrass music or straight-ahead country blues. The latter genre, unfortunately, has too much of a sway over this performer's choice of picking patterns. He sounds like what he is: a revivalist who learned how to play blues in college. The rhythm section kicks the whole time, while composer and arranger Jack Nitzsche makes valuable contributions of his own. This includes a minor-key groove -- completely unusual for Hooker, who perhaps recorded in a minor key less than a half-dozen times in his entire career. The dabs of typical film score-type music seem like nothing special until there is an entrance by Davis. These sections of him extemporizing over such routine music bring to mind one of the Ralph J. Gleason profiles of Davis, which described the artist hanging out in his music room playing along with various new releases and painfully trying to reharmonize several selections from the score of Dr. Doolittle he was thinking about recording. The image is that of normal music being twisted into something different by a master at such trickery; most of The Hot Spot soundtrack, on the other hand, presents this great jazz soloist playing over blues grooves as pure as only Hooker could make happen, an interesting contrast to some of the weaker, late-period Davis, where his bands are simply straining to be funky in an old-time bluesy way. To say this is the best recording Davis made in his final period might be misunderstood as damning with faint praise. A more solid compliment would be to contrast it with other great moments from the trumpeter's career, such as Bitches Brew or Kind of Blue, and the best parts of this soundtrack contain music that is every bit as interesting and profound. As for a Hooker album, there might be others that have better blues songs on them, but this is just about the only recording the bluesman ever did with a really great jazz soloist on it.  

Jennifer Connelly in Dennis Hopper's vastly underrated neo-noir masterpiece The Hot Spot. Starring Don Johnson (one of his best roles) and a great ensemble cast, not least of all the equally gorgeous Virginaia Madsen. And perhaps one of the the best soundtracks of ANY movie.

The Hot Spot is a 1990 American neo-noir film^[2] directed by Dennis Hopper, based on the 1953 novel Hell Hath No Fury by Charles Williams, who also co-wrote the screenplay. It stars Don Johnson, Virginia Madsen, and Jennifer Connelly, and features a score by Jack Nitzsche played by John Lee Hooker, Miles Davis, Taj Mahal, Roy Rogers, Tim Drummond, and drummer Earl Palmer.   Read more...

The Hot Spot 

Original Soundtrack

Miles Davis & Marcus Miller | Music From Siesta

Music from Siesta is an album released in 1987 by Miles Davis and Marcus Miller. It is the soundtrack of the 1987 film Siesta, directed by Mary Lambert.

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Music from Siesta Review

 

by Scott Yanow

This collaboration between Miles Davis and producer Marcus Miller (who, except for some cameos, plays all of the other instruments) is quite successful and a bit of a surprise since it is essentially a soundtrack to an obscure film. Dedicated to arranger Gil Evans, the music is greatly influenced by his style with Miller creating an electrified but very warm orchestra to accompany Davis' melodic solos. This was the first of several instances in which Miles Davis, in the twilight of his life, returned to his roots. It's worth searching for.

Miles Davis & Marcus Miller    |   Music From Siesta

All songs composed by Marcus Miller, except "Theme for Augustine" by Miles Davis & Marcus Miller  

1. "Lost in Madrid, Part 1" - 1:48
2. "Siesta / Kitt's Kiss / Lost in Madrid, Part 2" - 6:54
3. "Theme for Augustine / Wind / Seduction / Kiss" - 6:33
4. "Submission" - 2:32
5. "Lost in Madrid, Part 3" - 0:49
6. "Conchita / Lament" - 6:43
7. "Lost in Madrid, Part 4 / Rat Dance / The Call" - 1:41
8. "Claire / Lost in Madrid, Part 5" - 4:33
9. "Afterglow" - 1:41
10. "Los Feliz" - 4:35

• Miles Davis - trumpet
• Marcus Miller - bass, bass clarinet, etc.
• John Scofield - acoustic guitar on "Siesta"
• Omar Hakim - drums on "Siesta"
• Earl Klugh - classical guitar on "Claire"
• James Walker - flute on "Los Feliz"
• Jason Miles - synthesizer programming

Recording Date

January 19, 1987 - March, 1987

Recording Location

• Amigo Studios, Los Angeles, CA
• Minot Sound Studios, White Plains, NY
• Sigma Sound Studios, New York, NY