Glee Vol. 5 Available Now

A new “Glee” soundtrack is now in stores (and available for download online). Enjoy it while waiting for the next original episode of the series — after tonight’s original episode, the next new “Glee” won’t air until April 12.

The show’s fifth volume of music includes tracks from recent episodes, including the post-Superbowl hour that included the mashup of “Thriller” and “Heads will Roll.”

It’s also the first soundtrack to feature a few original tunes, not just remakes. It’s the last two tracks on the album, which will be feautred in tonight’s episode.

See a full track listing after the jump. …

The full track listing for Glee: The Music, Volume 5 is as follows:

1. Thriller/Heads Will Roll
2. Need You Now
3. She’s Not There
4. Fat Bottomed Girls
5. P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)
6. Firework
7. Baby
8. Somebody To Love
9. Take Me or Leave Me
10. Sing
11. Don’t You Want Me
12. Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)
13. Kiss
14. Landslide
15. Get It Right
16. Loser Like Me

Dragon Age II Soundtrack available in iTunes

Bioware has announced the release of an official Dragon Age II soundtrack on Apple’s iTunes music service. The game puts players in the role of Hawke and allows them to craft the story of the legend’s rise to power.

The soundtrack is available for $3.99.

Dragon Age II is the sequel to BioWare’s Dragon Age series of role-playing video games.

Dragon Age II tells the story of Hawke, a survivor of the Darkspawn horde’s destruction of Lothering (a village featured in Dragon Age: Origins) who rises to become the Champion of Kirkwall. Using a framed story format, Varric, one of Hawke’s companions, tells Hawke’s story to Cassandra Pentaghast, a Chantry Seeker; “decisions” made in the game by the player determine more than a decade of history that changes the world of Thedas forever.

Choices that the player made in Dragon Age: Origins can be imported and reflected in the world of Dragon Age II. Choices from Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening will also be imported, if the player decides to take this action.

 

 

Best Original Soundtrack category is disappointment

Last night, the soundtrack music fan community was collectively shocked when Trent Reznor’s and Atticus Ross’ music for THE SOCIAL NETWORK was the recipient of the Academy Award for Best Original Score.

While the expected favorite to win was Alexandre Desplat’s work on THE KING’S SPEECH, the bulk of the soundtrack music fan community was rallying behind Hans Zimmer’s INCEPTION and John Powell’s HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON.

Within minutes of the announcement, online forums went ballistic.

At Film Score Monthly, such things were said as:

• “This category is always a disappointment. Most members of the Academy don’t know a thing about music or scoring for motion pictures. No surprise this year.”
• “It truly sickens me to think that Danny Elfman, Thomas Newman, Alexandre Desplat, John Powell, James Newton Howard, etc. who have been composing amazingly effective scores for years have not gotten the Oscar recognition they richly deserve. The first few notes of Howard’s The Village or Newman’s Shawshank or Elfman’s Edward Scissorhands or Powell’s Dragon signify music, not sound effects. Eventually Music and Sound Design will just be rolled into one category since its clear voters just have no idea about what music underscore actually means…. ”
• “Obviously the f***-tards at The Oscars and Academy Awards don’t know what the hell a good score sounds like these days. I can’t believe The Social Network out-beat How To Train Your Dragon.”
• “As the Academy becomes more and more populated by Generation X and Y, the awards are going to go more and more for simple name and movie recognition than actual worth. That’s not to say we haven’t had that all along – the Oscars are little more than an industry celebrating how great it is being an industry – but the slim idea we once held that people who win are people who (usually) deserve it is going to vanish like morning fog.”

And at SoundtrackFans.com, similar sentiments were echoed through the night:

• “I knew either this or The King’s Speech would win. They are so predictable and they hardly ever actually give recognition to really great music.”
• “Somehow, I’m really not that surprised. Obviously the award is not based on the quality of the music, and the people voting on it probably didn’t even care if the soundtrack they voted for the best music of the year was really that good or not. Really sad.”
• “I hate Oscar for letting that trash music win… How To Train Your Dragon should have won 100%.”

At its basest, the soundtrack for THE SOCIAL NETWORK was a combination of four things:

• A handful of less-than-minimalistic piano licks (so basic that they would make Carter Burwell cry, “That’s all you came up with, really???”)
• Non-descript, 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System ditties remixed for a disco
• Unused demos and outtakes from the first three Nine Inch Nails albums
• A sound effects loop that mimicked buzzing bees, an army of rats, and the labored breathing of a marathon runner

And all Reznor and Ross really did was mix and match those four elements for the entire film. It would have been much befitting of a movie set in an earlier time period, like TRON (the original, not TRON: LEGACY) or even REVENGE OF THE NERDS, but not a film set between 2003-2005. This is not a cry against electronic music, it is simply a head-scratching moment forever to be locked in the annals of the Academy.

According to the Academy rules for the nomination process of a motion picture score, outlined here, “The work’s eligibility shall be evaluated on its effectiveness, craftsmanship, creative substance and relevance to the dramatic whole.”

While all of those factors are completely subjective to the listener/viewer, many scores are produced each year that easily obliterate THE SOCIAL NETWORK on a creative scale alone – not the least of which was Zimmer’s work on INCEPTION, which, while I did not personally enjoy it as a CD, it was impossible to deny the monolithic effect it had on the film.

Adding further insult to injury, in the Voting Rules on the official Academy website, it actually states:

“The Academy’s entire active membership is eligible to select Oscar winners in all categories, although in five – Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject, and Foreign Language Film – members can vote only after attesting they have seen all of the nominated films in those categories.”

This means that for all of those high-profile “Big 4” Oscars (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Actress), the voting body DOES NOT even have to prove they’ve seen the movies to be able to vote for them. Likewise, for Best Original Score, no one has to prove they’ve even heard the soundtrack.

Continue reading on Examiner.com: THE SOCIAL NETWORK wins Best Original Score Oscar; Soundtrack fans outraged! – National Soundtracks | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/soundtracks-in-national/the-social-network-wins-best-original-score-oscar-soundtrack-fans-outraged#ixzz1FMo6tfzS

 

Trailer of the Week: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

For Presidents’ Day, a love story.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a movie that everyone can enjoy. It uses elements of science fiction, nonlinear narration and neosurrealism. This film shows how you can take all of these elements and blend them together into a profound movie that touches the core of human experience.

Does that go too far?

I don’t think so.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was met with overwhelmingly universal acclaim, and Winslet’s performance was generally praised. Many critics cited the film as the “best movie of the decade”. The film has a 93% certified fresh rating on the Rotten Tomatoes website based on 216 reviews. The consensus is that the film is “a twisty, trippy, yet moving take on love, Kaufman-style.”

Roger Ebert commented, “Despite jumping through the deliberately disorienting hoops of its story, Eternal Sunshine has an emotional center, and that’s what makes it work.” Ebert later included the film in his “Great Movies” series.

That just goes to show you aspiring screenwriters and filmmakers out there that story is king.

The songs are:

Sneakers by James Horner

Mr. Blue Sky, by E.L.O.

A Beautiful Mind by James Horner

Trailer of the Week: Billy Elliot

Before Kurt Hummel caught crap for being a boy in the glee club, there was Billy Elliot.

Billy Elliot is about a boy who just wants to dance. Of course, everyone assumes there’s something wrong with him.

Unlike Black Swan, this is a ballet movie that won’t leave a bad taste in your mouth.

The film is set during the 1984–1985 UK miners’ strike, and centres on the character of 11-year-old Billy Elliot (Jamie Bell), his love of dance, and his hope to become a professional ballet dancer. Billy lives with his widowed father, Jackie (Gary Lewis), older brother, Tony (Jamie Draven), and his invalid Nan (Jean Heywood), who once aspired to be a professional dancer. Both Jackie and Tony are coal miners out on strike.

Jackie takes Billy to the Sports Centre to learn boxing, but Billy dislikes the sport. He is instead drawn to a ballet class that is using the gym while their usual basement studio in the Sports Centre is temporarily being used as a soup kitchen for striking miners.

Unknown to Billy’s father, he joins the ballet class. When Jackie discovers this after the boxing coach mentions Billy’s absence, he forbids Billy to take any more ballet. But, passionate about dancing, Billy secretly continues his lessons with his dance teacher Georgia Wilkinson’s help.

Jackie sees Billy dancing and realizes his son is gifted.

In the end, Billy is accepted by his family as they watch him perform the lead in Swan Lake.

According to Hollywood, that’s the only ballet that exists.

Billy Elliot won several UK Independent Film Awards and was nominated for three Academy Awards in 2001, including Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actress (Julie Walters).

The song is Book of Days by Enya.

Trailer of the Week: Previews of the Super Bowl

Apparently, this year’s Super Bowl was more about debuting previews than football (okay, maybe not totally, but for us, it was). Which to highlight?

The ones I want to see, of course.

I hope the entire movie takes place in WWII. If they try to bring him to the modern era, the plot will spin out of control.

Here’s to hoping!

The other Marvel flick, Thor. While this wasn’t a premiere, it gave us some good nuggets.

This looks good in a weird way. I love Jon Favreau’s work, and anything Ron Howard puts his name on is usually good. Just ask all those jaded Arrested Development fans.

While I have a child-like giddy anticipation for Captain America, this is the trailer that makes my heart beat faster in anticipation. Super 8 has been called J.J. Abrams’ tribute to Speilberg, and this trailer seems to prove that.

I want to see this movie.

Honorable mention goes to: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Limitless, Rango, and Transformers 3.

Pirates and Transformers are a hard sell for me, as I didn’t see the third Pirates nor the second Transformers.

Unless Disney makes a Pirates & Transformers to compete with Cowboys & Aliens. I think I could dig that.

What was your favorite trailer?

Soundtrack of the Week: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

As winter weather tears across half of the country, why not curl up with a classic?

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the first full-length animated feature (83 minutes in length) in color and with sound, one of Disney’s greatest films, and a pioneering classic tale in film history.

The risk-taking film made use of the multi-plane camera (first used in Disney’s own animated, Oscar-winning Silly Symphonies short, The Old Mill (1937)) to create an illusion of depth. It introduced human characters (the jealous Queen, the Huntsman, the Prince, and Snow White herself) modeled on live actors, and used larger painted cels and drawing boards. It took almost four years and an astronomical (at the time) $1.7 million to

 

create, and was released for its premiere during the Christmas season of 1937. Its single nomination was for Best Score. For the film’s remarkable achievement, Walt Disney was awarded with an Honorary Oscar – the film was “recognized as a significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field for the motion picture cartoon.”

The soundtrack to the film was the first commercially issued film soundtrack. It was released in January 1938 as Songs from Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (with the Same Characters and Sound Effects as in the Film of That Title) and has since seen numerous expansions and reissues.

Gnomeo and Juliet soundtrack features new music from Elton John

The Gnomeo and Juliet film soundtrack, slated for release by Buena Vista Records on February 8, will feature music from Elton John.

The Disney film hits theaters on February 11. The album features 14 tracks – nine of which have been composed and performed by Elton John. Tracks include the new single “Hello Hello” (on which John duets with Lady Gaga) and “Crocodile Rock” (his 1973 hit, remade as a duet with Nelly Furtado).

The album also includes various tracks from Oscar-nominated composerJames Newton Howard (a former member of John’s band) and from Chris Bacon – both of whom incorporate John hits such as “Rocket Man,” “Bennie & The Jets,” and “I’m Still Standing.”

John served as executive producer for the Disney adaptation of William Shakespeare’s classic love story and recently attended the film’s London premiere.

Trailer of the Week: Stranger than Fiction

Probably one of the more interesting cast movies in the 00’s, Stranger than Fiction featured film legends Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman.  The cast was rounded out by Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Queen Latifah. It almost seemed like a pass the torch movie, handing down movie tradition to a new generation.

The film is brilliantly acted. Ferrell doesn’t play his usual off-the-cuff improv funny man, but a more reserved, serious character.

Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) is an auditor for the Internal Revenue Service, living his entire life based on the timing of his wristwatch. He is given the job to audit an intentionally tax-delinquent baker, Ana Pascal (Maggie Gyllenhaal) to whom he is awkwardly attracted. On the same day, he begins hearing the voice of a woman that is omnisciently narrating the events in his life, but he is unable to communicate with the voice. On his way home, Harold’s watch stops working and he resets it using the time given by a bystander; the voice narrates “little did he know that this simple, seemingly innocuous act would result in his imminent death”.

Harold attempts to change his fate, becoming a different person (read: better person) along the way.

Stranger than Fiction is one that you come away from thinking: ‘That was a good movie’

Soundtrack of the Week: The Magnificent Seven

Ah, the Western. That classic American genre about cowboys, bandits, and the taming of the Wild West. It defined a music genre of its own.

The Magnificent Seven is a 1960 American western film directed by John Sturges about a group of hired gunmen protecting a Mexican village from bandits. In the end, many of the seven are slain in a shootout with the bandits, but ultimately inspire the village to stand up and defend itself.

It is a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 film, Seven Samurai.

The film’s score along with the main theme is by Elmer Bernstein. The score was nominated for an Academy Award in 1961. The original soundtrack was not released at the time until reused and rerecorded by Bernstein for the soundtrack of Return of the Seven. Instead electric guitar cover versionsby Al Caiola in the US and John Barry in the UK were successful on the popular charts. A vocal theme not written by Bernstein was used in a trailer.

Starting in 1963, the theme was used in commercials in the USA for Marlboro cigarettes. A similar-sounding (but different) tune was used for Victoria Bitter beer in Australia. The theme was included in the James Bond film Moonraker (also from United Artists). Other uses include a passage on an album by the rock band Yes in the early 1970s; in the 2004 documentary film Fahrenheit 9/11; in the 2005 film The Ringer; as entrance music for the British band James, as well as episodes of The Simpsons that had a “western” theme (mainly in the episode titled “Dude, Where’s My Ranch?”). The opening horn riff in Arthur Conley’s 1967 hit “Sweet Soul Music” is borrowed from the theme.