I’m interrupting my regularly scheduled blog topics to insert a very important post about Baz Luhrman, movie soundtracks, and how single song downloads have changed the way we listen to music. Yes, that’s right, this is a Great Gatsby OST post!
First off, listen to the soundtrack. You can either sample it on iTunes (I think it released yesterday) or listen to the whole album free on NPR: First Listen: Music From Baz Luhrman’s Film The Great Gatsby.
Now, personally, I’ve got real soft spots for previous Baz Luhrman soundtracks such as Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge. The music from Romeo + Juliet instantly takes me back to grade 10. Everyone had that CD. I remember a couple of the older kids in our drama class even created this cool contemporary routine with the Radiohead song on that soundtrack in the background. Not only that, the artists selected for the album and their varying styles of music are so indicative of the time period; grungy rock giving way to peppy pop.
The Moulin Rouge soundtrack isn’t quite the same, since it was a musical itself a lot of the movie’s songs are included on it. But I think the runaway hit from the soundtrack, Lady Marmalade with Pink and Lil Kim and Christina Aguilera and Mya, kind of sums up the time period well in itself. Trashy pop y’all!
The thing about the above two soundtracks is that I bought them as CDs. And while it’s relatively easy to skip around to your favourite songs, it’s much easier to just listen to the whole thing in one sitting. Which means that you eventually learn to enjoy most of the songs, while your favourites are little nuggets of joy in the course of your listening experience. That’s how it used to be. But with the advent of iTunes, you don’t need to get the whole album anymore. You download your favourites and leave the rest alone. That’s how I usually do it these days, haven’t listened to a whole album through since maybe 2005. Until now!
If you clicked on the link above, you’ll see that there’s a 57 minute track with the whole Gatsby album on it. And I’m kind of digging listening to the whole thing as opposed to my favourite 3 songs. And the best part is that all the songs are good, but when my favourites pop up... nugget of joy! It’s making me very nostalgic for that old way we listened to music. Anyways, my favourites are:
“Over The Love” by Florence + The Machine – her singing is so epic and it almost feels like they couldn’t create a score to match that epicness. ;)
“Hearts A Mess” by Gotye – this is WAY better than his song with Kimbra. It gives me a lot of “Talk Show Host” by Radiohead (from the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack) feels.
“Into The Past” by Nero – the closest thing to dubstep on the album, which y’all knew had to be represented for our current time period. It’s got a dreamy electronic feel to it.
Overall, extremely enjoyable album; I like it better than Moulin Rouge but Romeo + Juliet still holds the #1 spot.
Rating: 8/10
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