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A movie score can really help solidify a film’s power and overall epicness. I’ll collect movie soundtracks from time to time. These aren’t the bands featured in the movie, of course. I thought I’d share some of my favorite soundtracks and why they’re so phenomenal.

Passion
I can’t say precisely when I heard this album first, likely my freshman year of college. Peter Gabriel is a very talented musician, that’s simple, but stepping out of his normal role to put this out is an amazing achievement. Sweeping soundscapes from another world (to an American, at least), this soundtrack is an emotional journey. However cheesy that might sound, it is true. Though I saw this movie once an age ago, it is so powerful even without the film to guide it. The title track is amazing, a super example of how deep and compelling this style of music can be.

Conan The Barbarian
As a young boy, this type of movie is what made me love swords and sorcery. Arnold was the man. This defines my youth to an extent and to this day I love this movie and its accompanying soundtrack. It is powerful but has slower, softer parts as well. From the beginning “In the time when the oceans drank Atlantis…” to the peaceful Orphans Of Doom outro, it’s a marvelous journey of sword and steel. Riddle Of Steel/Riders Of Doom is what it’s all about. Horns, chants, booming drums. Fuck Yeah!!! Then, try if you will, try to listen to The Orgy and not hum that tune all day long. It’s not an emotional record like the other two entries on this list are, but it is the most powerful, just as a movie with Arnold and swords should be. \m/

House Of Flying Daggers
For a while, I watched all the big movies coming out of China. There was simply nothing like it in the U.S. and the cultural difference shows in both the cinematography and the storytelling. This film is not my favorite of the bunch; it is more a love story after all. However, of all those films, this movie’s soundtrack is by far the best, and just very well be the best movie soundtrack of all time. I can listen to this at any time, whether I’m looking for an upbeat, strong drive or an emotionally powerful experience. The Lovers Theme is repeated in several forms and each is as amazing as the prior, culminating in the Mei And Jin version…it gives me chills it’s that good. Even the English version grew on me. Farewell No. 2 – Oh, so phenomenal. Listening to it as I write this solidifies my opinion…the best soundtrack ever.

This entry was posted on April 5, 2012 at 01:04 and is filed under Best / Worst, Blog, Music, Reviews . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.