22 August 2013 (Day 234) – Two Albums With Cinematic Links

It was another busy day at work, with only enough time to play a couple of albums.  Both have links to the cinema without actually being movie soundtracks.  The first is by a Northern Irish DJ turned musician who, in addition to his own albums, has produced a number of movie soundtracks;

(# 551) David Holmes – Dow Down To The Exit Sign (2000)

Best known for composing the soundtracks for the Ocean’s Eleven films, David Holmes has also put together a number of great albums under his own name which mix rock, soul, blues, punk and other genres that sound like a ready made soundtrack.  Indeed, he subsequently lifted the wonderful instrumental 69 Police (with it’s “woo-hoo” Sympathy For The Devil inspired shouts) from this album and directly placed it into the Ocean’s Eleven soundtrack.  He also collaborates with a number of established artists.  Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie contributes and sings on Sick City (later released by the Scream on the Live In Japan album) and Jon Spencer provides Bad Thing which wouldn’t sound out of place on any of his albums with the Blues Explosion.   Gillespie and Martine Topley-Bird also lend their voices to Slip Your Skin, a track that sounds like an ambient form of punk. But picking out tracks is really a futile task as this is an album that is meant to be listened in a single session.

(# 552) The Propellerheads – Decksanddrumsandrockandroll (1998)

The Propellerheads was the name (apparently a slang term for the word nerd) chosen by electronic duo Will White and Alex Gifford.  This album attracted attention immediately upon release for their inspired reworking incorptaing beats and strings courtesy of future James Bond composer David Arnold, on the theme music for the Bond movie On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.  This near 10 minute track provides the spine of the album and works well with the non related Bond tracks either side, practically forming a mini suite.  One of these tracks, Bang On, was also used in the movie version of Lost In Space.  The Bond connection is also maintained by Shirley Bassey’s vocals on the hit History Repeating and the superb closing track, Spybreak!, was subsequently used in The Matrix.