Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Songs In Cinema: 'That Summer!'

This week we'll take a listen to some of my favorite soundtracks. Wes Anderson's films will be noticeably absent since I covered every one of his flicks back in the fall.

I'm going to come out of the gate with the single most important collection of songs from my youth. That's quite an odd statement when you consider I have NEVER seen the film. 'That Summer!' is a British flick that came out in 1979. It stars a very young (and skinny) Ray Winstone of 'Sexy Beast' fame. See the bottom of this post for the only two minutes I have ever seen from the movie. It's difficult to realize now, but all of the songs were no more than a couple of years old when the film was released.

Because of my age, I didn't buy the soundtrack until 1983. I quickly learned there wasn't a bad moment on either side of the cool gold vinyl. Many of the artists -- Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Ian Dury, Ramones -- would help shape my musical taste for the whole of my teen years, but there were other bands I probably never would have heard without stumbling on this record. Eddie & The Hot Rods, Zones and Undertones still sound as fresh as they did more than 30 years ago. Here is the tracklist and a link to a couple of copies for sale on eBay. The following mp3s are ripped right from my three-decade-old vinyl.

Side A
1. Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll - Ian Dury And The Blockheads
2. Spanish Stroll - Mink DeVille
3. (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea - Elvis Costello
4. She's So Modern - The Boomtown Rats (mp3)
5. New Life - Zones (mp3)
6. Another Girl, Another Planet - The Only Ones (mp3)
7. Whole Wide World - Wreckless Eric
8. Because The Night - The Patti Smith Group (mp3)

Side B
1. Kicks - The Boomtown Rats
2. Rockaway Beach - The Ramones
3. Teenage Kicks - The Undertones
4. Do Anything You Wanna Do - Eddie & The Hot Rods (mp3)
5. What A Waste - Ian Dury And The Blockheads
6. I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass - Nick Lowe
7. Watching The Detectives - Elvis Costello
8. Blank Generation - Richard Hell & The Voidoids (mp3)

2 comments:

Holly A Hughes said...

This looks like a fantastic film, and an even better soundtrack. I will have to hunt for this one! Thanks so much for the tip.

Brian said...

Hi Holly. Thanks for checking in, and good luck finding the film. It's a tough one. The hunt, of course, is half the fun, eh? You should be able to get a hold of the soundtrack.