Rach's Musical Brain - December Download

Look at me, failing once again to write this in November and being prepared... HA!

But hey, why do it early when you can spend some isolation time writing about some of your favourite tracks instead.

Yes, in case you haven't read my December blog post yet, I have got Covid (today's date is 14 Dec and I have 4 more days of isolation left) but I am thankfully doing okay, with the only symptoms being a mild-to-bad cold. My smell is yet to reappear, but I was also thankful I only lost full taste for 2 days, and that it is returning to me, once tastebud at a time. (Little update, Boxing Day, my taste has returned, but smell it seems might be lost to me for a while longer!!)

Now, onto business. Musical business.

As ever, you know where to look. The old one is here, where you can revisit old favourites (by no means are they any LESS favourite) and the current playlist, with the tracks below, are all here.

The only thing left for me to say is that I hope you enjoy them :D and, now that I am off for Christmas, I wish you all a wonderful Christmas break 🎄 and a very Happy New Year!

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NUMBER 15.

Paint the Silence - South

Who here misses The OC? My hand will most definitely fly up here. The OC was the ORIGINAL teen drama that came on when Josie and I were in full fledged teenage mode. The OC aired in 2003, and the first season was one of my favourite teen series that has ever been. Even One Tree Hill can't top it, and everyone knows how much I love One Tree Hill. This song is one of my favourites, because aside from Clark and Lois from Smallville, Ryan and Marissa were one of my favourite TV couples, if not the absolute favourite. It was the original Bad Boy-Good Girl couple I have based my book characters Jasper and Libby on in Whirlwind, and they will always be a top 5 couple to me because they were the first TV couple I had enough teen angst to care about. I think I'm due a rewatch. Update. We are rewatching. And we’ve just watched this episode. Iconic.

NUMBER 14.

Eternals Theme - Ramin Djawadi

I still haven't seen this film enough times to warrant any kind of understanding of the characters or the sheer mass of backstory these guys all had packed into nearly 2.5 hours. But one thing I did have to time to understand was the immense soundtrack behind how powerful these characters truly are. Ikaris (blue costumed Richard Madden in the middle there) is literally described as Superman, Druig (far right) has the power to control all minds on Earth at any given moment and Kingo (far left) literally has finger guns... which is my signature dance move, in case anyone is wondering. Eternals has also given us our first deaf superhero in Makkari, our first child superhero in Sprite and our first and most-hateable superhero in Eros (spoiler free name, but to find out who he is, watch the mid-credit scene to become as enraged as I did). One might say Ramin Djawadi has reunited with some cast members, given he scored the entirety of Game of Thrones, but even though we had a whole movie worth of incredible tracks - some of which will probably make it onto future monthly downloads - I'm still focussing on the Theme. A superhero theme is the jewel in the crown of a good soundtrack. Just like the Superman or Batman themes, from John Williams and Hans Zimmer respectively, a superhero theme is what should stand the test of time, and I love this theme because it has so many intricacies to it. You can hear the complexity in the music here, the interwoven stories, the different abilities, and that's what I love about each of the Eternals. They're each so different from the other, with none having powers that are similar, each bringing their own strengths, and each track for each hero is beautiful in its own way, and I can't wait to explore these tracks more, and to see this film more. Although I am never watching that credit scene ever again. Ever. EVER!

NUMBER 13.

Elephants in the Night - Rupert Gregson-Williams

"The Taika say that elephant's eyes speak the greatest language. Who else can make you feel so much without a word." I love this track. I love the softness of it, like a comfort. Here, Tarzan is greeting an elephant who was once his family in the deep of the night, and I love the love and feeling you can hear in the music about 1m20s in. As Tarzan, feeling so much without a word. It's a softer version of the track you hear at the beginning of the film, but you can hear that comfort Tarzan feels as you watch him greet the elephant, and just know he feels more and more at home with each new scene. And the little baby elephant, CUTE.

NUMBER 12.

Head & Heart (feat. MNEK) - Joel Corry, MNEK

I have Josie to thank for this one. Another one where she's in charge of the radio on the way home and she chooses a banger. There's nothing special about this one other than I can't stop listening to it at the moment. I think it was a TikTok banger, so naturally it must have been in my head from all the reels and TikTok videos I got stuck in holes with at the beginning of lockdown!

NUMBER 11.

Roar - Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso

Whenever I hear this song, I think of this scene. I'm sure, just the same as all the rest of you, you have all used this dance move on a friend who didn't want to get up on the dance floor... I know I have. And you'll all know that it works (mostly). In terms of how the film goes though, I actually was quite surprised by how good this was. Although there were some slight continuity errors with Monsters Inc, I still enjoyed it all the same... especially the complete turnaround you see with Randall - potential good guy to complete bad guy - and the strength of greatest Pixar friendship of all time. Mike and Sulley. I played this at a friend's house the other day, and he said to choose the beatiest song I knew, and I tell you what, this song sounds amazing at full volume with a sound bar. I mean, I love it just in my headphones (up to 100 of course) but it really works!

NUMBER 10.

Take Her to Sea, Mr Murdoch - James Horner

"Take her sea, Mr Murdoch. Let's stretch her legs." Although people always ask my top tens in terms of films, I always say that Titanic isn't on it, or rather I never think about it because why would your favourite film be about a real-life tragic disaster. But what REALLY makes this film for me, is James Horner's amazing soundtrack. Titanic's soundtrack is unmistakable, and it's fun, it's sad, it's tragic and of course it's incredible, because it came from the mind of James Horner and James Cameron. Now, in this scene, it starts with Captain Bernard Hill (not the real Captain's name) telling First Officer Mr Murdoch to stretch Titanic's legs, with nothing out in front of her except water, and ends with Jack and Fabrizzio standing at the front of the ship, shouting about going home and watching the dolphins jump in front of the ship. You can hear the engines working in the first section, you can hear the joy and you can hear the excitement at around 1m30s and then you can hear the pride in the track as it comes to a close... Incidentally, Jack's "I'm King of the world" cheering comes at 3m...! :D

NUMBER 9.

You can fly! You can fly! You can fly! - The Jud Conlon Chorus

This is my FAVOURITE Disney scene ever, and I am so glad they kept this scene in the new film, and please don't ask me why, but I always get really teary when you hear Nana going frantic at the fact the children are flying away. I miss the fact that Disney films don't have these kinds of sequences anymore, and that the tracks don't come out the same way in the soundtracks (with the scene as well as the music)

NUMBER 8.

Peter Pan Flying - Bergmann and Bartkowski

For some unknown reason, this soundtrack is no longer on Spotify, but I always feel comforted I can always find it on my phone, as I was forward-thinking enough to buy the CD. This Peter Pan of 2003 is probably still one of my favourite live-action children's films, and although this track itself isn't from the film itself, those of you who have seen the film as many times as I have will recognise each and every part of it. I'm going to see if Josie will want to watch it, but I feel like it will have to be rewatched at some point in any case. The actual soundtrack is scored by the amazing James Newton Howard, and if you want to experience how poignant and emotional his music is in this film, just watch this clip here to see how it will get you shouting 'I do believe in fairies' just as much as the rest of us!

NUMBER 7.

It's Not OK - George Kallis

This scene is sad, and you can hear that in the music here. Spoilers ahead, but having just caught his mum having a late-night triste with Vance (when his mum was supposed to be marrying someone else the next day) Hardin's pain goes through the roof as he tries to deal with the fact his world is starting to fall apart again after he had been working so hard to start putting it together. In the scene, Tessa goes upstairs to try and comfort him afterwards, telling him 'It's okay', but Hardin turns around, falling to his knees saying 'It's not okay'. This was one of the only tracks that the After team hinted at whilst doing their promotions before the movie in October, and I'll be honest, it made me really really excited. I mean you guys know how much I am obsessed with the soundtrack from the first two films by Justin Burnett, but I feel like this one is on another level because the characters and stories are on other levels here too. Despite the soundtrack only coming out in October, this song has made it into my Top Songs of 2021 in Spotify, and given I spent weeks listening to the album over and over, I'm not really surprised.

NUMBER 6.

Another Day - RENT! Chorus

A topical one, given Tick Tick Boom just came out - a film I am yet to watch. This one is my favourite from Rent, despite not being the main song which everyone remembers. The pairing above, including the brilliant Rosario Dawson, are my favourites in that film. I’ve only heard great things from Tick Tick Boom, and it’s great to see AGarfs in something, as I haven’t seen him in anything for ages (aside from The Amazing Spider-Man rewatches), it’s just such a shame that such an amazing talent died so young 😔

NUMBER 5.

You Belong With Me - Taylor Swift

WHO ELSE WANTS THIS MUSIC VIDEO TO BE MADE INTO A MOVIE?!?!?!?!?! MEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! In this album, Taylor Swift had the knack for making 3 minute music videos that crammed an entire 1.5 hour teen romcom into one, and I was absolutely here for it! Short and sweet for this one, but this TSwizzle track will remain top of the list in terms of favourites. Forever and always.

NUMBER 4.

There She Goes - The La's

This film was my absolute favourite growing up. I even nearly performed this scene as a talent show entry (sadly we didn't get in) and this track is when Hallie / Annie (Hallie pretending to be Annie) is looking at all the sights of London, on her way to meeting her mum for the first time since she was a baby. The idea of this story though, splitting twin sisters up so the parents can have a child each, is ridiculous... am I right? I mean, I know they're ten but if I found out my parents had split me up from identical twin, I don't think I would ever forgive them. This song though, I love it. And whenever I hear it, I always think of this scene... even if I hear it another movie!

NUMBER 3.

Verge - Owl City, Aloe Blacc

My old faithful, Owl City <3 and I use this track to warm up my voice before I start belting out the tunes in the car as it has actually got a pretty good range for an alto. You can't go wrong with Owl City for me, and although I have only heard his song used in a film once - Legend of the Guardians (the film with the animated owls) - if you say Owl City to anybody, they know who he is. Josie hates most of his songs because 'they don't have any kind of climax', and because none of them make sense... but as I said before, that's why I love them so much. So, if you're an alto and you need to warm up your voice... this track's your thang.

NUMBER 2.

Someone To You (Acoustic) - Banners

THERE'S AN ACOUSTIC VERSION! Unfortunately it's not as good as the original in the first After movie, but it still got me excited to hear it. There will always be a special place in my heart for all the songs in these movies, even ones only affiliated by the fact it's the same song, only acoustic. Christmas came a little bit early to Afternators when a trailer for After Ever Happy came out on the 24th, which means we are due the last After movie in August at some point, which makes me very happy... although sad that we have to say goodbye to the series, and Josephine and Hero. Some day I'll be able to buy the blu-rays, as a part of me knows they won't be on Amazon Prime forever, and I don't want to lose my copies!!!

NUMBER 1.

Mars - Harry Gregson-Williams

Now... interesting fact about me. Not a fan of the space movie. I didn't like Gravity, in fact I was probably one of the few that had to turn it off (and not just because it was making me feel dizzy) and I genuinely hated Interstellar (another confusing Nolan epic that just didn't take the biscuit for me!). So you'll all be thinking, well The Martian is a space film, how come you like that one. Well, even though its set in space, it doesn't feel like its set in space, because the only space bit you see is basically at the end... and that bit's cool. What this film also has, which Gravity and Interstellar don't have, is Matt Damon. Matt Damon is my constant solace in acting, as he's an all-round nice guy and he genuinely makes REALLY good movies, and the fact this is a partial comedy where he's making light of the fact he's been marooned on Mars with only his Commander's disco music for company... well let's just say he does it really well. It's sometimes hard, I reckon (I can't draw on experience here) to act completely on your own for 7/8ths of the movie, but Matt Damon does it really well. But anyway, the score. Harry Gregson-Williams' score brings out both the beauty and expanse of Mars here, but also the danger. But what I also love is that you can hear the solace and the loneliness in the music. If you haven't watched The Martian yet, I really do recommend it, and not just because of Matt Damon. The story is epic, the cinematography is next-to-none, and the soundtrack is out of this world (if I do say so myself!).

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I still have no idea how it takes me so long to write these, because I love writing about music... but I suppose it's been a little bit busy, despite being trapped inside for most of December thanks to Covid. But what matters is that it arrived in December, which it has :D

I know I say it every month, but I really do love these tracks, and quite a lot of them are topical for rewatches now begun for December (including The OC) as well as easy listening for long car journeys too and from our Christmas location!

Remember, the old playlist Rachel's TOP 10s (previous weeks) is here, and then the new one, with the commentary above, can be found here, on Rachel's TOP 10s. ENJOY!!