VARIOUS – BUFFALO 66 THE ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK (WILL RECORDS)
For quite a while I found myself obsessed with the movie Buffalo 66. When it first emerged on satellite TV it was only ever shown in the early hours and more than a couple of times I would find myself cutting drunken nights short to head home and watch it on Sky. The film arrived in my life at a time where all the pieces fit. Like Billy Brown I felt that things generally represented something of a lost cause, everyone around me was just as fucked up as me and that revenge was the key. In Buffalo 66 though, despite all these negative connotations, it all still seemed cool and adventurous. Perhaps by listening to the music on this record I may find my own Christina Ricci also.
In the end I wound up paying almost £20 for this CD on import buying it from the soundtrack section in the Virgin Megastore on the corner of Oxford Street. Over the years however it has proved worth every penny.
Much like the movie the soundtrack begins with “Lonely Boy” by Gallo himself, a song that fails to stop short of creepy considering its author but with this it manages to retain a strange kind of beauty with a sentiment that could be seen as self pitying coming from a different direction. For once this entails positive baggage and more a declaration of self awareness as opposed to wallowing in sadness. The peace that accompanies this piece is a rare angelic expression from an individual so awash in a desperate mindset and situation.
Soon several tracks of harrowing ambience (“A Wet Cleaner”) and urban beats and grind (“Drowning In Brown”) serve to give both the movie and soundtrack some kind of pace/groove/rhythm, a pulse that drives proceedings forwards and on.
Right now as I write this I am playing this record very loudly with the windows open in the hope that it annoys the neighbours. This is a contention that feels rather apt to this release at this time. And now I am genuinely great moment playing desk keyboards to “Heart Of The Sunrise” followed by rum drunkenly singing along to “Sweetness”. More of that later.
I genuinely believe that this album is a magnificent piece of work, a record worthy of the opinion that Gallo probably has of it. Within it manages to perfectly convey and express the emotion of such exciting troubled times in a manner that manages to squeeze out emotions from the listener as designed and intended.
Towering on the record are the prog rock selections, the cuts from King Crimson and Yes. This all comes from Gallo’s odd appreciation and fondness for music of such ilk (which once saw me suggesting that my boss should work with Gallo for some credibility). Due to the connotations of the use of “Heart Of The Sunrise” in the movie a whole new meaning and intensity gets drawn and attached to the song. Seldom rarely in film has a song been stapled to a sequence in such a powerful and exciting manner. With this appearance a whole new level of credibility and coolness is lent to the track, a feat that would be pretty impossible to muster in more cynically driven hands. It is Yes for fucks sake, a favourite band of beards the age of your dad.
Eventually the record comes to a dour close with another of Gallo’s workouts (as opposed to the upbeat ending in the movie that comes from Yes). It’s a mixture gesture with a mixed judgement.
This was the sound of being truly indie cool at the turn of the century.
Thesaurus moment: arsehole.
Vincent Gallo
Buffalo 66
Will Records
For quite a while I found myself obsessed with the movie Buffalo 66. When it first emerged on satellite TV it was only ever shown in the early hours and more than a couple of times I would find myself cutting drunken nights short to head home and watch it on Sky. The film arrived in my life at a time where all the pieces fit. Like Billy Brown I felt that things generally represented something of a lost cause, everyone around me was just as fucked up as me and that revenge was the key. In Buffalo 66 though, despite all these negative connotations, it all still seemed cool and adventurous. Perhaps by listening to the music on this record I may find my own Christina Ricci also.
In the end I wound up paying almost £20 for this CD on import buying it from the soundtrack section in the Virgin Megastore on the corner of Oxford Street. Over the years however it has proved worth every penny.
Much like the movie the soundtrack begins with “Lonely Boy” by Gallo himself, a song that fails to stop short of creepy considering its author but with this it manages to retain a strange kind of beauty with a sentiment that could be seen as self pitying coming from a different direction. For once this entails positive baggage and more a declaration of self awareness as opposed to wallowing in sadness. The peace that accompanies this piece is a rare angelic expression from an individual so awash in a desperate mindset and situation.
Soon several tracks of harrowing ambience (“A Wet Cleaner”) and urban beats and grind (“Drowning In Brown”) serve to give both the movie and soundtrack some kind of pace/groove/rhythm, a pulse that drives proceedings forwards and on.
Right now as I write this I am playing this record very loudly with the windows open in the hope that it annoys the neighbours. This is a contention that feels rather apt to this release at this time. And now I am genuinely great moment playing desk keyboards to “Heart Of The Sunrise” followed by rum drunkenly singing along to “Sweetness”. More of that later.
I genuinely believe that this album is a magnificent piece of work, a record worthy of the opinion that Gallo probably has of it. Within it manages to perfectly convey and express the emotion of such exciting troubled times in a manner that manages to squeeze out emotions from the listener as designed and intended.
Towering on the record are the prog rock selections, the cuts from King Crimson and Yes. This all comes from Gallo’s odd appreciation and fondness for music of such ilk (which once saw me suggesting that my boss should work with Gallo for some credibility). Due to the connotations of the use of “Heart Of The Sunrise” in the movie a whole new meaning and intensity gets drawn and attached to the song. Seldom rarely in film has a song been stapled to a sequence in such a powerful and exciting manner. With this appearance a whole new level of credibility and coolness is lent to the track, a feat that would be pretty impossible to muster in more cynically driven hands. It is Yes for fucks sake, a favourite band of beards the age of your dad.
Eventually the record comes to a dour close with another of Gallo’s workouts (as opposed to the upbeat ending in the movie that comes from Yes). It’s a mixture gesture with a mixed judgement.
This was the sound of being truly indie cool at the turn of the century.
Thesaurus moment: arsehole.
Vincent Gallo
Buffalo 66
Will Records
No comments:
Post a Comment