Soundtrack: Harold and Maude
Composer(s): Cat Stevens
Year: 1974
Genre(s): folk rock

DOWNLOAD -- Harold and Maude

36 years after the film's release, an official soundtrack came out in an edition of 2500 on Cameron Crowe's vinyl films this year.

There’s been a hole in the fabric of the film/music world for many, many, many years: late-great director Hal Ashby’s bizarre, romantic masterpiece Harold and Maude was blessed with a Cat Steven’s soundtrack (one that featured two songs written specifically for the film) that never truly saw the light of day. Yes, “Don’t Be Shy” and “If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out” were released on the Footsteps in the Dark compilation in ‘84, but besides that the original sound track of the film has gone unreleased.

Over two years in the making, the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to Harold and Maude comes with an extensive 36-page full-color booklet filled with never-before-seen photographs and an oral history of the making of the film and the music, as told by the filmmakers and participants. Also included is a bonus 7″ single with unreleased versions of “Don’t Be Shy” and “If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out”, two suitable-for-framing posters, and much more!

Available only on 2500 copies of Limited Edition Vinyl.

Soundtrack: Valerie and Her Week of Wonders
Composer/Artist(s): Lubos Fiser
Year: 1970 (original film release), 2007 (soundtrack release)
Genre(s): Psychedelic Folk

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DOWNLOAD -- Valerie & Her Week Of Wonders

After two weeks of posting 80's Films, I thought I would change things up a bit and post a hallucinogenic surrealistic Czech folk piece...

Lubos Fiser creates an alternate universe for character exploration in this bizarre and magical world of wonders. The score samples a variety of acoustic instruments and integrates them into songs of mystery, paranoia and romance. Much like the film, the score leaves a vivd tone of intrigue.

Apparently it was Finder's Keepers that much of the credit goes to for this soundtrack finally seeing the light of day. According to this press release it wasn't until last year that a virgin release of this gem on black vinyl and CD was made available. It took 12 years of Eastern European phone calls & digging through record crates that made it possible for the release. I heard the title track on WFMU's record blog last year while photoshopping dog clothing for this website (worst freelance job ever!) and was immediately drawn into the intrigue and beauty of the score. Soon, I added it to my queue and had no idea what to expect. The film is amazing. It's basically a Czech new-wave surrealistic film about a teenage beauty confronted by her sexual awakening in her sleep. These subconscious and surrealistic moments are haunted by varying degrees of Lewis Carrol inspired (?) hallucinations.

VALERIE SHORT SCENE


Some cool quotes I found...
"Lubos Fiser provides what is perhaps the greatest musical score of all the maligned Czech New Wave feature-films with a gossamer-fragile blend of pastoral-orchestral folk songs and clockwork harpsichords. From the very first delicate chord to the final crescendo this joyous sound is as addictive as the bizarre imagery seen in this seldom celebrated cinematic gem." -Finder's Keeper's



"It was like a door had been opened in my subconscious and fragments of memories and dreams rejoiced right there in my living room. I became very possessive over my copied version, a VHS to cassette copy which hissed like it had been captured from another world. I would surprise friends with snippets of the theme, it never failed to get a curious "Who's this?" I was continually asked to make a copies but I had no intentions of making copies for anyone. The ritual chanting, the sections of catholic mass, the czech hymns were mine, the cogs sequence, the acoustic love song, the room of cogs all mine." -Trish Keenan



If you are desperately interested and don't have Netflix or a decent video store, search 'Valerie and her week of Wonders' on You Tube... the whole thing is up (in ten parts!) but its censored. Nudity and Violence taken out. I would recommend watching it on DVD or VHS over YouTube.