Film-score-palooza!

In honor of Trent Reznor winning a Golden Globe last week for his soundtrack for "The Social Network," i feel compelled to give you my Top 10 best film scores. These are the soundtracks that i can listen to over and over again, just as if they were pop records.

1. Once Upon A Time In The West - Really, you could pretty much put everything Ennio Morricone has done on this list. Everything he did from Westerns to Giallos to Horror were top notch. His scores make bad movies better, and they make good movies divine. Sergio Leone's "Once Upon A Time In The West" is the director's masterpiece as well as some of Morricone's very best work. It's beautiful. It's haunting. The music actually paints a picture. You can't top this. You really can't.

2. Edward Scissorhands - Danny Elfman's score is the best thing he's ever done (runners-up being Beetlejuice and Batman). It's sad, beautiful music that always reminds me of Christmas time. Nostalgia and melancholy.

3. There Will Be Blood - This soundtrack always puts me in the darkest mood. That's not always a good thing, but it's a powerful piece of music. Jonny Greenwood really hit one out of the park here, and i expect to get more from the Radiohead guitarist in the future.

4. Valerie And Her Week Of Wonders - Finders Keepers compiled and issued the soundtrack to this Czech film a few years ago. Lubos Fiser creates a surreal soundscape comprised of village music, haunting chants, and gentle melodies. It's unbelievably good.

5. Twin Peaks - Angelo Badalamenti has done some great stuff for David Lynch. This is the best, and if you want to throw Julee Cruise into the musical mix too, then by all means do it. Moody, sexy, mysterio-music.

6. Suspiria - Goblin can do no wrong when it comes to film music (see Dawn of the Dead, Profondo Rossi, Phenomena, etc.). To think that European prog rock should set the tone for a film about witches and a ballet school seems funny, but it works so well.

7. Vampyros Lesbos - Erotica films always get the best scores. Maybe it's because you gotta have some sexy music to go along with all the sex on screen. That sounds good. "Vampyros Lesbos" is no exception. German composers Manfred Hubler and Siegfried Schwab create some groovy go-go music to get down to. To hear it is to love it.

8. Inception - A newer film, so everything hasn't quite settled completely into place yet, but the Hans Zimmer soundtrack was really the first thing to peak my interest when i saw the trailer for the film. It's perfect.

9. Being John Malkovich - The Carter Burwell score for Spike Jonzes' big screen debut feels like a sad, self-reflecting piano ballad. And that's pretty much what it is. It goes hand in hand with the film's moods and themes.

10. The Empire Strikes Back - We're talking film music here. You've got to put something by John Williams on the list. He's responsible for some of the most recognizable movie music ever put to tape (Jaws, Indiana Jones, ET, etc, etc, etc.), but this one's my favorite. It's got all the fun and adventure a space opera should have, but just like the film, the music has this kind of transitional nostalgic vibe to it. The music feels like longing for something.


So there you go. I've probably left dozens of great scores off of this list. I know i have. What should i have included? Hmm?