Week: Fri 17th Nov to Thu 23rd Nov
Format: CD
Producer: Nora Felder
Track listing:
1. INTRO - Will singing The Clash (dialogue)
2. Every Breath You Take THE POLICE
3. Should I Stay or Should I Go THE CLASH
4. "Coffee and contemplation" (dialogue) *
5. Hazy Shade of Winter THE BANGLES
6. Nocturnal Me ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN
7. "Bring him home!" (dialogue)
8. Sunglasses at Night COREY HART
9. Girls on Film DURAN DURAN
10. "Just because people tell you..." (dialogue)
11. Atmosphere JOY DIVISION
12. "Maybe I'm crazy..." (dialogue)
13. Twist of Fate OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN *
14. "Says logic" (dialogue)
15. The Ghost in You THE PSYCHEDELIC FURS *
16. Africa TOTO
17. You Don't Mess Around With Jim JIM CROCE *
18. "Accident or not" (dialogue)
19. Whip It DEVO
20. Runaway BON JOVI
21. Time After Time CYNDI LAUPER
22. Talking In Your Sleep THE ROMANTICS
23. "Mouthbreather" (dialogue)
24. Back To Nature FAD GADGET
25. "She's our friend and she's crazy!" (dialogue)
26. Rock You Like a Hurricane THE SCORPIONS
27. Heroes PETER GABRIEL *
28. "Friends don't lie" (dialogue)
29. Elegia NEW ORDER *
30. OUTRO - Will Singing The Clash (dialogue)
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 77:35
Like most Stranger Things fans, the music used in the TV series is a major part of the attraction. After watching the first season I was particularly taken by the original score by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein. Their work was an awesome hybrid of Tangerine Dream and John Carpenter, and so many scenes benefited from their synth-heavy soundscapes. I was lucky enough to have some vouchers for iTunes on hand, and bought both volumes of the soundtrack before they were physically released.
They are hard to listen to casually, particularly when the track is underscoring a scary or unsettling moment. However for every eerie The Upside Down, there's something wonderful like A Kiss. It's one of the most extensive soundtracks for a TV series ever released, well, in recent memory. Even iconic TV scores like Twin Peaks, Game of Thrones and The X-Files only received modest releases, almost samplers of the score. Volume 1 of Stranger Things runs for nearly seventy minutes, while the second volume hits the seventy-four minute mark. Almost two and a half hours of score for an eight episode TV season? That's pretty amazing.
It made sense to me that a third soundtrack would be on the cards as well. One for all the awesome songs that had been peppered through the show's run. For the most part, the choice were fairly accurate for the time period too (The Bangle's Hazy Shade of Winter? The heck?). Some songs were chosen for mood though, which is understandable. And I guess it wasn't like The Bangles' 1987 cover was blaring out of a boombox or anything. New Order's Elegia was put to stunning use, eclipsing Pretty In Pink, for mine. But, I digress! Alas, no such soundtrack came and I made do with fan-made and 'official' Spotify playlists.
Fast forward to now, and there is a Stranger Things soundtrack full of tunes and dialogue available! Unfortunately, it's for songs from both season one and two. Unless there were licensing issues, or it was a fairly costly affair, I think both seasons could have warranted their own album.
However, for every great aural memory or gem, there's a generic 80's number that we've all heard fifteen million times. So, while Olivia Newton-John's Twist of Fate is brilliant on so many levels, we don't really need another copy of Sunglasses at Night or Time After Time. Cuts like The Ghost In You by The Psychedelic Furs and Romantics' Talking In Your Sleep are great little nuggets, and songs I wasn't previously familiar with. I would have liked Modern English's I Melt With You to have been included over, say, Back To Nature by Fad Gadget. Bon Jovi's horribly cheesy debut single Runaway, is another cringe worthy inclusion. It doesn't help that it was used in the much-aligned second season episode The Lost Sister.
Some of the dialogue snippets could have been chosen better as well, I feel. Two of Joyce Byers' soundbites are so similar, they cancel each other out. Thankfully, one of my favourite lines from season one, "Mornings are for coffee and contemplation..." is included. Unless I'm remembering incorrectly, I think there's only one line of dialogue from the second season.
It feels like it was a little rushed when it was compiled. I feel that there could have been better song choices, or more comprehensive singles releases for each season; with each track appearing in the order as shown in the series. Elegia, however brilliant it is, is a very odd song to end the album with. There is much to enjoy, but after one decent airing it only makes for casual listening. Looking forward to getting my hand on the score soundtrack from the second season!
