7/30/17

Soundtrack Sunday: ATOMIC BLONDE [2017]

(We're borrowing the name of this feature from our good friend and proprietor of Martin's View for a rare Sunday post here at The Hideaway.)
Two teaser trailers for the R-rated film Atomic Blonde appeared back in the Spring of '17 and I watched the red band restricted trailer shortly thereafter, particularly struck by the general badassedness of Academy Award Winner Charlize Theron taking out dozens of armed men. And the music...
A third US trailer as well as several international and dubbed trailers were released as well, featuring a few more songs:
Then, in May 2017, Universal Studios kicked off their Atomic Summer promotion for the film by posting scenes though it should be noted for *spoiler alert* purposes that the Chapters are not in the order they appear in the film though the songs heard are heard exactly like they are in the film.

"Father Figure" - George Michael

 "Major Tom" - Peter Schilling

 "Blue Monday" - HEALTH
"I Ran (So Far Away)" - A Flock Of Seagulls
When I walked into the theater yesterday morning, I was aware that I would definitely be hearing the five songs from the Chapters but was hoping for more. I was not disappointed as veteran music supervisor John Houlihan and co-music supervisor Willa Yudell worked with the film's director David Leitch to come up with a great soundtrack. Tyler Bates contributed the original score, which includes Marilyn Manson covering Ministry's "Stigmata". As the movie is set in 1989, on the eve of the collapse of The Berlin Wall, all of the music is of that vintage with cover versions merely putting a different spin on or a modernization of a well-known track. In addition to the New Order, A Flock Of Seagulls, and Ministry covers mentioned, there is also a cover of Nena's "99 Luftballons" by Kaleida, that Houlihan called out as his favorite track in the film. For me, part of the fun of watching the film was anticipating which song would be next one heard. I would have guessed Falco's original of "Der Kommissar" would have been favored over the After The Fire version and hoped somehow they'd squeeze in Blondie's wonderful disco track "Atomic" in a club scene but I'm gonna blame the inability to license rather than oversight.
An Atomic Blonde CD soundtrack album has been released, featuring four tracks by Tyler Bates and twelve other songs heard in the film. And for you vinyl collectors, those same sixteen tracks will pressed as a special double disc blue and yellow swirled (or regular black) 180 gram vinyl release due in August.
Cassette versions of the soundtrack were swag at last week's Comic-Con in San Diego and are now being sold on ebay for $30 or more.
I was so giddy with joy at the movie's ending that I neglected to stay and watch the credits roll so I can't be relied upon to provide the full soundtrack listing but I am 100% positive I heard the following songs that are not included on the officially released soundtrack album:
How was the movie itself? Meh. Typical new millennium spy film with lots of double crossing double agents, lots of UFC-lite fight scenes and a tired plot line about list of agents falling into wrong hands. (Seems like that was the plot of a Charlie Angels film. And an episode of Alias.) Without the soundtrack, it would have been hard for me to sit through. The film was originally titled The Coldest City, after the 2012 graphic novel it is based on. There is a prequel book titled The Coldest Winter due in August 2017 that tells the backstory of Agent David Perceval with a planned third book focusing on Agent Lorraine Broughton, played by James McAvoy and Charlize Theron, respectively, in Atomic Blonde.
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