Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack: Something Wild (1986) | The Soundtrack That Proves Two Heads Are Better Than None
Kronomyth JH1.5: Lulita.
Something Wild featured an almost all-original soundtrack as likeably left-of-center as the film itself. Director Jonathan Demme, you’ll recall, was at the helm for Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense, so the man clearly has good musical taste. For this film, he enlisted the help of David Byrne and Jerry Harrison plus an impressive list of new wave and reggae luminaries: Jimmy Cliff, Fine Young Cannibals, UB40, Steve Jones. The truly impressive part is that most of them were willing to contribute new material to the project. Some of the better songs (Not My Slave, Man with a Gun) soon ended up on proper studio albums, but much of it remains exclusive to this soundtrack. In fact, several of the tracks would appear to be recorded specifically for the film: Loco de Amor (Crazy For Love), “Man With A Gun,” Wild Thing, Zero, Zero Seven Charlie. The David Byrne song, credited to David y Celia, is even historically important as the first example of the Latin/hyperpop fusion he would develop on Naked, Rei Momo and Uh-Oh. Less impressive is Fine Young Cannibals’ limp version of the Buzzcocks’ Ever Fallen In Love, which served as the soundtrack’s single. Punk fans may also want to cover their ears for Jones’ With You or Without You. Sister Carol also falls into the perennial pit of trying to write a new song around the melody of “Wild Thing,” a trap that has sucked in everyone from Sam Kinison to Skafish. Still, Something Wild is a soundtrack with something to say, and a fitting companion to a movie that captured much of what was best about the 80s.
The Product
A1. David y Celia: Loco de Amor (Crazy for Love) (David Byrne) (3:45)
A2. Fine Young Cannibals: Ever Fallen in Love (Pete Shelley) (3:48)
A3. UB40: Zero, Zero Seven Charlie (UB40) (3:48)
A4. Oingo Boingo: Not My Slave (Danny Elfman) (4:23)
A5. Jimmy Cliff: You Don’t Have to Cry (Arthur Baker/Steve Van Zandt) (3:57)
B1. Steve Jones: With You or Without You (Steve Jones) (4:46)
B2. Sonny Okossun: Highlife (Sonny Okossun) (3:40)
B3. Jerry Harrison: Man with a Gun (Jerry Harrison) (4:32)
B4. New Order: Temptation (New Order) (3:28)
B5. Sister Carol: Wild Thing (Chip Taylor) (4:05)
The Players
Produced by Arthur Baker (A5/B5), Steve Bartek & Danny Elfman (A4), David Byrne (A1), Percy Chin & Jah Life (B5), Fine Young Cannibals (A2), Jerry Harrison (A2/B3), New Order (B4), Sonny Okossun (B2), Bob Rose (B1) and UB40 (A3).
The Pictures
Art direction by Jeff Adamoff. Design by DZN, The Design Group. Original painting by Tony Fitzpatrick. Photograph of painting by Wayne Sides.
The Plastic
Released on elpee, cassette and compact disc in 1986 in the US (MCA, MCA/MCAC/MCAD-6194).
