It is time to get geeky.

Okay, so I was looking to see exactly how long the underscore cues on the Deadwood CD are to see if I could risk buying it, and then the same thing with the only such track on the Crossing Jordan CD, and it led me to this blog and its Soundtrack Saturday spot. Good idea, but the blogger is a child of the '80s. Nothing wrong with that at all (hey, I love 80s music), except that when she devoted a post to Legend it dealt with the edit that had Tangerine Dream music.
Now don't misunderstand me, Universal's edit of that flawed fantasy movie was the one that was shown widely in the US back in '86 (it's a long story, which this page has more space to go into than I do) so I can see why she'd be more familiar with that one. And to be fair, that's the version I saw when I was a teenager (1976-93 in Barbados, remember? Closer in proximity to the US than the UK, ties to England notwithstanding?), and I even taped the Bryan Ferry song that plays over the end titles of that version. And I do appreciate her giving the time of day to the underscore people when it applies (the post with Better Off Dead includes mp3s of some of Rupert Hine's cues). But if I'd known at the time that there was a version out there with Jerry Goldsmith music... but you have to remember where I was at the time. No Internet, no access to fanzines... the Dark Ages, right?
Anyway, the point is that Kelly - the blogger - inspired me to start a weekly feature where I have a look through one of my own soundtracks, whether one I just bought or one I've had for years. Sadly no soundclips can be done by me, but if I can link to some it'll be done. Just to ease you into it, I'll start with one of the two movies that made me a fan of film music; Back to the Future. (I've already mentioned the other one - Silverado.)
The official soundtrack album's sequenced so that the '80s selections are on side one of the LP and cassette, while the other side has those for the '50s scenes:
1. The Power of Love - Huey Lewis & the News 3:43
2. Time Bomb Town - Lindsey Buckingham 2:45
3. Back to the Future - The Outatime Orchestra 3:17
4. Heaven Is One Step Away - Eric Clapton 4:08
5. Back In Time - Huey Lewis & the News 4:17
6. Back to the Future Overture - The Outatime Orchestra 8:16
7. The Wallflower (Dance with Me Henry) - Etta James 2:41
8. Night Train - Marvin Berry and the Starlighters 2:15
9. Earth Angel - Marvin Berry and the Starlighters 2:59
10. Johnny B. Goode - Marty McFly with The Starlighters 3:05

(Strangely, the '50s songs are heard more completely in the film than the '80s ones, which are mainly heard on radios except for Huey Lewis & The News.) Silvestri's represented by his main theme on side one and a suite on side two (mostly drawn from the night Marty returns to 1985, and with a jarring moment when the drums live up to the scoring orchestra's name); while his best score for the series would come for the third movie (ironically my least favourite of the trilogy), this still has energy to spare from the moment Einstein becomes the world's first time traveller (the first score piece in the film) to the end credits. Fans have been clamouring for a complete score album for years, and in spite of a 1999 rerecording of highlights of the score, its first sequel and the Universal Studios ride they still are. (I've heard the sound clips, and I'm not impressed - too slow.) There's a bootleg CD out there, but I pass on that as well... which leaves us with the movie. And the fact that I taped off the rest of the "return to '85" music.
Michael J. Fox doesn't do his own singing or guitar playing here, by the way. But you knew that.