Some Love for Rush

As a soundie, it's my duty to bring these things up as frequently as possible, so let me set you a scene and make this drag out for a little longer than it otherwise would.

So yes, a scene for you all. My life is a fairly simplistic one most of the time, and a lot of that time is spent sat in my armchair, with music churning out from the speakers on my desk. And before you say anything, having an armchair at 21 is absolutely fine, and if you tried it, you wouldn't have life any other way. So yeah, chair, music and getting engulfed in the sound, singing along to whatever is playing. Singing? I can't sing? I'm not singing, this is more humming, but feels like I'm singing to something on the radio? This is confusing. In short the Rush soundtrack was on and I was completely engulfed.

Chris Hemsworth as James Hunt, Daniel Brühl as Niki Lauda

For those of you unaware, Rush is a film made in 2013, set through the mid-late 1970s, following the careers of racing drivers James Hunt and Nikki Lauda. As much as I love this film as a whole, the soundtrack is the one thing I'm going to pick out as being something especially catchy, and easily on par with what gets released in the charts.

Soundtracks in movies often come in two forms, either a collection of tracks picked to fit with scenes within the film, or there's the hiring of a composer who will write music with the scenes in mind and you end up with a collection of tracks within a similar style to underscore the film. Sometimes is a collection of both. This is the category into which this film falls.


Now I'm probably just going to litter the post with these, so hopefully you can just listen along per paragraph, almost, I'm going to fail hugely should I try to make 3 minute long paragraphs. But I reckon my first point, with the reference of the clip above is going to be the mild genre crossovers. Not that soundtracks have genres, obviously, but you know the conventions I mean, don't you? I'm hinting towards the heavy use of strings, the heavy use of fully composed orchestral pieces, either classed as classical, or contemporary classical I reckon. Anyway, the first track on the list, 1976, is almost a half and half beast, beginning as a string focused track, before spilling over into the drum, guitar & cello heavy groove of the rest of the soundtrack. So enjoyable. A simple pleasant phrase that runs throughout, and a tempo fit for racing.

 

In a way, the film's setting within a rather rock & roll70s lifestyle, with Bowie and Thin Lizzie to also on the soundtrack, bleeds into the music and gives it an extremely bluesey feel all over. With both '20%' and 'I could show you if you like?' giving raher awesome little interludes into the narrative. Both only notching in around a minute of screen time, but enough to stick memorably in the mind, and enough to seek them out afterwards and enjoy independently.


I mean seriously, these little phrases of music (probably too short to labelled as songs in their own rights) are easily enjoyed in any environment, and are not, as much film music is (and rightly so), reliant on the images in order to give themselves a purpose. They're not even overly emotive, lets face it. Listening to '20%' you can tell it's excitement, but in what setting? With it being a racing movie the first guess is always going to be the most obvious, part of a race, but then it'd also be fitting in any kind of party setting, or any other form of adrenaline rush. 'I can show you if you like?' is a little easier to figure out, so I don't have to expand on genre, however it's damn catchy.

Worst album review ever? Probably.

In short there's a helluva lotta drums & guitars.

Now for the finest and easiest track to listen to on the entire record. What the hell, I'll add this one in context with engine sounds and everything. Well half of it anyway, that way it's not as spoliery, and I care about spoilers.



Apparently this clip is blocked in the US, bloody copyright sensitive bastards.

'Lost but Won' is almost like a full expansion of '1976', similar kind of style, with the obvious underscoring to begin with, followed by the far more raucous second half. But in the grand scheme of the mix, the engines, car tyres squealing, and splashback off the cars means that the entire piece of music works as underscoring, and it only ever cuts through whenever the style dictates.

All in all the score feels like an incredibly brash reworking of Zimmer's style, still including the main elements of the occasional heavy hits, and stripping down his more expansive orchestral pieces into a single Rains of Castermere (Game of Thrones fans will know) lead line, with staccato guitar running throughout, a bass line that reminds you slightly of Fleetwood Mac's 'The Chain' (the current F1 theme music), and the occasional drum line reminiscent of the Joker themes from The Dark Knight. That there is a mix should really entice anyone in right?

No album star rating or some kind of out of 10 review because it comes as a package with the rest of the film, but as a complete work, go watch it. If you're not a huge racing fan you should find it fairly interesting and a gripping watch. If you're a fan of racing then you'll adore I'd assume? I mean it's a fantastic representation from the point of view of someone who's seen nothing to do with the time and setting before.

And if you're particularly into sound, I reckon you'll end up with goosebumps. Them engines.