A few weeks ago I revisited the soundtrack to the wonderful film Rushmore. The 1998 Wes Anderson movie remains one of my favorite movies. The soundtrack to the film is splendid, and the liner notes explaining why the film maker chose which music he did, is also really interesting. For those of you too young to know what liner notes are … here ya go! The other thing is, man….it is GOOD. The tracks are fantastic.
I would be remiss to not mention The Kinks here. Anderson’s original idea for the Rushmore soundtrack was to be all songs by The Kinks, but that changed during production. I do love The Kinks and I love The Village Green Preservation Society. These tracks will already make you feel like Spring is here. It’s worth checking out for that alone! Aside from that, however, this is truly one of the best rock albums EVER recorded. Big words, I know. Check it out and see for yourself.
(image snagged from google search)
In looking around for more by some of the artists on that soundtrack (specifically the fantastic band the Creation) I was led to the Nuggets collection. (I like the brilliant and dated tagline for the collection…“If you dig it, it’s a nugget”). The stuff on the single disc is mostly US-based and includes great liner notes. For instance, I learned, somewhat to my chagrin, that the Standells (you’ll remember them from their hit song “Dirty Water”… “Love that dirty water, Boston you’re my home”) were NOT from Boston at all, but from LA. The song still sounds great and the rest of the liner notes are worth looking at.
I also stumbled onto Nuggets 2, which features more bands from the UK “and beyond” as it says on the cover. I was glad to see more tracks by Creation on there. Again, it’s an interesting, fun collection that is worth your time.
In the days of Polar Vortex deep freezes and extravagantly named winter storms, venture out to the Library, pick up a movie and some tunes, and hunker down.
Eric
(who is working out the proper blanket-to-cat-to-tea ratio for maximum winter warmth and comfort)
Eleventh Stack 
Such a great movie.
Great movie, great soundtrack! I get chills every time I watch the scene with the excerpt from “A Quick One” where Max and Herman are feuding, it’s just too perfect.
Coincidentally I’ve been playing a Nuggets LP myself, Nuggets Volume 2 (confusingly not the same thing as the Nuggets Part II in your post) that has a pre-punk theme and includes hits by Love, Chocolate Watchband, and a couple of different tracks by the Standells.
The Nuggets comp were revelatory to me in the 80s. There’s also a set called Children of Nuggets that is a compilation of similar bands from the 80s that is well worth checking out. The Library has it.
Great post!
If you haven’t got a chance to check this book out yet, it will knock your socks off: http://librarycatalog.einetwork.net/Record/.b32370994
Thank you for the reminder..i didnt listen to it for ages now…..
Thanks for the kind comments, kind people!