R.E.M. Wind-Up On First Ever Soundtrack To A Book
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Artist:
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Album:Life's Rich Pageant
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Track:
Best selling author Brad Meltzer's new book The Book Of Lies will be released on September 2nd. Before you ask: Who is Brad Meltzer? What does Meltzer's book have to do with music? The Book Of Lies, described as a "suspenseful, code-breaking drama," will be the first novel ever released with a companion CD. So while you read, music plays in the background, like a soundtrack to the book.
(I had this idea about four years ago when I was living in Antananarivo, Madagascar. I'd write my experiences in a journal and listen to music. The music often helped me get through my stay. I remember listening to a lot of Postal Service and Dandy Warhols. Random, but I should've acted on it before someone else brained the idea. Damn you Brad Meltzer!)
In Meltzer's book Cal Harper, a former government agent, finds his long-lost father, Lloyd, lying for dead in a park. Somehow this leads to a search for the world's first murder weapon - the one used by Cain to kill Abel - now in the hands of Mitchell Siegel, the father of Superman creator Jerry Siegel. You follow? Cal and Lloyd wind-up in Cleveland in the very house where Jerry Siegel lived and created the first Superman comics. And while drama ensues... R.E.M.' s "Superman" plays in the background.
Apart from the R.E.M. track most of the tracks on the soundtrack are instrumentals. While my appreciation for this novel idea is apparent, I do know A BUNCH of people who like to read in total complete quietness. Music might distract. This always made me think that a soundtrack to a book might not be such a good idea. Right?
The Book Of Lies Companion CD Soundtrack:
1. "The Book of Lies" Robert Ellis Orrall (new recording created for book)
2. "Superman" REM
3. "A Little Respect" Wheatus
4. "Superman"(It's Not Easy)" Five for Fighting
5. "Holding Out for a Hero" Bonnie Tyler
6. "Greatest American Hero" Joey Scarbury
7. Symphony No. 7 "Lied der Nacht" - II. Nachtmusik I. Allegro moderato
8. Parsifal - Vorspiel (Prelude)
9. Night Ride and Sunrise, Op. 55
10. Symphony No. 4 in A Minor, Op. 55 - III. Il tempo largo
11. L'Arlesienne Suite No. 1 - III. Adagietto. Adagio
12. The Planets - V. "Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age
13. The Planets - IV. "Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity"
14. The Planets - I - "Mars, the Bringer of War"
15. Wagner: Die Walkure - Magic Fire Music
16. Wagner: Gotterdammerung - Siegfried's Funeral March
17. Symphony No. 3 - VI. Langsam. Ruhevoll. Empfunden
18. Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 36 "Enigma" - Variation IX ("Nimrod"). Adagio
Comments (9)
Also, what happens with people who read at different speeds?
u lived in madagascar?
Exactly Jox! I read at a slow tempo myself (cuz it relaxes me) and sometimes I re-read stuff just to make sure I'm not missing something, so i hear ya.
Indiepix, fo shizzle. I did an "independent study there":http://www.rockpaperscissors.biz/index.cfm/fuseaction/current.articles_detail/project_id/173/article_id/2582.cfm on the music and the country's rock stars. Lived in a clay house, no electricity, no running water, even slept in a bed made out of hay (manger?) with chickens. Here's a picture of me cultivating rice in the mountain farmlands outside Fianarantsoa. Not a day passes without me thinking about how much I want to go back.
that's a fantastic shot my dear. i love how you encorporated your love for music with such daring travel. i've sadly never been to Africa, the only continent I haven't visited. Part of me still feels like I've still never really lived full till I do. For shizzle.
Many years ago - pushing fifteen, i think - Boiled in Lead took sort of the opposite approach with their album Songs from The Gypsy - they recorded the songs by Steven Brust and band member Adam Stemple (son of fantasy author Jane yolen) written for a fantasy novel by Brust... and included the entire text of the book on the CD...
(Unfortunately, according to label Omnium Records, which describes the CD thusly:
the enhanced content on this CD may not be accessible on computers running operating systems newer than Win95 or OS9)
I can't tell you how cool I think this is. REM's music has always evoked imagery for me and now I don't have to work that hard! Plus, this is a literary genre I really enjoy. Thanks!
I agree that it would be distracting, although the instrumentals might be okay since there aren't any words. And I am also a very slow reader. (Notice how I'm just now reading this post. ;)
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire also had a soundtrack to the book. REM is nowhere near the first to be soundtracking a book.
http://www.discogs.com/release/1341504
Joyce Maynard wrote a novel in 1996 "Where Love Goes" and she released a companion CD with a lot of alt-country, including an unreleased Townes Van Zandt song.