DJ Shadow: Warp Factor Funk! Mojo, June 2002
By: Angus Batey
He created the musical backdrop to Marc Singer’s Sundance-winning Dark Days documentary and admits to an unhealthy liking for Art Garfunkel. Now Josh Davis – a.k.a. DJ Shadow – has compiled his dream soundtrack for MOJO Collections. “I’d love to be a music supervisor on films,” he confesses to Angus Batey.
1. Lalo Schifrin“Scorpio’s Theme” from Dirty Harry (Don Siegel, 1971)
Sudden Impact OST Viva 1-23990 1983 15 pounds
“The guy’s looking through the sniper scope on top of the roof, and there’s this really cool, funky music playing, which Dr. Dre ended up using on the second N.W.A. album. The way he used it was really cool. I sampled it off the video, because I didn’t know that it was on an album – for a long time there was no soundtrack album for Dirty Harry. It wasn’t until the ‘80s that they decided to put out some of the music.”
2. 13th Floor Elevators
“You’re Gonna Miss Me” from High Fidelity (Stephen Frears, 2000)
CD OST Hollywood 0112182HWR 2000 15 pounds
“People always use the same music, and there’s so many other amazing songs that would work so well in movies. At least in High Fidelity they had the guts to use a 13th Floor Elevators song. The book was more spot-on when it came to the nuances of record collecting, but the film was as realistic as we’re going to get. “You’re Gonna Miss Me” is a perfect example of the bridge between garage rock and psychedelia.”
3. James Brown
“The Boss” from Black Caesar (Larry Cohen, 1973)
Black Caesar OST Polydor 6014 1973 20 pounds
“This is a great song. Aside from the fact that it’s been sampled a million times, it’s just classic James Brown, and for that reason alone it’s going on the CD.”
4. John Williams
“The Imperial March (Darth Vader’s Theme)”
from The Empire Strikes Back (George Lucas, 1980)
The Empire Strikes Back OST Polygram 827580 1980 20 pounds
“I don’t think any child of that age who was into music, or becoming interested in music, could not have been affected by the music that John Williams did for those films. I remember I used to try to play the Darth Vader music on the piano. I was taking piano lessons about the same time The Empire Strikes Back came out. I figured it out and used to drive my brother crazy. He was five years older.”
5. Les Baxter
“Hot Wind” from Hell’s Belles (Maury Dexter, 1969)
Hell’s Belles Sidewalk LP ST-5919 1969 20 pounds
“This was a motorcycle exploitation film from the late ‘60s, and this cut is basically just a funk track. In this case the choice is definitely about the music, not about how it fits into the film. The song starts off with a really huge break. It’s odd because Les Bater is best known for exotica music, and here he’s very funky.”
6. Art Garfunkel
“Bright Eyes” from Watership Down (Martin Rosen, 1978)
Watership Down OST Columbia 35707 1978 15 pounds
“I always thought as a kid that the movie Watership Down was quite good. It had a heart. It was a cartoon but it didn’t talk down to children. I was a shy and sensitive child and I thought this movie was nice. When I first saw the movie I was only seven, and it was probably aimed at kids slightly oldr but it was just right for me. It was just adult enough.”
7. Johnny Pate
“You Can’t Even Walk in the Park” from Shaft in Africa (John Guillermin, 1973)
Shaft in Africa OST ABC ABCX793 1973 30 pounds
“The film Shaft in Africa is really, really bad. The same actor actually plays the parts of both a white and a black guy. But the music, arranged and produced by Johnny Pate, is excellent. “You Can’t Even Walk in the Park” was sampled by the 45 King for a track by Lakim Shabazz in 1988. When I eventually heard the soundtrack, the fact that I recognized it made me like that song even more.”
8. Moby
“God Moving Over the Face of the Waters” from Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)
Heat OST Warner Bros 9362461442 1995 15 pounds
“I’m not a huge Moby enthusiast. It’s just with that scene, I thought the music was quite beautiful at that moment. It’s when [Al] Pacino kills [Robert] DeNiro at the end of the movie. Even though I thought the ending had its problems, I thought that music really made that scene.”
9. Dennis Coffey
“Theme from Black Belt Jones” from Black Belt Jones (Robert Clouse, 1974)
7-inch Sussex/Warner Bros WB 7769 1974 15 pounds
“I saw the movie one time. It was awful. Unwatchable. They didn’t even release a proper soundtrack – only this Dennis Coffey track came out as a 45. It was first sampled by the Bomb Squad for L.L. Cool J, on his Walking with a Panther album, on a song called “Jingling Baby”.
It’s a great little strange sort of karate funk track, and they just kept playing it throughout the movie. I remember a scene in a car wash, which was particularly ridiculous.”
10. Kool & The Gang
“Summer Madness” from Rocky (John G Avildsen, 1976)
Kool & the Gang Love & Understanding De Lite 2018, 1976 [Live Version] 15 pounds
“Stallone’s sitting in a bar and they play this song, which is really cool. The film has this whole meatball Italian aspect. It’s so thick with it, and it was nice to hear Kool & the Gang, to hear some black music to balance all that out. It’s a great track but an interesting choice because the track was old when the film came out.”
11. Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention
Unknown track from You Are What You Eat (Barry Feinstein, 1968)
Soundtrack unavailable
The producer was Peter from Peter, Paul and Mary. The director went to Haight Street with a handheld camera and shot footage of the Summer of Love. It’s a really interesting timepiece. There’s this freak-out footage at the end, of Zappa and the Mothers of Invention playing at The Fillmore. It’s prime psychedelic-era footage – 10 minutes straight of quick edits, the camera zooming around, strobes and noise. And at the end it shows this kid standing there, lights are going cross his face and he’s obviously starting to fry. Then as he puts his hands over his face, as it all becomes too much for his mind, the film ends.”
12. David Julyan
Original score from Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000)
Soundtrack unavailable DVD release: 20th Century Fox, P9016DVD 2002 20 pounds
“I really liked Memento. The music was interesting and minimal and not at all what I would have done. It’s comprised of these clicks. It almost sounds like old-fashioned computer terminal sound effects. The music happens every time the main character is trying to remember where he is, what situation he’s in, because he has no short-term memory. The music sounds like his brain is not quite right.”
13. Eric B. & Rakim
“Juice (Know the Ledge)” from Juice (Ernest Dickerson, 1992)
Juice OST SOUL/MCA 10462 1992 15 pounds
One of their last truly outstanding songs. The Juice soundtrack had a few good songs on it. I remember the Cypress Hill and Naughty By Nature ones being particularly good. Juice has the hallmarks of a classic era Eric B. & Rakim track.”
14. Bobby Womack
“Across 110th Street” from Across 11oth Street (Barry Shear, 1972)
OST United Artist 5225 1972 15 pounds
“I really love the song, but what made me like it was when it was used in Jackie Brown, at the end, where she’s driving and singing the words as it’s playing on the tape deck. I thought that movie was underrated. It was cool to use another film’s theme in a way – it’s almost like sampling. It’s a weird dynamic. Pam Grier, a veteran of these films that Jackie Brown is paying homage to, is singing the music of one of the other films from the era she was a part of.”
By: Angus Batey
He created the musical backdrop to Marc Singer’s Sundance-winning Dark Days documentary and admits to an unhealthy liking for Art Garfunkel. Now Josh Davis – a.k.a. DJ Shadow – has compiled his dream soundtrack for MOJO Collections. “I’d love to be a music supervisor on films,” he confesses to Angus Batey.
1. Lalo Schifrin“Scorpio’s Theme” from Dirty Harry (Don Siegel, 1971)
Sudden Impact OST Viva 1-23990 1983 15 pounds
“The guy’s looking through the sniper scope on top of the roof, and there’s this really cool, funky music playing, which Dr. Dre ended up using on the second N.W.A. album. The way he used it was really cool. I sampled it off the video, because I didn’t know that it was on an album – for a long time there was no soundtrack album for Dirty Harry. It wasn’t until the ‘80s that they decided to put out some of the music.”
2. 13th Floor Elevators
“You’re Gonna Miss Me” from High Fidelity (Stephen Frears, 2000)
CD OST Hollywood 0112182HWR 2000 15 pounds
“People always use the same music, and there’s so many other amazing songs that would work so well in movies. At least in High Fidelity they had the guts to use a 13th Floor Elevators song. The book was more spot-on when it came to the nuances of record collecting, but the film was as realistic as we’re going to get. “You’re Gonna Miss Me” is a perfect example of the bridge between garage rock and psychedelia.”
3. James Brown
“The Boss” from Black Caesar (Larry Cohen, 1973)
Black Caesar OST Polydor 6014 1973 20 pounds
“This is a great song. Aside from the fact that it’s been sampled a million times, it’s just classic James Brown, and for that reason alone it’s going on the CD.”
4. John Williams
“The Imperial March (Darth Vader’s Theme)”
from The Empire Strikes Back (George Lucas, 1980)
The Empire Strikes Back OST Polygram 827580 1980 20 pounds
“I don’t think any child of that age who was into music, or becoming interested in music, could not have been affected by the music that John Williams did for those films. I remember I used to try to play the Darth Vader music on the piano. I was taking piano lessons about the same time The Empire Strikes Back came out. I figured it out and used to drive my brother crazy. He was five years older.”
5. Les Baxter
“Hot Wind” from Hell’s Belles (Maury Dexter, 1969)
Hell’s Belles Sidewalk LP ST-5919 1969 20 pounds
“This was a motorcycle exploitation film from the late ‘60s, and this cut is basically just a funk track. In this case the choice is definitely about the music, not about how it fits into the film. The song starts off with a really huge break. It’s odd because Les Bater is best known for exotica music, and here he’s very funky.”
6. Art Garfunkel
“Bright Eyes” from Watership Down (Martin Rosen, 1978)
Watership Down OST Columbia 35707 1978 15 pounds
“I always thought as a kid that the movie Watership Down was quite good. It had a heart. It was a cartoon but it didn’t talk down to children. I was a shy and sensitive child and I thought this movie was nice. When I first saw the movie I was only seven, and it was probably aimed at kids slightly oldr but it was just right for me. It was just adult enough.”
7. Johnny Pate
“You Can’t Even Walk in the Park” from Shaft in Africa (John Guillermin, 1973)
Shaft in Africa OST ABC ABCX793 1973 30 pounds
“The film Shaft in Africa is really, really bad. The same actor actually plays the parts of both a white and a black guy. But the music, arranged and produced by Johnny Pate, is excellent. “You Can’t Even Walk in the Park” was sampled by the 45 King for a track by Lakim Shabazz in 1988. When I eventually heard the soundtrack, the fact that I recognized it made me like that song even more.”
8. Moby
“God Moving Over the Face of the Waters” from Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)
Heat OST Warner Bros 9362461442 1995 15 pounds
“I’m not a huge Moby enthusiast. It’s just with that scene, I thought the music was quite beautiful at that moment. It’s when [Al] Pacino kills [Robert] DeNiro at the end of the movie. Even though I thought the ending had its problems, I thought that music really made that scene.”
9. Dennis Coffey
“Theme from Black Belt Jones” from Black Belt Jones (Robert Clouse, 1974)
7-inch Sussex/Warner Bros WB 7769 1974 15 pounds
“I saw the movie one time. It was awful. Unwatchable. They didn’t even release a proper soundtrack – only this Dennis Coffey track came out as a 45. It was first sampled by the Bomb Squad for L.L. Cool J, on his Walking with a Panther album, on a song called “Jingling Baby”.
It’s a great little strange sort of karate funk track, and they just kept playing it throughout the movie. I remember a scene in a car wash, which was particularly ridiculous.”
10. Kool & The Gang
“Summer Madness” from Rocky (John G Avildsen, 1976)
Kool & the Gang Love & Understanding De Lite 2018, 1976 [Live Version] 15 pounds
“Stallone’s sitting in a bar and they play this song, which is really cool. The film has this whole meatball Italian aspect. It’s so thick with it, and it was nice to hear Kool & the Gang, to hear some black music to balance all that out. It’s a great track but an interesting choice because the track was old when the film came out.”
11. Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention
Unknown track from You Are What You Eat (Barry Feinstein, 1968)
Soundtrack unavailable
The producer was Peter from Peter, Paul and Mary. The director went to Haight Street with a handheld camera and shot footage of the Summer of Love. It’s a really interesting timepiece. There’s this freak-out footage at the end, of Zappa and the Mothers of Invention playing at The Fillmore. It’s prime psychedelic-era footage – 10 minutes straight of quick edits, the camera zooming around, strobes and noise. And at the end it shows this kid standing there, lights are going cross his face and he’s obviously starting to fry. Then as he puts his hands over his face, as it all becomes too much for his mind, the film ends.”
12. David Julyan
Original score from Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000)
Soundtrack unavailable DVD release: 20th Century Fox, P9016DVD 2002 20 pounds
“I really liked Memento. The music was interesting and minimal and not at all what I would have done. It’s comprised of these clicks. It almost sounds like old-fashioned computer terminal sound effects. The music happens every time the main character is trying to remember where he is, what situation he’s in, because he has no short-term memory. The music sounds like his brain is not quite right.”
13. Eric B. & Rakim
“Juice (Know the Ledge)” from Juice (Ernest Dickerson, 1992)
Juice OST SOUL/MCA 10462 1992 15 pounds
One of their last truly outstanding songs. The Juice soundtrack had a few good songs on it. I remember the Cypress Hill and Naughty By Nature ones being particularly good. Juice has the hallmarks of a classic era Eric B. & Rakim track.”
14. Bobby Womack
“Across 110th Street” from Across 11oth Street (Barry Shear, 1972)
OST United Artist 5225 1972 15 pounds
“I really love the song, but what made me like it was when it was used in Jackie Brown, at the end, where she’s driving and singing the words as it’s playing on the tape deck. I thought that movie was underrated. It was cool to use another film’s theme in a way – it’s almost like sampling. It’s a weird dynamic. Pam Grier, a veteran of these films that Jackie Brown is paying homage to, is singing the music of one of the other films from the era she was a part of.”