Under the Influence: Steve Mason

1. Various – Wild Style Original Soundtrack (1983)
Until 1998 you just could not get this. It didn't exist, certainly in the UK. The film came out in 1983 and was required viewing for all us aspiring b-boys and hip-hop lovers in Scotland. The film and soundtrack gives you a snapshot into a time in NYC and The Bronx when hip-hop was in full flow and still a beautiful pure way of life for the people involved. It's a cross between a documentary and a fictional story and is crammed full of the main protagonists and originators of the day: Fab 5 Freddy, Lee Quiñones, Busy Bee, Cold Crush Brothers, Dondi, Rammellzee and Grand Wizzard Theodore to name a handful. The album has many film clips in it – which have since been sampled all over the place from Nas to the Beastie Boys – and at least six live M.C battles from 1982/83 which are well recorded and just amazing to hear. The incidental music is by Fab 5 Freddy and a collection of musos such as Blondie's Chris Stein. This is more than an album, it's a living document of a time when the youth of the projects in New York rejected violence and embraced art. It's an amazing thing. 

2. Alan Price – O Lucky Man! (1973)
Composed by Alan Price (from The Animals and Alan Price Set), this is the soundtrack to a very surreal film starring Malcolm McDowell. This would stand up as a solo album in its own right, it's full of really good simple songs played in a gentle way with just a few instruments. The track Sell, Sell, Sell is actually pretty funky and Alan Price has such a great voice, possibly my favourite of the 10 tracks. I highly recommend this as an album in itself, even if the film confuses you. Which it will. 

3. Michel Legrand – Le Mans (1971)
Michel Legrand composed this soundtrack to one of my favourite films, I love the sound editing and pace of it. I don't think anyone says a word for the first 30 minutes. This maybe is not an album you would just bung on like O Lucky Man!, it's more of an experience you should give some time to. Plenty of dialogue clips from the film; I love it when they put those on the soundtrack, which helps paint the picture of the build up to the race and everything that unfolds during it.  

4. John Williams – Jaws: Original Soundtrack (1975)
Might seem an obvious choice but forget about the 'duh duh duh duh' signature riff and concentrate on the incidental music. John Williams is a master film composer and possibly my favourite. Yes, he has done loads and loads of massive films, he certainly can't be considered left-field but the builds, melodies and repeating themes in all his scores are so beautifully put together. One Barrel Chase is a great piece from this album. It's from the part when they attach a barrel to the shark and it's full of hope, excitement and a kind of innocence before the tide turns against them. The glaring omission from this soundtrack is no film clips. Can you believe that?! One of the best Hollywood scripts ever and it doesn't make the soundtrack. I would love to re-release a deluxe double Jaws soundtrack album with all the best dialogue clips. 'Here's to swimming with bow legged women.' 

5. Louis and Bebe Barron – Forbidden Planet (1954)
I don't know if this got a release as a soundtrack at the time, but I hope so. It's absolutely mental, widely regarded as the first ever electronic film soundtrack. Electronic instruments did not really exist as we know them now in 1954 and these two voyagers had to build their own circuits which were bespoke for the Forbidden Planet soundtrack. So the film has a totally unique sound, quite literally, because the cybernetic circuits were built for this purpose only. It's not an easy listen, however – no soaring melodies and impassioned refrains, just quite disturbing blankets of electronic terror! There are gentle pieces, one of my favorites is Giant Footprints in the Sand, which, if you have seen the film, is pretty scary and descriptive. Overall, a strange record but one you should hear at least once. 

6. Bob Dylan – Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid (1973)
Composed by Dylan, this soundtrack has an impressive roll call of talent, including Booker T, Jim Keltner and Roger McGuinn. It works really well as an album even if you haven't seen the film, which Dylan himself is in. The main title has a great dusty horse kind of feel but my favourite track is Billy 1, with a great sad and passionate vocal from Dylan. Turkey Chase is so evocative as well, has that Wild West feel down just right. Knockin' on Heaven's Door is the centrepiece but I always think that song has been ruined by Guns N' Roses, right up until you hear Dylan's vocal come in. Amazing track from a very good album and soundtrack. 

7. John Carpenter – Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
Another of my favourite film composers who does the music for his own films, John Carpenter. Written and performed entirely by Carpenter himself, this is bleak stuff. The recurring main theme is an epic riff played on some kind of modular synth and it's just relentless. This was my album of choice for breakfast for about a year and I never got sick of it despite the fact its just like one long track. Needs to be experienced! 

8. Jack Nitzsche – One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Side two of this beautiful and spooky soundtrack is the best side two of any LP ever made and a classic breakfast album. Composed by Jack Nitzsche who really needs no introduction, and if he does, Google the mutha. I love the inclusion of the musical saw in this soundtrack, such an amazing sound, so strange sad and beautiful, especially on the track Act of Love and the Opening theme. Really wonderful piece of work. 

9.  John Carpenter and Alan Howarth – Escape from New York (1981)
More from the bleak vision of Carpenter. This is a much easier listen than Precinct 13 and has a much broader spectrum of sounds and melodies. I would say it does work as an album in its own right, but only just! My memories of this film are renting VHS tapes from the Video Glen in St.Andrews and watching it round at friends' houses. It seemed really dangerous and subversive at the time and I can still remember the smell of that shop and the tapes themselves. The soundtrack for me is interwoven with all these emotions and memories. 

10. Ennio Morricone – Once Upon A Time in the West (1968)
Ennio Morricone is a man with many fine moments under his belt but this, for me, is his finest work. A more evocative, sad, lonely, angry epic and beautiful soundtrack has never been made. Indeed, it has sold 10 million copies worldwide. Many people instantly recognise the Man With A Harmonica and the searing guitar in A Dimly Lit Room but the wide expanse of the main theme is incredible. The female vocal grasping at so many emotions, hope and loss at the same time. Not easy to do. Morricone was one of the greatest film composers, along with John Barry, John Williams and Jack Nitzsche, and this is his finest work.

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