Spins: Various Artists • Pretty in Pink 40th anniversary original motion picture soundtrack LP
Various Artists
Pretty in Pink 40th anniversary original motion picture soundtrack LP
(A&M/UMe)
John Hughes’ 1986 teen dramedy film Pretty in Pinkis one of the emblematic coming-of-age films of the ’80s, perhaps surpassed only by Hughes’ own The Breakfast Club. Simple Minds’ “Don’t You (Forget About Me) notwithstanding, the soundtrack trophy goes to Pretty in Pink. The set leads with Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark’s symphonic synth-pop charmer “If You Leave,” which was immortalized in the film’s final scene at the prom and became a Top Ten US single. The soundtrack packs the powerful alt-rock punch of The Psychedelic Furs’ re-recorded track that gave the film its name. The Furs’ song had originally appeared on the band’s 1981 sophomore album Talk Talk Talk but was retooled from its original post-punk jangle for the general market film with saxophone, a more direct vocal from Richard Butler, and enhanced guitar-pop crunch. In the process, the song was transformed from a disaffected portrait into an ode to teenage yearning. The dreamy psych-pop of “Bring on the Dancing Horses” was recorded especially for the film and became a signature song for Echo & the Bunnymen. The Smiths’ brief but sparkling waltz-time lament “Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want” was elevated from its status as a 1984 B-side to become one of the influential cult band’s most recognizable songs. INXS contributed the catchy but by-the-numbers “Do Wot You Do,” released in the wake of the band’s transitional Listening Like Thieves album. New Order’s tense and urgent “Shell-Shock” opens the album’s second side. The band’s Bernard Edwards produced the soundtrack’s “Round, Round” for British singer Belouis Some. The song expanded Some’s audience, furthering a career that still sees him as a featured artist on ’80s new wave revival tours. In addition to the alternative pop hits, the soundtrack’s pink vinyl reissue ends both sides with a bonus track. Still sadly AWOL is The Rave-Ups’ “Positively Lost Me,” but the inclusion of Otis Redding’s pleading R&B classic “Try a Little Tenderness” will remind fans of the friend-zoned Duckie’s (Jon Cryer’s) passionate pantomime in the local mall’s TRAX record store. The expanded soundtrack concludes with the long-sought addition of Talk Back’s neo-reggae song “Rudy” from a scene at nightclub CATS. Spin this LP on ’80s night while debating whether Andie and Duckie should have gotten together in the end.
– Jeff Elbel
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