Perhaps Angelo Badalamenti's most instantly recognisable music is the main theme for the TV series "Twin Peaks". This has two features characteristic of Badalamenti's music. Firstly, there is a certain pop quality (with strong hints of jazz and a certain weird country feel) to the theme and the other themes frequently used on the series. Secondly, the series' success marked a key point in his association with director David Lynch which had started a couple of years earlier on "Blue Velvet". David Lynch has often been heavily involved in the musical aspects of his films, often co-writing songs. "Wild at Heart" has a couple of cues which remind us of Twin Peaks with its walking chromatic bass and drum kit stroked gently by brushes. It includes some suitably wild songs, some co-writing by David Lynch, an excerpt from "Im Abendrot" (one of the "Last Four Songs") by Richard Strauss and Nicolas Cage doing his Elvis impression.
Badalamenti has gone on to create or arrange a number of successful pop songs, sometimes under the name "Andy Badale" and collaborated with Tim Booth on "Booth & The Bad Angel". His darker films (usually for Lynch) tend to have a slow, seedy, jazz quality, often scored for a small band or group including the use of synthesisers. He has continued to work with Lynch, on TV work and also films like "Wild at Heart" and most recently on "Mulholland Drive" (in which the composer has yet another very convincing cameo role as Luigi Castigliani who can't seem to find the perfect coffee). In "Arlington Road" with its topical FBI conspiracy theories, he illustrated Jeff Bridges' haunted past with some dreamy sampled electronica, and used to good effect his trademark repetitive pop-driven cues for tension building and action sequences.
Although firmly labelled as a composer for pshycologoical thrillers, Badalamenti has gone on to work with other directors both within and outside of this genre, including the thriller "Cabin Fever" and the war-time story "Resistance" as well as the TV mini series "Dangerous Liaisons".
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- A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
- Comfort of Strangers
- The Straight Story
- Wild at Heart - another Lynch film
- Booth & The Bad Angel - co-written with Tim Booth of James
- Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me - the movie based on the TV series, with its haunted music rooted in jazz
- The City of Lost Children (La Cité des Enfants Perdus) - directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet
- Comfort of Strangers
- Blue Velvet - Badalementi has a cameo as the Piano Player in this early David Lynch film
- Arlington Road - an excellent example of Badalamenti's talent, effortlessly blending orchestral and pop synth styles
- Holy Smoke
- The Beach - though this has many pop tracks such as the All Saints hit "Pure Shores" by William Orbit, Badalamenti's underscore features idyllic paradise music and some cues with a higher adrenaline rating
- Mulholland Drive - the recent unfathomable movie for director David Lynch which, in addition to Badalamenti's customary music, has some low subliminal synth work
- Cabin Fever
- Resistance
- A Very Long Engagement - historical drama for the Amelie pairing of Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Audrey Tautou
- Dark Water
- Fahrenheit
- The Wicker Man (2006) - the remake is pointless but the soundtrack good
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- Twin Peaks
- Hotel Room - yes, David Lynch again
- Cracker - also known as Fitz, an attempt to re-create the UK TV series without Robbie Coltrane
- Dangerous Liaisons - the TV mini series
There is quite good sheet music from Twin Peaks the TV series, but none of the online music stores seem to stock it at the moment. Perhaps it can still be found in shops or will be reprinted at some point.
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