Dialogue on Soundtracks

Anyone who has listened to enough soundtracks and score albums has come across this scenario:
Listening to the album and suddenly a voice appears.  Sometimes over the music itself, sometimes just a short track of the characters speaking.  So much narration!

Often baffling, often irritating, but sometimes enjoyable...Dialogue on Soundtracks.  Love them or hate them, they are ridiculously short tracks that can thankfully be skipped.  

Here's a handful of film soundtracks those that do that I've heard or encountered over the year.  I've included the composer's name just because.  Have a favorite or least favorite?  One I didn't mention?  Leave a comment below!

Angela's Ashes [John Williams]
Apollo 13 [James Horner] (long stretches of scenes)
Blade Runner [Vangelis]
More Music from Braveheart [James Horner] (almost a whole album of dialogue)
Conan the Barbarian [Basil Poledouris]
Curious Case of Benjamin Button [Alexandre Desplat] (second disc of dialogue and jazz standards)
Desperado [Los Lobos]
The Devils Advocate [James Newton Howard] (stay for the Al Pacino rants)
Ed Wood [Howard Shore] (the Amazing Criswell narrates)
From Dusk Till Dawn [Graeme Revell]
More Music from Gladiator [Hans Zimmer]
Green Lantern [James Newton Howard] (the Green Lantern oath)
Halloween [Tyler Bates]
Hannibal [Hans Zimmer] (unbearable dialogue and score)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas [James Horner]
The Ipcress File [John Barry]
Mississippi Burning [Trevor Jones]
The Muppets [Christophe Beck] (come for the songs, stay for the 15 dialogue tracks)
Muppets Most Wanted [Christophe Beck] (more song intros)
The Nightmare Before Christmas [Danny Elfman] (with unused narration)
Out of Sight [David Holmes]
Patton [Jerry Goldsmith] (Patton's great speech)
Rango [Hans Zimmer]
Romeo + Juliet: Music from the Motion Picture 2 [Craig Armstrong]
Saving Mr. Banks [Thomas Newman]
The Shadow [Jerry Goldsmith] (the Shadow knows....)
Shaun of the Dead [Pete Woodhead/Daniel Mudford]
Six Degrees of Separation [Jerry Goldsmith]
Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan [James Horner] (Where no man....)
Tron: Legacy [Daft Punk] (the Grid...)
WarGames [Arthur B. Rubinstein]
War of the Worlds [John Williams] (smooth narration by Morgan Freeman)
The Tarantino collection: Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill: Vol 2, Django Unchained

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3 Comments

  1. Ocean's 11 by David Powell is littered with dialogue fro the movie. They did a fantastic job of melding the witty dialogue of the movie with what is an insanely slick 60's/70's hipster chic score. That mix totally made the movie, and in this case it totally makes the soundtrack listening experience.

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  2. Apocalypse Now
    Bonnie and Clyde
    Clerks
    Clerks 2
    Crank
    Crank 2
    Escape from New York
    Good Morning Vietnam
    Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back
    Kung Fu (tv series)
    Layer Cake
    Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
    Mallrats
    Natural Born Killers
    RocknRolla
    Snatch
    The Devil's Advocate
    The Great Dictator
    Zack and Miri Make a Porno

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    Replies
    1. @hell Crank 2 doesn't have any dialogue.

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