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On November 23, news broke that British filmmakerNicolas Roeghad passed away at the age of 90.
And Roeg picked up-and-coming musicians who would come to define Hollywood soundtracks in the decades to follow.
Memo From Turner fromPerformance.
And while it was released in 1970, it set in amber the deleterious hedonism of the rock lifestyle.
And what a doozy it is.
Performanceintroduced prominent soundtrack composers.
The film also served as the debut for a number of Hollywood soundtrack composers.
Foremost among them was Jack Nitzsche.
For the soundtrack, Nitzsche also tapped hotshot session guitarist Ry Cooder to provide stinging bottleneck guitar.
Oh, its also the first film to feature Randy Newman.
Last but not least,Performances opening credits feature soundtrack staple Randy Newman.
But its not quite the Randy Newman of Pixar ubiquity weve come to know and love over the years.
Using Stockhausen for the opening credits ofWalkabout.
Mashed together, its hard to tell just which one makes the most jarring and alien noise.
Roegs casting of rock stars as leading men.
Were in a city none of us knows, an empty landscape.
I must ask you to trust that I know where Im going.
The lost soundtrack forThe Man Who Fell to Earth.
And after seeing David Bowie in the documentaryCracked Actorin hismilk-drinking phase, Roeg had found his alien.
So David Bowie seemed a natural in his acting debut.
But much like Bowie himself, Phillips was not immune to the psychotic tendencies of massive cocaine intake.
I like it overheard, or in someones mind, as he put it in the DVD commentary.
It remains deeply unsettling and unmatched in film.
And yet the German-born composer got his start working with Nicolas Roeg in the 80s.
See how he makes the horrific and sublime coexist in this dreamlike sequence from the film.
