26 Soundtracks: Crime Story

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is5ofSHZWTM

Crime Story: The Original Soundtrack

Full disclosure, I do not now or have I ever owned the soundtrack for the TV Show Crime Story. I know that one existed because I saw it in the stores several times, held it in my hands, but never bought a copy and when I finally had the money it was no where to be found. One of my friends even gave me a tape (now long gone) that was called Crime Story and claimed to have tracks from the show, but was not the soundtrack.

Strangely I can’t find ay real info on the soundtrack on the web, no track listing, no release date, or cover image, just the above You Tube clip of the shows opening credits with the 1986 version of the Del Shannon Classic Runaway. The original cut of Runaway is a high-energy rave up, a bit muddy but clearly a pre- Fab Four Frat Rock Classic. The Crime Story version is a clean, crisp, mournful and while there is sadness in the original the Crime Story version has element of a dirge in it. It’s more Endless Sleep than Double Shot (of my Baby’s Love).

As for the rest of the soundtrack, I’m not sure what’s on it. Most likely it’s a compilation of the tunes of the era, maybe a few forgotten tracks, maybe a few gems… but really it’s the fact that in 1986 I heard Runaway. It was that moment that I think I really became a musical archeologist. It was that event that sent me looking back beyond the pop gloss of 80s music to find that primal rumble of Rock and Roll that I craved. I recall listening to the oldies show that they used to have on the local top 40 Radio Station WIQB (which is long gone) and waiting to hear something as magical as Runaway.

I’m starting this year’s projected 26 soundtracks with Crime Story for two reason; first this films this month, Boiling Point and The Outfit are both Crime dramas, but also because it represents the discovery of something that has passed from the current mass continuous, just like the rest of the soundtracks that I am intending to write about. It’s only though looking back that we often come to understand where we have been as well as where we are going.

Next time: Pushing Daisies (Original Television Soundtrack) which is unique in that it will be the only other TV soundtrack I have slated to write about, and one of the few that is a musical score and not a collection of songs.