Wim Wenders Soundtracks

New York Diary (20-24): The Journey

Audio is a Journey in every sense of the word. Once one embarks, there is adventure and frustration in equal parts, and often there is no telling how it'd end. Hopefully, it is spiritually nourishing (you really need to be a music lover for that), does not bankrupt you and become memorable for the wrong reasons.

A good album on a good system can impart a sense of journey. Nick Cave's The Boatman's Call, Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, Van Morrison's Astral Weeks and Moondance all do that for me - it is impossible not to listen to the whole thing.

I am a film buff and a fan of Wim Wenders, who is one of the few filmmakers for whom the soundtrack is not an afterthought (another is Terence Malick, one of my idols). I have many of his soundtrack CDs but I think Until The End of The World is the best one (see here; the film though is not his best, rather contrived, as he can be sometimes). I bought my first at a second-hand HK media shop for $2, and the second for less than that. I have listened to it tens of times, always from start to finish. I did that this morning twice. Though streamed through bluetooth, it sounds even better than it had in HK. Half of the artists I knew before but singers like Nick Cave and Neneh Cherry I discovered through this album.

Wim Wenders films evolved from Road Movie, and that sense of journey never left him. This track from Paris, Texas is a favorite with HK audiophiles.

To enjoy a journey one must retain a sense of wonder. May you all enjoy your life!