Back To The Future: Music From The Motion Picture Soundtrack
1985
Buy the album on Amazon

I had planned on going with something a little more alternative and a little more 90s for my first soundtracks post this month, but as I was glancing at my collection this guy really caught my eye.  I’m pretty sure that this was the first “rock” album I ever owned.  And I gotta say, it was a great choice for a kid who was drifting away from his country and orchestral music roots.

I grew up in the sticks, at least compared to NYC, Austin or Toronto.  Country music was the elixir of choice to soothe souls when I was growing up.  It wasn’t until the mid-80s that I started to get curious about the music all the kids at school were talking about.  I remember very specifically that my friends were way into this album that was apparently all about different games you could play on the field.  At least that’s what I imagined when they kept talking about Sports by Huey Lewis and the News.  Eventually I figured it out.  Although it did take longer to figure that 3-Minute Work Tapes was actually my friend, Seedless telling me that he had three Men At Work tapes.  Ahem.

My dad must have been in a tape club of some kind because I remember him giving me a catalog to look through with the instructions that I could pick one item.  6-8 weeks later I had the Back to the Future cassette, but not before my dad gave it a listen to make sure it was clean enough for his only son.   Since it was my only rock album at the time and my tastes and definitely turned, I played the crap out of that tape.  I actually found it a couple of years ago and tried to rip it, but the tape was too worn to actually be worth the trouble, so I bought the disk on Amazon.  Totally worth it by the way.

It’s one of those rare soundtrack albums that mixes both score and pop song on one (very short) album.  And since I was fond of orchestra music back in the day, it was a great bridge.  It also introduced me to Fleetwood Mac via Lindsay Buckingham, and the poppier side of Eric Clapton.  And it sounds great in a car I just found out.

♥ – my personal rating

1. “The Power of Love” – Huey Lewis and the News (3:58) – ♥♥♥♥♥
2. “Time Bomb Town” – Lindsey Buckingham (2:48) – ♥♥♥♥♥
3. “Back to the Future” – The Outatime Orchestra (3:20) – ♥♥♥♥
4. “Heaven Is One Step Away” – Eric Clapton (4:13) – ♥♥♥
5. “Back in Time” – Huey Lewis and the News (4:22) – ♥♥♥♥♥
6. “Back to the Future Overture” – The Outatime Orchestra (8:19) – ♥♥♥
7. “The Wallflower (Dance with Me Henry)” – Etta James (2:45) – ♥♥♥
8. “Night Train” – Marvin Berry and The Starlighters (2:17) – ♥♥♥
9. “Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine)” – Marvin Berry and The Starlighters (3:02) – ♥♥♥♥
10. “Johnny B. Goode” – Marty McFly and the Starlighters (3:06) – ♥♥♥♥♥