Bada Bing, Bada Boom…
Occasional Albums Thing 018 - Various Artists “The Sopranos - Music From The HBO Original Series” & “The Sopranos - Peppers & Eggs - Music From The HBO Original Series”
David Chase’s creation for HBO, “The Sopranos”, was the greatest TV series ever made and nothing will convince me otherwise. I still watch it from start to finish every few years and I’m still discovering new things about it. As much attention seemed to be paid to the soundtrack as it was to the twists and turns of the plot and these two double LP collections give a taste of the music contained in the first three seasons.
The one thing that most people know about the music in The Sopranos is its iconic theme tune, the Chosen One Mix of Alabama 3’s (or A3 as they were known in the US) song “Woke Up This Morning”, originally from their 1997 album “Exile On Cold Harbour Lane”. Those opening titles featuring Tony Soprano driving out of the Lincoln Tunnel and onto the New Jersey Turnpike, seeing the, now gone, Twin Towers across the river, past Satriale’s Pork Store and on to his house in North Caldwell, NJ. are etched on every Soprano fans memory and the song fits those images and the atmosphere of the show perfectly.
Almost every episode featured a song in its end credits that helped wrap up the feel of the episode (2 episodes had no song at all and 3 episodes had multiple songs). After we’re introduced to Tony beginning to share his problems with psychiatrist Dr. Melfi in the pilot episode we play out with Nick Lowe’s “The Beast In Me”. The Kinks fantastic 1984 song “Living On A Thin Line” is used throughout the episode “University” both to introduce the character of Tracee, a dancer at the Bada Bing, and over the end credits after Tracee is beaten to death by Ralph Cifaretto.
The season premiers featured music that told a tale of what had gone on between seasons. For the season 2 premier, “Guy Walks Into a Psychiatrist’s Office…”, we saw a montage of how well (or not) the characters had fared since the last series, soundtracked by Frank Sinatra’s “It Was a Very Good Year” (not so well for everyone, Uncle Junior was now incarcerated and family matriarch Livia Soprana was in hospital following a stroke). For the season 3 premier, “Mr. Ruggerio’s Neighborhood”, we were treated to a mash-up of Henry Mancini’s “Theme from Peter Gunn” and The Police’s ”Every Breath You Take” (David Chase’s wife had said to him that the two were basically the same song and the production team mashed them together) over another montage of the FBI surveilling Carmela, Meadow and Tony while they plant a bug in Tony’s basement.
Another way music was presented in the series was by using cast members to supply the soundtrack. In the last episode of season 1 as the crew all meet at Satriale’s and Tony and Junior agree that Jimmy Altieri has “gotta go”, the music playing is “Inside Of Me” by Little Steven & His Disciples Of Soul, Little Steven being Steve van Zandt who plays Silvio Dante, Tony Soprano’s Consigliere. During the last episode of Season 3, “Army Of One”, as the family and crew gather at Artie Bucco’s restaurant, Nuovo Vesuvio, for the wake of Jackie Aprile Jr., who was whacked after a failed robbery of a Soprano associates poker game, Dominic Chianese, who plays Uncle “Junior” Soprano, sings the old Sicilian ballad “Core 'ngrato” ("Ungrateful Heart”) bringing some hardened mobsters to tears. Sadly that episode is played out by some ambient tosh by Aphex Twin.
The music’s brilliant effect all throughout the series is it’s almost like an unseen, only heard, character narrating certain scenes. David Chase and the production team at times shot scenes to fit the rhythm of the piece of music they knew would accompany it.
These two compilations are both beautifully presented on coloured vinyl (“Peppers & Eggs” on clear blood splattered wax) in gatefold sleeves. The first volume is the better one to listen to, it’s more concise (only half as many tacks as “Peppers & Eggs”) but both contain some absolute belters. But to be honest, the best way to listen to all this music is to watch “The Sopranos”, if you’ve never done that, what are you waiting for ???
Henry Mancini & The Police “Every Breath You Take / Theme From Peter Gunn (Mr. Ruggerio's Remix)”
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