The Vietnam War: The Soundtrack is the Original Soundtrack to the 10 part series by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. It contains a roster of All-Star artists featuring Iconic Music of the Vietnam era. 37 tracks chosen from 120 tunes featured in the film. The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix sit alongside classics by The Temptations, Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, and much more.
The last in Kent’s trilogy spotlighting black America’s involvement in the Vietnam war. It’s been a long wait but we feel that the 23 tracks here more than uphold the high standard of its predecessors – A Soldier’s Sad Story and Does Anybody Know I’m Here. Presented in loosely chronological sequence, Stop The War contains many highly significant musical statements on various aspects of the conflict, from shipping out to coming home. Even though the Vietnam war has been over for almost half a century it’s still possible, through these songs, to feel the frustration, anger and sadness that many Americans felt towards a conflict that lasted far too long and claimed far too many lives on both sides.
Traditional Vietnamese songs arranged by the Grammy awarded Silkroad Ensemble from the PBS film The ""Vietnam War: A Film By Ken Burns & Lynn Novick."
Violinist Billy Bang is equally at home whether performing heady, modern-jazz-style improvisation or when churning out a straightforward swing vibe within mainstream contexts. Here, saxophonist/flutist Sonny Fortune, pianist John Hicks, and others lend their wares to this generally invigorating 2001 production. Based upon his Vietnam War experiences, Bang and associates meld Southeast Asian modalities with Western scales and bouncy swing vamps amid a few tenderly executed ballads…
Nineteen eighty-seven's Good Morning, Vietnam was a turning point for Robin Williams, garnering the comic his first Academy Award nomination and leveraging him into the first rank of American film stars. As directed by Barry Levinson, Williams imbues the "true life" story of Armed Forces Radio rebel Adrian Cronauer with his patented machine-gun comic banter, undercut by dollops of now equally familiar tragi-comic bathos. But contrary to the tired hit parade we've come to expect from period soundtracks, the '60s music Williams's character spins here is often a refreshing surprise, drawing from trashy garage-band chic ("Liar Liar" by the Castaways), underexposed British Invasion hits (the Searchers' "Sugar and Spice," "Game of Love" by Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders), and relatively obscure American chart hits ("Five O'Clock World" by the Vogues, the Rivieras' "Warm California Sun"), all of it gratuitously punctuated by Williams's manic DJ rantings. The inspired revival of Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" also became one of the 1980s' most unlikely hits.
Saigon Supersound Continues to present more interesting tunes of a musical era that has long been obscured. With the well received Volume 1, we are very delighted to dig deeper and share with you the beautiful music of a short but significant period in Vietnam‘s history.