Garden State: The Alternative Soundtrack (An Imaginary Album)
Personally, I was always a little more impressed with the soundtrack than the movie itself. And, with the movie popping up during my 3 a.m. insomnia bouts, I figured it was finally time to concoct an imaginary version of the soundtrack that's a little more to my liking. (I did this most recently with Harold & Maude.)
I kept about 2/3 of the original--The Shins, of course. That trippy Zero 7 track. The one Coldplay tune that's actually pretty good. The impeccably curated oldies (Simon & Garfunkel's "The Only Living Boy In New York," Nick Drake's "One Of These Things First"). And I jettisoned a few that I couldn't see myself wanting to hear outside the context of the actual film
And then I bulked it up by mixing in a bunch of other songs that seemed to fit the mood. A few were already associated with the film. A Travis song that was played in the trailer but not used in the movie; the Shins' Postal Service cover that was used in the trailer but replaced by an Iron & Wine Postal Service cover in the movie (I love the Iron & Wine track but I found it a little too slow for my new mix); a song by singer-songwriter Alexi Murdoch (albeit a different one than they used in the film).
Others have nothing to do with the movie, but would've been on my want-list if I'd been designing the original. Yo La Tengo, obviously--naming a film Garden State without enlisting one of the definitive New Jersey bands (especially one whose music is often designed perfectly for soundtracks) seems like a tragic oversight. Aimee Mann and Dean & Britta (of Luna) fit well. And the absence of Death Cab For Cutie in the original seems somehow off--tell me these characters wouldn't have had Transatlanticism on auto-repeat at the time! Plus a few more Zero 7 tracks. And to close it out, one more oldie--Sandie Shaw's version of Led Zeppelin's "Your Time Is Gonna Come" felt both out-of-nowhere and spot-on to run over the closing credits.
Anyway, I think it turned out nicely. Here's a Spotify version so you can decide for yourself.
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