V/A: Back to the Future (soundtrack) [UME]

Why you'll love it

The original 1985 soundtrack LP, pressed in the Czech Republic. "The Power of Love" gave Huey Lewis and the News their first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song, and the album went gold in both the US and Canada.

This edition

• Original 1985 soundtrack
• Pressed in the Czech Republic

About the album

Few films make a cover version feel like a plot twist. Back to the Future's big musical moment has Marty McFly teaching a 1955 high school dance to play a song from three years in the future, and the soundtrack gives you both sides of that joke: the shiny mid-80s radio rock Marty grew up with and the doo-wop and R&B he finds waiting in Hill Valley.

Huey Lewis and the News bring "The Power of Love" and "Back in Time," Lindsey Buckingham turns up with "Time Bomb Town" and Eric Clapton with "Heaven Is One Step Away." On the 1955 side, Etta James sings "The Wallflower (Dance with Me Henry)," Marvin Berry & The Starlighters (Harry Waters Jr. on lead) croon "Earth Angel" and "Night Train," and "Johnny B. Goode" is credited to Marty McFly with The Starlighters, though it's Mark Campbell singing while Michael J. Fox does the guitar faces. Alan Silvestri's orchestral "Back to the Future Overture" holds it all together.

The album reached No. 12 on the Billboard 200 and spent 19 weeks there. It still sounds like a summer at the multiplex, and it's the one record in the shop that has technically been played at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance.

Also at Kops: more Back to the Future on vinyl · browse Soundtracks

Tracklist

Listen

On MCA / Geffen / UMe, a reissue of the 1985 soundtrack.