V/A: The Royal Tenenbaums (2LP, soundtrack, apple red & baby pink vinyl) [HOLLYWOOD RECORDS]

Why you'll love it

This 2LP set splits the soundtrack across apple red and baby pink vinyl in a gatefold jacket. Wes Anderson and Randall Poster built it around Mark Mothersbaugh's chamber-pop score and a run of 1960s to 1990s songs, chosen to match the film's faded, storybook look.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Apple red & baby pink vinyl
• Gatefold jacket

About the album

A Wes Anderson film is half picture, half mixtape, and The Royal Tenenbaums might be the best mixtape of the lot. The story of a family of former child prodigies called for music that felt both grand and slightly faded, and Anderson and music supervisor Randall Poster found it in old records and Mark Mothersbaugh's playful, string-and-harpsichord score.

Mothersbaugh, of Devo fame, opens with "111 Archer Avenue" and threads the album with pieces like "Mothersbaugh's Canon" and "Sparkplug Minuet." Around them sit Nico's "These Days" and "The Fairest Of The Seasons," The Clash's "Police & Thieves," Ramones' "Judy Is A Punk," Elliott Smith's "Needle In The Hay," Nick Drake's "Fly" and The Velvet Underground's "Stephanie Says." Emitt Rhodes' "Lullabye" and Vince Guaraldi's "Christmas Time Is Here" add a soft glow, and the Mutato Muzika Orchestra takes on George Enescu's cello sonata. Mothersbaugh and his longtime collaborator Robert Casale also produced the compilation, so the songs and score sit together as if they were always meant to.

It's a record you can put on without having seen the film, though you'll want to watch it right after. Tracksuits are not supplied, but we won't judge.

Also at Kops: more The Royal Tenenbaums on vinyl · browse Soundtracks

Tracklist

Listen

On Hollywood Records (cat# D004850201), a reissue of the 2001 soundtrack.