Various Artists-Lost Highway OST

Released on February 19, 1997 from nothing records and Interscope Records, the soundtrack to the David Lynch film Lost Highway is an audio companion piece to the film produced and assembled by Trent Reznor. Featuring two score pieces from Reznor as well as a new song from Nine Inch Nails, the album also include original score pieces by longtime Lynch collaborator Angelo Badalamenti as well as contributions from Marilyn Manson, the Smashing Pumpkins, Barry Adamson, David Bowie, Rammstein, Lou Reed, and Antonio Carlos Jobim. The result is a thrilling and eerie soundtrack from Trent Reznor and David Lynch.




The album opens and ends with David Bowie’s I’m Deranged from his 1995 album Outside as it is this ominous track with pulsating synthesizers and drums along with driving guitars and Mike Garson’s piano flourishes as Bowie sings the song’s haunting lyrics as the opening version of the track fades out in the middle while the closing track opens with a fade-in of Bowie’s vocals in its reprise version. The first of two instrumental tracks by Trent Reznor in Videodrones: Questions is a forty-four second instrumental piece of wind-like textures and loops with contributions from Peter Christopherson of the industrial group Coil. The Perfect Drug by Nine Inch Nails is the first song by the outfit to not be written solely by Trent Reznor as it was written with then-live band members in multi-instrumentalist Danny Lohner, keyboardist/programmer Charlie Clouser, and drummer/programmer Chris Vrenna as it is this mixture of industrial rock with the drum n’ bass electronic sub-genre as it feature cryptic lyrics from Reznor with driving guitars, pulsating beats, hammering live beats with a drum solo, and flourishing synthesizers.




The first of seven score pieces by Angelo Badalamenti in Red Bats with Teeth as it is this jazz piece with as it includes a bopping rhythm with flourishing pianos, layers of saxophones including a blazing solo by Bob Sheppard as it play into the world that Bill Pullman’s character is in as his character is a jazz musician. Badalementi’s Haunting & Heartbreaking is this soothing ambient piece that is performed by Badalamenti with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra as it is a haunting track that play into the sense of horror that Fred and Patricia Arquette’s character Renee is encountering. From the Smashing Pumpkins is the song Eye as it is this somber electronic ballad with a rhythmic drum machine beat and warbling synthesizer melodies as Billy Corgan sings the song’s melancholic lyrics as it is one of the strongest cuts on the album.




The third Badalamenti score piece in Dub Driving is this bass-driven cut co-written with David Lynch that led by a melodic bass line from Peter Richards with as it features backgrounds of soothing guitars along with some percussions from Lynch and soothing keyboards from Badalamenti and Robert Muller. The first of four contributions from Barry Adamson is the first variation of a music theme for Robert Loggia’s character Mr. Eddy as it features dialogue of Mr. Eddy driving his car as it is this cool, jazz-like track with eerie horns, melodic organs, and a smooth and steady percussive track that delves into different time signatures as it builds up some momentum. The second version of the theme is a more menacing version that play into Mr. Eddy’s notorious temper as it relates to a reckless driver as it features some woodwinds to play up the atmosphere of the track. A cover of the Drifters’ song This Magic Moment from Lou Reed from a Doc Pomus tribute album is another standout cut as it has Reed singing the song with melodic guitars and driving power chords as it is a snarling yet somber cover from Reed.




The fourth Badalamenti piece in Fred and Renee Make Love is a haunting orchestral track led by soothing bass and atmospheric textures during a sex scene between Fred and Renee. The first of two cuts from the shock rock industrial group Marilyn Manson is Apple of Sodom as it is this bopping mid-tempo track with its steady drum beats, warbling guitars and keyboards, and Manson’s creepy vocals as it play into lyrics of temptation and terror as it is another of the record standout cuts. Antonio Carlos Jobim’s Insensatez is a soothing bossa-nova track led by soft percussions and a melodic piano track as it play into the tired mood of the character Pete Drayton who is played by Balthazar Getty. A shortened version of Adamson’s piece Something Wicked This Way Comes is this groove-based instrumental with samples from Massive Attack and a couple of tracks as it this mixture of jazz and trip-hop that appears in a party scene in the film where Fred meets the mysterious man that is played by Robert Blake.




A cover of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ I Put a Spell on You by Marilyn Manson from the group’s Smells Like Children EP is this fierce and menacing version of the song with driving guitar riffs, Manson’s screams, and heavy rhythms as it plays into the character of Alice, also played by Arquette, as she tells Pete a story about Mr. Eddy. The next two score pieces from Angelo Badalamenti in Fats Revisited which is a piano-based track that is a darkly-comical piece with string flourishes while Fred’s World is a more eerie piece with haunting synthesizer textures that play into the horror that Fred is about to encounter that would end with a laugh from the mystery man. The first of two tracks from the German industrial metal group Rammstein from their 1995 debut album Herzeleid is a shortened version of the song named after the band as it is this fierce and intense track with driving metal guitars and hard-hitting beats with vocalist from Till Lindemann.




The fourth and final score piece from Barry Adamson in Hollywood Sunset is this soothing ambient piece with some throbbing percussive beats and warbling organs to help set a mood for the dark aspects of the film. The second Rammstein contribution in a shortened version of Heirate Mich is bopping yet driving track led by rhythmic drums and metallic guitar riffs with Lindemann providing a dark mood to the song as it help play into the suspense of the film. The final Badalamenti score piece in Police as it has these sounds of police sirens created by strings as it play into some of the mystery of what is happening as it closes with dialogue from the film where a character says “Dick Laurent is dead”. The second Trent Reznor score piece in Driver Down is this instrumental piece produced with Peter Christopherson as it is this industrial-metal track with driving guitar riffs from Danny Lohner and hard-hitting drums from Chris Vrenna as it include wailing sounds of loops and synthesizers with Reznor also playing a saxophone on the track as it fades into the album closer in the reprised version of David Bowie’s I’m Deranged.




One song on the film that doesn’t appear on the soundtrack album is a cover of Tim Buckley’s Song to the Siren from the 4AD label outfit This Mortal Coil that is performed by Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie of This Mortal Coil as it this devastating and haunting version due to Fraser’s vocals as it plays during a sex scene between Pete and Alice.




The soundtrack to Lost Highway is an incredible soundtrack album from Trent Reznor. Along with the score contributions from Angelo Badalamenti and Barry Adamson, the record is definitely an adventurous and eerie album that play into the dark world of David Lynch with songs from David Bowie, NIN, Lou Reed, Marilyn Manson, Antonio Carlos Jobim, and Rammstein. In the end, the soundtrack to Lost Highway is a sensational album from Trent Reznor and David Lynch.

Related: Lost Highway

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