Wondrous Oblivion is a British film from 2003. It wasn’t a block buster, and it didn’t have any big name actors, aside from Delroy Lindo (Gone in Sixty Seconds, Get Shorty, etc.)It’s basically a story of an eleven year old Jewish kid trying to learn Cricket from his new neighbor. But that neighbor happens to be from Jamaica, and this is the 1960s, so racism rears its head.
I suppose it’s nice to know that we Americans aren’t the only ones with that ugly truth in their past.
I would recommend the movie, and even more I’d recommend the soundtrack. Filled with sixties-era reggae and ska classics. I would recommend it, that is, if it existed.
Turns out, they never made an official soundtrack for the movie. While searching for such an item, I found out that there are more people out there that were disappointed to find out it wasn’t available. So, naturally, I’m making it available now.
A bit of research (um. . . I watched the credits) turned up a list of the songs. I took a bit of time and hunted pretty much all of them down (thanks in large part to Totally Fuzzy and The Hype Machine). I then dropped the few non-reggae/ska songs, because they kind of messed with the flow of the album.
So, here’s the unofficial soundtrack to Wondrous Oblivion. Now go rent the movie.
The Skatalites vs. Laurel Aitkin - “Bad Minded Woman”
Dandy Livingstone - “Rudy, A Message To You” (later, a hit for The Specials)
Little Millie Small - “My Boy Lollipop” (later, a minor hit for Bad Manners)
The Jiving Juniors - “Sugar Dandy”
The Skatalites - “Phoenix City”
Delroy Wilson - “Dancing Mood”
Nora Dean - “Barbwire” (a.k.a. “Oh Mama”)
Lord Kitchner - “London Is the Place For Me”
Owen Gray - “Please Let Me Go”
Lord Beginner - “Victory Test Match”
UPDATE: Get all of the songs in one "rar" file here.
One little note. Some of these may not be the original versions. They do sound pretty close to those in the movie, though.
20 comments:
I love you for writing this down!!! I'm a girl from sweden, and I have been looking for this soundtrack for a very long time. I was just about to go and borrow the movie again and watch the texts afterwards. but now I can relax :) /wendela
Glad I could help out.
Thanks for sourcing these tunes.Good work.
Ohhh man. You kick ass.
Man, thanks. You did an amazing job.
This is amazing. You have no idea how long I've been looking for this! I just saw the movie on one day at my boyfriend's and ever since, I've been desperately searching for the soundtrack. Thank you, thank you!!
Nearly a year old, and it's still my most popular post. Thanks to all of you for letting me know you appreciate it.
i've been looking for the soundtrack since i saw the movie. this rulez. thanks.
Just finished watching the movie 5 minutes ago and went looking online for the soundtrack. Thanks so much for sharing this!!!
I saw this last weekend and loved it great music
Give Thanks mi bredda
Blessings Big Up
I just saw this movie last night-my best friend is moving to London next month with her family including 3 kids. I downloaded it and emailed her the London song. It was perfect. Thanks for compliling this!
Wondrous Oblivion is a great movie - I love Cricket and I love the city of London... the songs are amazing - I was looking for an official soundtrack too....but thanks for providing the list of songs...I particularly love Lord Kitchener's London song.
just when i thought i would have to rent the movie again! u rock man thx!
I am from Rhode Island and I actually bought the movie to find out this same information. Who ever put he music together did a great job. Too bad they did not release a soundtrack they probably would made more money than the movie. Another good movie that I think did not release the music that was in the movie that was great is Joe Vs. The Volcano, check it out, specifically Ray Charles - Unchain My Heart and Sergio Mendez & Brazil '66 - Mas Que Nada.
Viewed the movie on cabletv today and went searching for the soundtrack. No luck until happened upon your site. Thanks much for this and the Sharon Jones/Dap Kings set!
Isa.
thanks allot. Your blog was one of the first hits when I googled "Wondrous Oblivion Soundtrack"
Any luck finding that west indian version of "Faubus' Fables"
Thanks much, I loved the movie and now having the music I can enjoy it more. :)
Hey there!
I found the Wondrous Oblivion DVD at a yard sale in LA for 50 cents, looked intriguing since it had cricket in the theme.
(side bar: There's a really quirky indie film from Jamaica called The Lunatic that has a cricket theme as well and great music, it played at a few film fests I went to in about 1998.)
I loved watching this movie, and since I am crazy about calypso, ska & r ock-steady, I watched the soundtrack credits with great interest. Like some of you, I also did a quick search for the soundtrack but only found your vinyl blog. At first I thought that it may have been released on vinyl, no luck. Great to see the song list and to read your review of the film.
If there was a soundtrack(on vinyl, cassette or CD) I'd probably listen to it as much as the soundtracks for The Harder They Come, and Rockers.
Cheers to Jamaicans in the UK, US and Jamaica!
-H. Mann, sound man from Jamaican dancehall documentary "Louder Than Words"(soon come!)
Trying this again...
a p.s. to my first comment: Though I found this movie's DVD at a yard sale for low price, I just bought a few more copies on-line. That DVD I found in LA was from a film studio worker's yard sale, and it's a studio screener copy.
I hope a few bucks get back to the original filmmakers.
Here's a typo I noticed in the soundtrack screen credits on the DVD: "My Boy Lollipop by Millie". DeadBilly corrected it here on the song list. It was Little Millie Small's big hit. Not sure why they typo'd that in the credits. If Millie is still alive(or her estate controls naming) she may have preferred just "Millie" in her later years, not sure.
On the subject of WHY some movies don't have soundtracks, it may be a contract/releases related thing, or maybe that there simply wasn't the budget for it, when you consider that the soundtrack producer would have to pay publishing rights, performance rights and that most of the songs are from different labels, some that were small indie labels in the early 60's, etc.
If there is ever a physical soundtrack available to buy(CD? vinyl? cassette?!), I would buy several.
blessed!
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