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.
