The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964 – 1968) was a suave, Cold War-era spy TV series that depicted a handsome American rogue (amusingly named Napoleon Solo, played by Robert Vaughn) and an uptight Soviet agent (named Illya Kuryakin, played by David McCallum) who would be begrudgingly forced together in order to take down would-be world terrorists. These days, it’s considered a cult series, although it was a mainstream hit back in the day.
Guy Ritchie’s film version of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., which was released in theaters on Friday, doesn’t so much adapt the material as give it a good spit-polish. Ritchie has less interest in the premise of the show, or even so much the characters, than he does in the then-natural-now-retro-supercool 1960s setting. This is a movie about suits, ties, really nice hairdos, expensive furniture, nice cars, and matching cufflinks. It’s the moving, living, Platonic ideal of a GQ Magazine from 1965. That it is a spy thriller is incidental.
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A cucumber-cool movie like this warrants, of course, a cucumber-cool soundtrack record, and this one is pretty damn cool. It’s a sneaky, blustering soundtrack of lithe jazz, silly lounge, and wonderfully oblique Italian standard obscurities, all paired up with 17 tracks of Daniel Pemberton’s excellent jazzy score to match. As a whole, it’s a fun listen.
Here at SoundTreks, we are not in the habit of reviewing scores, so we will look at the seven pop tunes included on this soundtrack, and give a brief look at what Pemberton did to bolster those songs. Mix yourself a Tom Collins, throw on your $3,000 H. Huntsman suit, spray on some Clive Christian No. 1, and relax to the strains of the following:
Track 1. “Compared to What” – Roberta Flack
I’ll try not to use the word “cool” too much while talking about this soundtrack, but “cool” is what the music supervisors were going for, and I think they nailed it. “Compared to What” is a slyly cheerful middle finger to authority that starts quiet and jazzy, and builds ever so slightly as it goes into something brassier, before breaking into something outright jazzy. Its cheery defiance is only stressed by Flack’s sexy, open voice. Flack was, of course, the mastermind behind 1973’s “Killing Me Softly With His Song”
“Compared to What” comes from 1969, making it a an anachronism within the film (which is set in an earlier year), but I forgive that, as it has a timeless quality. That said, it comes from an era of songwriting when tunes about defiance and breaking up could still sound cheerful and celebratory.
Track 2. “Out of the Garage” – Daniel Pemberton
Daniel Pemberton’s score is great, and I wish more film composers would operate in this milieu, i.e. composing original mood music (that can stand by itself, outside the context of the film) rather than unable-to-stand-apart emotional signifiers. I understand that The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is a movie more about mood, and less about the typical, relatable emotional beats seen in most movies, but more composers would do well to ape this approach.
“Out of the Garage” quotes James Bond, of course (no spy movie can get away with not quoting James Bond), but adds a deliberately more jazzy quality. The jazz flute is a wonderful touch, and I love that, if you listen closely enough, you can hear the flute player taking frantic breaths to play his featured part. Jazz works better when it has fingerprints on it, and I admire Pemberton for leaving them.
Track 5. “Jimmy, Renda Se” – Tom Zé and Valdez
Tom Zé is a Brazilian experimental jazz musician who started work in the 1960s. You may have heard of him in the 1990, as David Byrne of Talking Heads discovered one of his records in Brazil, and brought it back to the U.S. Personally, this song is my first exposure to Zé, and I like it a lot. I hear the same twisted jazz sensibilities of Sun Ra, especially in the period after Sun Ra began proclaiming he was from another planet. Zé is more musical, but there is a frantic, appealing outsider quality to his buzzy jazz that makes my brain happy.
This is a deep, deep cut. Only an experienced jazz expert would be able to pull out something like this. I have a theory about soundtracks: The deeper the cut, the better the soundtrack. This may not play out, but it’s always impressive when someone can reach down into the deeper pockets of the music world in order to find exactly the sound the director is looking for. Not all action scenes need to be punctuated by the obvious choice.
Track 9. “Cry To Me” – Solomon Burke
It takes a lot of gall to include a pop song that’s already associated with another movie. Solomon Burke’s “Cry To Me” was famously included on the soundtrack to Dirty Dancing. That movie, however, came out in 1987, so maybe the statue of limitations is up. Although some can never be reused. Dick Dale’s cover of “Misirlou,” for instance, will only ever be used by Pulp Fiction.
Also, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. came out in 2015, which means the young people seeing it are the grandchildren – or even the great-grandchildren – of people who were adults in the 1960s. This song was recorded and released in 1962, so to many young ears, it’s just another oldie. It’s a soulful and fun song that inspired dancing and grooving. Sometimes even “cool” can have fun.
Track 10. “Five Months, Two Weeks, Two Days” – Louis Prima
Louis Prima (1910 – 1978) was, like Cab Calloway, a bit of a clown in the jazz world. He was immensely talented, most certainly had an ear for cool, and wow did he know his music, but sang every song with a playful, almost silly boppiness, often aided by his hilariously straight-faced fourth wife, Keely Smith. His songs can be found on lounge compilations, jazz compilations, and even comedy anthologies. This is the man who, it must be remembered, originally sang “Just a Gigolo” and the amusingly offensive “Closer to the Bone.”
The song is about how long his baby has been gone. I need not describe it any more than to quote the following lyrics:
Uh, ah, uh ah
Uh uh ah uh, ah, uh ah
Uh ah ah ah, uh ah ahhhh
Uh, eeh, ah uh uh
Ah,ummh, ummh
(5 weeks, 2 Weeks, 2 Days, hurry home)
‘Bout to lose my mind
Yeah. We’re not afraid to get silly up in this bitch.
Track 14. “Che Vuole Questa Musica Stasera” – Peppino Gagliardi
In the film, this song plays over a violent action sequence with the sound muted out. Peppino Gagliardi’s voice is all we can hear. While it plays, Henry Cavill’s character watches the action from the front seat of an Italian truck, pilfering a rather sophisticated meal (including a bottle of wine) out of the owner’s lunch basket. The action is erased, gleefully (and mercifully) sacrificed on the alter of mood. Much of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. takes place in Italy, so it makes sense that an Italian crooner should be included on the soundtrack.
I don’t speak Italian, so I can’t speak to what the lyrics mean to the scene, but I know that including an Italian song only emphasizes the cosmopolitan suaveness of Henry Cavill’s character.
Track 17. “Il Mio Regno” – Luigi Tenco
This is old-world, right here. This is what you would hear at your birthday party, sung live by an elderly Italian man, if you were a wealthy 17-year-old aristocrat in 1960s Tuscany. Here’s a fun detail: near the end of the track, the record skips in the transfer, and they left it in. I like that.
Track 20. “Take You Down” – Daniel Pemberton
Listen to this. It’s like James Bond made out with a ’90s buzz-rock band, and then had a child with Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song,” but with African drums. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. does skew a little too serious near the end, giving us a hefty climax in what had previously been a featherweight film, but this track – the music behind the climax – is awesome to listen to and will make you drive fast.
Track 23. “Take Care of Business” – Nina Simone
Nina Simone’s story is worth looking up. She’s also one of the best vocalists of the 1960s, and there’s something tragic and longing on her voice that many of her contemporaries lacked. When Nina Simone asks you to take care of business, you take care of business.
Which is Better: The Soundtrack or the Film?
Warner Bros.
The soundtrack is better. The film is fun and stylish, but, at the end of the day, a bit of a trifle. I loved looking at Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer, but their suave moments would be less suave were it not for this awesome record underneath it. The bulk of the film’s cool (at least the parts of it that aren’t constructed by nice suits and awesome hairdos) can all be experienced in this soundtrack.
But then, there is something to be said for the banter, the charm, and the ’60s fetishization going on on screen. But maybe that’s where the film and the soundtrack part ways. The film is cheeky. A glorious exaggeration of ’60s cool, styled to within an inch of its own awesome life. The soundtrack doesn’t need to exaggerate. It’s cool on it’s own. And that, my friends, puts it a little above.
Now go buy a suit or high quality gown, get some high-quality gin to mix into a strong, unsweetened drink, and listen to Miles Davis’ “Kind of Blue” while reading a very, very old book. You’ll be cooler for it, young sirs and madams.
Witney Seibold is a contributor to the CraveOnline Film Channel, and co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. You can follow him on “Twitter” at @WitneySeibold, where he is slowly losing his mind.
