2-Disc 'Pirate Radio' Soundtrack Hits November 10; Features The Kinks, Beach Boys, David Bowie, The Who & More Vintage Cuts

We haven’t discussed “Pirate Radio” much, because… well we haven’t. It was once named, “The Boat That Rocked,” in the U.K., and there were rumors that the film — which features a very strong cast including; Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans, Nick Frost, Kenneth Branagh, and January Jones to name a few names — was neutered for the U.S. market.

It’s hard to say as we haven’t seen it yet (though one of our contribs has and a review coming next week), but we will say the soundtrack does look like a pretty strong collection of vintage ’60s and ’70s hits, if pretty familiar ones (ok, some are predictable, but hey, it’s a ’60s period piece movie).

The soundtrack, which is a double disc, hits U.S. shelves on November 10 (and yes, has been out in the U.K. for ages), and features, a well-worn, but still worthy collection of Nuggets-era tracks (the Easybeats), ’60s deep soul (Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Otis Redding, Dusty Springfield), British Invasion pop (The Turtles, The Troggs, The Kinks, The Who) and vintage rock classics (Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Jeff Beck) among many others. The odd songs out not from the era of the film (the ’60s in London) include a new track by Duffy (a cover of Lorraine Ellison’s “Stay With Me Baby,” a wonderful, bittersweet pining track that’s also on the 2nd disc) and David Bowie’s ’80s song, “Let’s Dance,” which by the looks of it, plays out in the film’s credits (soundtracks generally list their songs in the order they play within the film). You can also never go wrong by including Dusty Springfield on a soundtrack and the melancholy, “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me,” might be familiar, but it’s still a fantastic cut (if you don’t like Dusty, you only have a cursory appreciation for music, frankly).

The full tracklist below. Personally we’ve always thought the Troggs and the Turtles were super underrated, so it’s nice to see some of their cuts front and center. Obviously no one has a bad word to say about the Kinks (nice to see a less A-side clip like, “Sunny Afternoon” used here), that Moody Blues song has always been killer, and there are some slightly lesser-celebrated cuts by folks like Chris Andrews, the Tremeloes and the Bystanders to name a few.

Here’s the entire 2-disc soundtrack tracklist. Links so you can hear songs where applicable.
Disc: 1
1. Stay With Me Baby-Duffy
2. All Day-The Kinks
3. Elenore-The Turtles

4. Judy In Disguise-John Fred And Playboys
5. Dancing-Martha Reeves
6. Wouldn’t It Be Nice-Beach Boys
7. Ooh Baby Baby-Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
8. This Guys In Love-Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass (a great cover of the Burt Bacharach track)
9. Hi Ho Silver Lining-Jeff Beck
10. I Can See For Miles-The Who
11. With A Girl Like You-The Troggs

12. I’m Alive-The Hollies
13. Yesterday Man-Chris Andrews
14. I’ve Been A Bad Bad Boy-Paul Jones
15. Silence Is Golden-Tremeloes

Disc: 2
1. Friday On My Mind-Easybeats
2. My Generation-The Who
3. I Feel Free-Cream (kinda wish they woulda used the underrated, “Anyone For Tennis?,” but still not a bad song
4. Wind Cries Mary-Jimi Hendrix
5. A Whiter Shade Of Pale-Procol Harum
6. These Arms Of Mine-Otis Redding
7. The Happening- Supremes
8. Cleo’s Mood – Junior Walker & The All Stars
9. She’d Rather Be With Me-The Turtles
10. 98.6-The Bystanders
11. Sunny Afternoon-Kinks
12. Father And Son-Cat Stevens
13. Nights In White Satin-Moody Blues

14. You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me-Dusty Springfield

15. Stay With Me-Lorraine Ellison

16. This Old Heart Of Mine-The Isley Brothers
17. Let’s Dance-David Bowie

Here’s the trailer if you haven’t seen it. It’s admittedly terrible and mostly because of the painful American voice-over that is tonally challenged and completely wrong (does that guy sell car commercials?. The film, which has already long-premiered in the U.K., hits the U.S. on November 13. Hopefully, the trailer is not indicative of the final film.

We posted it months ago, but just to get that taste out of our mouths, here’s the British version. It at least seems to capture the spirit of the film a bit better.