Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Score + Awesome Mix Albums Released Today

Digital Editions of Tyler Bates Score Album and Awesome Mix Songtrack Album Now Available – CD version of Awesome Mix Due Next Week

Marvel Music/Hollywood Records has released the digital versions of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: Awesome Mix Vol. 2 songs-only album and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 original score album by composer Tyler Bates (GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, JOHN WICK CHAPTER 2, WATCHMEN) today, April 21st. The film opens in U.S. theaters on May 5, 2017.

Director James Gunn described the importance of the score in the film: “The one thing that is underappreciated is how important Tyler Bates’ score is to the first film. We still use the score from the first movie while shooting this film and it doesn’t get the respect it deserves because it gets so overshadowed by the [song] soundtrack. There’s some beautiful score on that first soundtrack, and I know that the music… for the second film is even better than what we did for the first film. Tyler Bates has absolutely outdone himself, and we’re giving something very special to people with the music in this film, both the pop songs and the actual score.”

Gunn and composer Tyler Bates worked on the score during pre-production so that they would have some of the major score themes worked out before the shoot began. This allowed Gunn, the actors and the camera crews to work with the music that will end up being used in the final film.

ICYMI: Sample a cue from Bates’s score during the Abbey Road recording session which James Gunn streamed live earlier this year. Click here.

[See my interview with Tyler Bates about GUARDIANS 1 here. –rdl]

Tyler Bates’s current TV projects include the Marvel/Netflix series, THE PUNISHER and Genndy Tartakovsky’s SAMURAI JACK, for Adult Swim. This July, Bates will embark on a world tour with shock-rocker Marilyn Manson, as lead guitarist, to celebrate the release of Manson’s forthcoming album “SAY 10,” which like Marilyn Manson’s “The Pale Emperor,” was co-written and produced by Bates. The duo created the title song “Cupid Carries a Gun,” for WGN’s SALEM, which Bates also scored, as well as songs for both John Wick films.

About the songtrack album, Gunn explained: “We had Awesome Mix Volume 1 last time, and this time we have Awesome Mix Volume 2. It was so important that it’s actually part of the film’s title this time around. As most people know, Quill’s mom made the first tape for a slightly younger boy, and she made the second tape for a slightly older boy. So, in many ways the songs reflect the story. The songs are a little bit deeper in some ways; a little bit less pop in some ways. Some of the choices are a bit more eclectic; some of the choices are a bit more popular. But we have a real amazing group of songs that, like in the first movie, I wrote into the script. They are a part of the storytelling. Each song is very specific to the scene where it’s placed.”

The Awesome Mix Vol. 2 will also receive a physical CD set for release on April 28th; no word yet on a CD release of the score album.

The GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2:  Awesome Mix Vol. 2 track list follows:

  1. “Mr. Blue Sky” – Performed by Electric Light Orchestra
  2. “Fox on the Run” – Performed by Sweet
  3. “Lake Shore Drive” – Performed by Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah
  4. “The Chain” – Performed by Fleetwood Mac
  5. “Bring It on Home to Me” – Performed by Sam Cooke
  6. “Southern Nights” – Performed by Glen Campbell
  7. “My Sweet Lord” – Performed by George Harrison
  8. “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” – Performed by Looking Glass
  9. “Come a Little Bit Closer” – Performed by Jay and The Americans
  10. “Wham Bam Shang-a-Lang” – Performed by Silver
  11. “Surrender” – Performed by Cheap Trick
  12. “Father and Son” – Performed by Yusef / Cat Stevens
  13. “Flash Light” – Performed by Parliament
  14. “Guardians Inferno” – Performed by The Sneepers (Featuring – David Hasselhoff)

-via Walt Disney Records

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This website was created partly to promote the book series, Musique Fantastique [Second Edition] 100+ Years of Fantasy, Science Fiction & Horror Film Music by Randall D. Larson, but more importantly is intended to be a resource for news, views, & interviews about music for science fiction, fantasy, and horror films. As an extension of the books, it provides additional material and links to further resources about this unique genre of film and television scoring. For news on the book series, scroll down toward the bottom of the home page.

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Frontispiece artwork by Allen Koszowski from Musique Fantastique 1st Edition, Scarecrow Press, 1985.