Until the End of the World Soundtrack
- FaceOff - עימות חזיתי
- 6 hours ago
- 4 min read
Written By: Moti Kupfer
Release date -10.12.1991
The year 1991 will be remembered by many of us as a year of wars (the Gulf War), musical turning points (Grunge), and, at least in my memory as a teenager, the first time Israeli teams were forced to play their home games abroad (Maccabi Tel Aviv in the European Cup).
It was one of the greatest years in the history of music, yet it ended quietly in relation to Wim Wenders and his film "Until The End Of The World". The film’s excellent soundtrack was released on December 10, 1991, but the film itself was considered a cinematic flop, possibly due to massive cuts to the original material or because of its length of more than three hours.
Wilhelm Wenders, who as a young man dropped out of medical and philosophy studies and failed his entrance exam to the national French film school, had big dreams and did not intend to give them up. He began working as a sculptor while watching many films every day.
In 1967 he returned to Germany and began working as a film critic and journalist. He completed several short films before finishing his studies, and his graduation film "Summer In The City" was his first full-length feature.
Over the course of his career Wenders won numerous awards such as the Golden Lion for "The State of Things" (1982), the Palme d’Or for "Paris, Texas" (1984), and Best Director for "Wings of Desire" (1987).
Wenders had an instinct not only for cinema, but also for the music that would accompany his films. More than once he created films whose soundtracks were as successful, and sometimes even more successful, than the films themselves, such as the soundtrack to the documentary "Buena Vista Social Club". The same is for "Until The End Of The World".
After becoming a director synonymous with global success and critical acclaim, Wenders sought to challenge his audience even further with a futuristic dystopian road film set in 1999. Yet he did not intend to challenge only the viewers.
Wenders gathered around him a group of musicians. Some were top-tier and some were on the verge of retirement. Others were just before their awaited breakthrough, and some remained on the fringes. They all shared one mission: to create music for a film set in the future. Songs that they, as musicians, would write in the future, in 1999.
For this ambitious project Wenders recruited an elite lineup of musicians including Lou Reed, "R.E.M.", "Talking Heads", Elvis Costello, Nick Cave, "U2", "Depeche Mode", "Can", "Crime And The City Solution", Patti Smith, Neneh Cherry, Julee Cruise, Daniel Lanois, Jane Siberry, k.d. lang, and former Bob Dylan guitarist T Bone Burnett.
In an astonishing and uniquely cohesive way, the soundtrack’s songs blend together as a chain of darkness, heartbreak, and the emptiness of an approaching end of the world.
After the short intro "Opening Titles", meant to set the mood, we move to the second-to-last single released by "Talking Heads", "Sax And Violins", followed by "Summer Kisses Winter Tears" by Julee Cruise, electrifyingly produced by Angelo Badalamenti and David Lynch. Neneh Cherry helps preserve the atmosphere alongside the Australian band "Crime And The City Solution".
Lou Reed and the experimental German rock band "Can" lead us to one of the soundtrack’s peaks, "Fretless", the aching and tormented contribution from "R.E.M.", originally written for "Out Of Time" but left off the final album. Wim Wenders gained enormously from this omission, receiving a song in which Michael Stipe longs to shed his anxieties and worries and disconnect completely from the world around him. Kate Pierson, the vocalist of "B52's", who collaborated frequently with "R.E.M." during that period, appears here as well, serving as the female voice trying in vain to offer comfort.
After the emotional peak delivered by Stipe and his band, Elvis Costello arrives with a gentle cover of "Days" by "The Kinks". Immediately after a short instrumental piece, "Claire's Theme", we are ready for the soundtrack’s powerful closing chord, "(I'll Love You) Till The End Of The World", featuring "Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds", in a song that serves as a complete tribute to romantic lovers who are unafraid to take a step forward, to take risks, and to embrace a love that shakes their world.
But not just yet. Right after it comes "It Takes Time", a duet between Patti Smith and her husband Fred Smith, singing about patience and perseverance on our journey through life, reminding us that every peak we reach demands endurance and calm determination.
Out of nowhere "Depeche Mode" appear, with Martin Gore contributing "Death's Door", a smoky, jazzy, almost western-styled song, so far from the synthpop they played in the eighties and so close to the style of Jeffrey Lee Pierce and "The Gun Club", making it a perfect fit for this soundtrack.
The soundtrack approaches its end with the enchanting duet "Calling All Angels" by Jane Siberry and k.d. lang, who would break out massively a year later with "Constant Craving", followed by songs from former Bob Dylan guitarist T Bone Burnett and Canadian producer and musician Daniel Lanois.
Finally we reach "Until The End Of The World" by "U2", released a month earlier on "Achtung Baby", telling the story of the relationship between Jesus and Judas Iscariot, moving from betrayal to the sorrow and regret that haunt him. Similar to the opening, the album closes with the airy instrumental piece "Finale".
As time goes by, the achievement of this soundtrack becomes even greater. It lies in the emotions it manages to evoke consistently from beginning to end, and in the number of excellent alternative songs hidden within it. These songs forced Wenders to omit several tracks that appeared in the film but could not fit on the soundtrack album, such as "Blood Of Eden" by Peter Gabriel and "Breakin' The Rules" by Robbie Robertson.
For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music