Inherent Vice (soundtrack)

The score was Greenwood's third collaboration with Anderson following There Will Be Blood (2007) and The Master (2012).^[3] When Greenwood read the script, it consisted of all the elements in the book about the arpanet (the first ever internet computer), so he composed more electronic material that sounded like it was coming from the computer. However, Greenwood decided to implement orchestral ideas in the score.^[4] The recording held on early-December 2013 and continued till February 2014.^[5] The score was performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra led by Clio Gould and conducted by Robert Ziegler.^[5]

The soundtrack features a version of an unreleased track by Greenwood's band Radiohead, "Spooks". Greenwood said Radiohead's version was "a half-idea we never made work live", describing it as a pastiche of the Pixies and surf music.^[6] For Inherent Vice, Greenwood reworked it with performances by Gaz Coombes and Danny Goffey of Supergrass, and Joanna Newsom provided spoken word.^[7]

The soundtrack also includes music from the late 1960s and 1970s. Some of the contributions from Can, the Marketts, Minnie Riperton, Kyu Sakamoto, Neil Young, Les Baxter and Chuck Jackson were included in the soundtrack, but other artists whose songs not included in the album—the Tornados, the Cascades, the Association, Jack Scott, Bob Irwin, Frank Comstock among others—were featured in the film.^[8] IndieWire released the track list featured in the film,^[8] after the New York Film Festival premiere on October 4.^[9]

The track list was unveiled on November 17, 2014, which had only nine songs from the film, while the remaining tracks are from Greenwood's original score.^[10][11] The soundtrack was released on December 15, three days after the film.^[12]

Film music not included in the album:^[8]

1. "Dreamin' On a Cloud" – The Tornados
2. "Rhythm of the Rain" – The Cascades
3. "Soup" – Can
4. "Burning Bridges" – Jack Scott
5. "The Throwaway Age" – Bob Irwin
6. "Gilligan's Island Theme" – Sherwood Schwartz and George Wyle
7. "Harvest" – Neil Young
8. "Electricity" – Cliff Adams
9. "Never My Love" – The Association
10. "Adam-12 (Themes and Cues)" – Frank Comstock
11. "(What A) Wonderful World" – Sam Cooke

The review aggregator website Metacritic assigned a score 79 out of 100 to the album, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[13] Jayson Greene of Pitchfork rated 7.3/10 to the album, saying "Like the movie, the soundtrack is a pungent, incoherent, occasionally haunting trifle. The feeling is of a bunch of intelligent and talented people trying on a bunch of funny-colored clothing and giggling at each other. If you're not wearing the costumes, there's a limit to just how entertained by all of it you can be."^[14] Heather Phares of AllMusic wrote "In its own way, Inherent Vice is as subtly and carefully crafted as Greenwood's other scores for Anderson's films, but its wit and heart make it special in its own right."^[15]

Sean Wilson of Music Files wrote "Greenwood has established a recognisable musical voice over just five feature films, and although Inherent Vice is almost certainly the most straightforward of all his scores, it still retains the technical complexity for which he's renowned."^[16] Joe Goggins of Drowned In Sound gave 7 out of 10 to the album and wrote Greenwood's "non-Radiohead output has always been interesting and has often been compelling".^[17] Will Schube of Passion of the Weiss wrote "The soundtrack's an easy listen, partially because Greenwood's work is less demanding, but also in how the record's sequencing intersperses underground classics of the 70s among the original work."^[18] Ben Hogwood of MusicOMH rated three-and-a-half out of five, saying "this is undoubtedly Greenwood's work, and he writes with ever-growing assurance and colour, broadening the orchestral palette. It's just a shame this album as a whole could not be arranged in a more satisfying way".^[19]