The first of two blogs dedicated to the carefully curated, eclectic soundtrack from Season 4 of the TV drama series The Bear – if you know, you know.
If Spotify Embedded Playlist does not appear, please use the link to the playlist below!
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0MY7CztkNojjty0Vrmz0yl?si=a5da55dd700e454f
First Word
The fourth season of the acclaimed FX TV series The Bear was released on Disney+ in June, but with one thing and another, we’re only getting round to watching it now, thanks to my son’s subscription! The members of our household are big fans of the Chicago-based drama about a restaurant and the emotional highs and lows of the people who work there. And for this particular viewer, the show is hugely enhanced by a carefully selected soundtrack of hidden musical gems chosen by writer and director Christopher Storer and executive producer Josh Senior. I have raved about this series and soundtrack before in previous blogs and used it as an excuse to playlist some tunes, but I’ve decided to go all out on this latest series.
There are ten episodes in Season 4 but, at the time I started writing this, we were only halfway through. So my plan is to do two blogs, choosing one song from each episode to put in a playlist. As that would give five songs and it is really hard to decide which ones to pick, I am going to use the old WIS six-song format and choose one bonus track each week. It’s my rules, so why not?!
Oh. And before I forget. For those who don’t know, apologies for the multiple references to the plot of the drama in the text this week. And for those who do know and just haven’t got round to watching it yet, there may be a chance of some minor spoilers along the way. Nothing too major, though!
Getting In Tune – The Who (1971)
Episode 1 – Groundhogs
Although thrilled to see a favourite drama series return, we tentatively approached Episode 1 as the previous season had struggled to follow up the intensity of the second season. We were not disappointed, though. Musically, the opening flashback sequence [featuring Carmy Berzatto’s dead brother Mikey suggesting the name of the restaurant to him] is played out to Led Zeppelin’s wistful acoustic That’s The Way from 1970’s Led Zep III. The closing credits roll to an extract from Diamond Diary from Tangerine Dream’s soundtrack to the movie Thief in 1981. I know one reader in Australia who will be disappointed that I haven’t playlisted that one.
As the Groundhog Day referencing episode builds, a mixed review of the restaurant acts as the catalyst for business funder Uncle Jimmy to give the team two months to turn things around before they pull the plug. A long sequence of the various members of the team starting to re-sync their operations to target the elusive Michelin star plays out to The Who’s Getting In Tune. Taken from the band’s 1971 LP Who’s Next, the song was originally written as part of Pete Townsend’s abandoned Lifehouse project – his science fiction-based rock opera that was intended to follow up Tommy. It is a dynamic song where the instrumentation and vocals rise and fall throughout, driven by John Entwhistle’s imperious bass and Keith Moon’s clattering drums. Session man Nicky Hopkins’ piano part is great and Roger Daltrey’s voice is at its peak. The “Getting in tune to the straight and narrow” harmony refrain works perfectly with the visuals.
The Chosen One – Brian Ferry (1985)
Episode 2 – Soubise
The narrative arc of the second episode is downwards as the team realise the seriousness of the position they are in. Budgets are cut and a shortage of ingredients means the aspirational menu needs to be modified. Unlike previous seasons of the drama where the sweary, raging arguments between the staff were a central feature, this time these are (mostly) replaced with quieter, more reflective conversations where the characters’ relationships really deepen. Episode 2 chooses to soundtrack this with a series of 80s songs across the piece. The synthesised thump of Talk Talk’s excellent Life’s What You Make It leaves its message clear and Dylan’s reflective Most of the Time from 1989’s Oh Mercy album fits the groove nicely. And closing with the intense bass drive of the little-known Mystery Achievement from the Pretenders’ debut LP is a terrific way to roll the credits.
But I’m playlisting a track from this episode that was new to me. By the mid 80s I wasn’t really keeping tabs on the work of Bryan Ferry. Roxy Music finally split in 1984, some considerable time and several average records after their early 70s heyday. Ferry promptly reactivated the solo career that he had run in parallel with Roxy and released his sixth solo album in 1985, which reached No 1 in the UK. It was made with a host of worthy, big-name guests (Nile Rogers, David Gilmour, Mark Knopfler etc etc) and spawned the top ten single Slave To Love and a couple of other less well-placed releases. But hidden away, opening side 2 was The Chosen One – all 80s drum beats, slap bass, sequencers and synthesised guitar breaks. Ferry’s icy voice leads us down through a descending verse lyric with the title chanted as a refrain, and it all ends up like a highly polished, more sophisticated out-take from Talking Heads’ Remain In Light. The title is perfect for Carmy as he struggles with the weight of expectation that his talent can deliver success to the restaurant.
Only You Know – Dion (1975)
Episode 3 – Scallop
In an episode named after one of Carmy’s signature dishes that his partner Sydney recreates using less ingredients, there are some really great tunes chosen by the director to soundtrack the drama playing out. Cousin Richey brilliantly argues on the phone with his ex-wife Tiff, to the sound of The Ronnettes singing (The Best Part of) Breakin’ Up. Over the central section of the episode, the director allows nearly all of Van Morrison’s 7-minute live version of Slim Slow Slider from Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl to play out . As Van rumbles away, there are discussions about wine pairing and how to get new business opportunites. Sydney gets a discrete call from another restaurateur trying to poach her and the FoH team plan a surprise for some diners as the music riffs on and knits it all together.
The delivery of this surprise is soundtracked by the track I am playlisting. Dion Francis DiMucci has a name that fits in with the wider Berzatto family on the screen. But the mononymous Dion began his career singing with The Belmonts and went on to have huge success as a solo artist in the early 60s with hits such as Runaround Sue and The Wanderer. Long after his star faded, he recorded an album with Phil Spector in 1976, which I only recently discovered through its brilliant title track, a cover of the Chordettes 1956 hit Born To Be With You. The other great song on the record is Only You Know written by Spector and Gerry Goffin. It is this track that is playing as Cousin Richey leads a family outside the restaurant where his team have mocked up a classic Chicago winter snow scene for them. It sounds horribly corny but it’s not. Really – it isn’t! And Dion’s voice makes it perfect.
You Will Rise – Sweetback (1996)
Episode 4 – Worms
This episode was unusual in a few ways. It told the story of Chef Sydney’s day off and there is no footage of The Bear at all, or any of the other staff. The other unusual thing about it is that the script was co-written by the marvellous Ayo Edebiri (the actress who plays Sydney) and Lionel Boyce (who plays Marcus the pastry chef). In addition, Storer hands over the direction of the episode to Janicza Bravo, the much-admired director, producer and screenwriter.
The storyline has Sydney visiting the rival restaurant and being promised autonomy in her new role. The old white guy owner postures to his African American guest by playing her some hardcore hip hop (Ante Up by M.O.P.) on the sound system, but she kicks back by selecting Beethoven’s Für Elise when offered her choice. Sydney spends the rest of the day at her cousin’s house, getting her hair done and then bonding with her cousin’s 11-year-old daughter, TJ. The soundtrack is peppered with the kind of slick beats, soulful pop music that young black women would listen to together – You Got Me by SHAED and STUCK by Durand Bernarr – and as they talk, Syd finds parallels in TJ’s on-off schoolfriend relationships with her own situation re possibly leaving The Bear.
As Sydney says goodbye to TC, the soundtrack plays You Will Rise by someone called Sweetback, whom I had never heard of. Turns out the band is formed by the three musicians who backed Sade in the 80s and they record with a series of guest vocalists. You Will Rise features American singer-songwiriter Amel Larrieux, and when the song was released as a single they had a minor hit with it in the US R&B charts. And that’s all I got!
Hope The High Road – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit (2017)
Episode 5 – Replicants
After the diversion of Episode 4, we dive back into the kitchen and the various staff storylines are picked up against the backdrop of continued pressure on the business. The city of Chicago is woven through The Bear like an extra character and the opening sequence of Carmy’s AA meeting is followed by him touring around the Home and Studio of celebrated Chicago-based architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Soundtracking this with Paul Simon’s Let Me Live In Your City might have been chosen by the city mayor!
Including Paul Simon, it’s an eclectic group of tunes this time round, with Lou Reed and John Cale’s enigmatic Slip Away from 1990 playing as the alarm of each key staff member wakes them up at 06:00 to begin a long day. Doris Day’s distinctive mid-1950s croon on It’s Magic accompanies Syd shooting hoops before work and Sugar’s new baby Sophie is introduced to the staff and melts their hearts to the sounds of Jackson Browne’s beautiful Looking Into You. And, as the news of Sydney’s father breaks in the final scene, the closing credits roll to the stuttering, minimalist noise rock of Chicago band Shellac performing Pull The Cup.
Among all this, there is the return of Luca, the talented British pastry chef who trained Marcus in Copenhagen in Season 2. He hears Carmy is in trouble and offers to work with Marcus as a ‘stage’ – normally an unpaid internship. This sequence is soundtracked by Hope the High Road from the outstanding 2017 album The Nashville Sound by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit. Isbell’s writing is decidedly blue-collar in style and reflects those who work behind the scenes at the restaurant. High Road was actually written about the divisive social climate and the exhaustion that many Americans felt after the acrimonious election of Donald Trump, the first time around in 2016. But I hear echoes in the lyric of the drama playing out on the screen:
I know you’re tired and you ain’t sleeping well
Uninspired and likely mad as hell
But wherever you are, I hope the high road leads you home again
Finest Worksong – R.E.M. (1987)
Bonus Track
The bonus track takes us back to Episode 3 where there was an embarrassment of musical riches to choose from and I plumped for that great Dion track. Had Mr DiMucci not been present, I would have gone for the song that Messrs Storer and Senior chose to play over the closing credits. As the screen went black, the echoey thump of Bill Berry’s drums and the ringing tones of that single note on Peter Buck’s guitar really jumped out the TV at me.
Finest Worksong was the opening track on Document, R.E.M.’s fifth album. It gave the band from Athens, Georgia their first US top ten single in The One I Love, which only crept up to No51 in the UK. The record’s ‘clean’ production by Scott Litt and the move from their trademark jangly guitar to more muscular rock riffs paved the way to commercial success. Finest Worksong was released as the third single and faired marginally better in the UK, reaching No50. This came on the back of the top forty success (No39!) for the second single, It’s the End of the World as We Know It, Leonard Bernstein et al.
And again, despite Finest Worksong being a typically obtuse and unclear Michael Stipe lyric, something about the snippets of lyrics in the song match the drama of The Bear. I saw the verse opening lines “The time to rise has been engaged” and “Take your instinct by the reins” as some sort of call to arms for the restaurant and staff with high ideals who are struggling to achieve success – “Your finest hour!” But maybe I’m reading way too much into that – not for the first time…
Last Word
Well, that got very geeky, very quickly! So, apologies again to those of you who have never heard of The Bear or those who have and dislike it – it is a show that divides opinion and has as many haters as lovers, I feel. But I hoped you enjoyed the music and are braced for Part 2 next week. If there ever is such a thing with WIS, normal service will be renewed the following week.
All these fine tunes have been lightly seasoned and tipped into the monstrous cooking pot of the master playlist, accessed at the link below.
AR
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