The soundtrack for This Town – featuring Self Esteem, Olivia Dean and various original songs – has been released.
Including classic covers and brand new, original compositions from the hit Steven Knight drama, ‘This Town (Music From The Original BBC Series)’ is out now via Polydor Records. You can stream the LP on all streaming platforms and purchase the vinyl pressing here.
The soundtrack for the series brings together the show’s genre-wide mix of timeless anthems, original songs, and iconic hits set in the world of ska and two-tone in the early ’80s.
‘This Town (Music From The Original BBC Series)’ features Self Esteem’s reimagining of Jimmy Cliff’s 1970’s track ‘You Can Get It If You Really Want’ as well as Ray Laurél’s cover of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’.
It also includes Olivia Dean’s rework of the reggae classic ‘The Harder They Come’ and Celeste’s cover of ‘Blue Moon’.
The tracks performed by Fuck The Factory – the band at the heart of This Town – were created by producer Dan Carey (Fontaines D.C, Wet Leg, Been Stellar and founder of the seminal Speedy Wunderground label). Carey also collaborated with singer-songwriter ESKA and musician, novelist and poet Kae Tempest in work that adds another chapter to this vital story.
The ‘This Town (Music From The Original BBC Series)’ tracklist is:
1. Self Esteem: ‘You Can Get It If You Really Want’
2. Ray Laurél: ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’
3. Fuck The Factory: ‘Estella’
4. Olivia Dean: ‘The Harder They Come’
5. Fuck The Factory: ‘Birdsong’
6. Fuck The Factory: ‘Pelicans’
7. Celeste: ‘Blue Moon’
8. Fuck The Factory: ‘Farewell To Matty And Her Flowers’
9. Gregory Porter: ‘The World’s Going Up In Flames’
10. Fuck The Factory: ‘This Town’
11. Sekou: ‘Wonderful World, Beautiful People’
“It has been a privilege to be working with Paul Whittington, Steven Knight and the entire Kudos team in bringing the musical narrative of This Town to life,” shared co-president of Mercury Studios Marc Robinson in a press release. “Music is at the heart of the series and it has been a thrill to work with such excellent musical talent on this project. Excited to share and celebrate the music that compliments this exceptional series.”
Kudos’ Executive Producer Karen Wilson also shared: “We always knew that getting the music right was going to be key to the success of This Town. Mercury Studios have been the perfect partners in this. With Dan Carey, Kae Tempest and Eska creating the thrilling original songs performed by the band, and a roster of amazing contemporary artists covering iconic tracks, we couldn’t be more excited to share this music with the world.”
Speaking to NME about the inspiration behind creating the series, Steven Knight said: “I wanted to do a Birmingham and West Midlands story. And I remember as a kid at school, people would get these 45s, these singles, that would come from Jamaica. And they’d play them and everybody loved them because they had lyrics that would never make it onto the radio (they were quite suggestive).”
He continued: “In Coventry, lots of people were suddenly listening to ska music. And then people started making their own versions of it. Skinheads and young Black people [were mixing] without there being trouble. It was just a strange thing that happened in that location at that time, and I just thought it would be great to tell a story with that as the background.”
