To Live And Die In L.A.

Following their dance hall days with this lullaby to the night was a risky move, but British duo Wang Chung’s soundtrack to William Friedkin’s masterful neo-noir perfectly captured the slick, sleazy underbelly of Reagan-era Los Angeles. With only one previous point on the curve (“Wait”), the originals that comprise the rest of the record show their incredible range — from the dusky melancholy of the title track to the pulse-pounding instrumental accompaniment to the film’s centerpiece car chase (“City of the Angels”).