Northern Exposure: Music from the Television Series
AllMusic; Amazon; Discogs

This is the first soundtrack for the TV series Northern Exposure, released in 1992. I'm reviewing it in 2025. It includes songs of various genres, as well as a few instrumental tracks composed by David Schwartz. Because Wikipedia doesn't list the tracks on the album (which would normally include links to Wikipedia pages for artists and sometimes songs), I'm linking to those Wikipedia pages here. Because Chic Street Man doesn't have a Wikipedia entry, I'm linking to his official website.

1. "Theme from Northern Exposure", by David Schwartz: This is an extended version of the theme music, about 3 minutes long. I've always liked the show's theme, so it's nice to have this. I don't even know how to describe the genre, it seems like a mishmash of various things, but it works really well.

2. "Jolie Louise", by Daniel Lanois: This is a mix of English and French. "Jolie" means "pretty" (which I had to look up), and the song itself is rather pretty, I think. Bit of a love song, but more just the story of a life, I guess. I like it.

3. "Hip Hug-Her", by Booker T. & the M.G.'s: This is a funky instrumental track. Nice enough, but not something I find especially memorable. (Like, before I re-listened to the CD, I didn't even remember that it wasn't a song.)

4. "At Last", by Etta James: This is from 1960, but it's a timeless classic. A truly beautiful love song.

5. "Everybody Be Yo'self", by Chic Street Man: This has a Caribbean sound that somehow I think fits in perfectly with a quirky show set in Alaska. It's really fun.

6. "Alaskan Nights", by David Schwartz: This is quite nice, a jazzy little number with an old-timey feel. It makes me think of "Dream a Little Dream of Me".

7. "Don Quichotte", by Magazine 60: This is by a French synth-pop band, but the lyrics are in Spanish. It's from 1984, and it definitely sounds very '80s. It's kind of weird, and I have no clue what it's about, but I kinda like it.

8. "When I Grow Too Old to Dream", by Nat "King" Cole and His Trio, with Stuff Smith, Violin: I only know a few songs by Cole, and this isn't really one of them. But it's definitely nice, I've always liked his voice. The violin is decent, too.

9. "Emabhaceni", by Miriam Makeba: The singer was from South Africa, and I'm not sure what language the song is in, but probably Zulu, I guess. I have no idea what it's about, but it's really good.

10. "Gimme Three Steps", by Lynyrd Skynyrd: This is one of the songs on the album that I'm most familiar with. It's some really cool Southern rock. But while it has a really fun sound to it, but I'm not sure how to feel about the story being told. Whatever, I still like it. And it does sound like something the character Chris Stevens would play on the radio.

11. "Baïlèro From Chansons D'Auvergne", by Frederica von Stade with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra: This is the longest track, at around 6 and a half minutes. It's opera, and I can't make out the language, let alone any of the words. (I think the title is Spanish, in which it means "dancer", but I'm not sure if the song itself is in Spanish or what.) But anyway, it's beautiful.

12. "Medley: A Funeral in My Brain / Woody the Indian / The Tellakutans", by David Schwartz: The first part sounds like klezmer, which is a genre I like, even if I don't know much about it. The middle part is jazz, though at one point it gets some indigenous-sounding drums in there. The third part sounds very indigenous (which of course is a good fit for the show), with mostly some kind of flute. I really like all three parts, and I wouldn't mind the track being longer than it is (about 3:30).

So... yeah, I guess I at least like everything on the album, and some things I love. Overall, I think it's a really good soundtrack, and I wouldn't mind it having more songs/music. So I guess it's a good thing there's a second volume, which I hope to get someday.