‘Westworld’ Releases The Perfect Mini Soundtrack

Care to feel like a newcomer moseying on into Maeve’s saloon, but don’t want to deal with all the stress that comes with actually going to the Westworld theme park? (I just want to chill on a barstool in an authentic costume, without worrying about whether or not that shifty robot to my left will point an old timey pistol at the bowler hat-wearing robot knocking back sarsaparillas over by the piano. Can you really blame me?) Well, Warner Bros.’ record label WaterTower Music may have just the thing you’ve been looking for.* As Entertainment Weekly reported, five songs from Westworld were added to iTunes and YouTube on Monday. This mini-soundtrack includes the main theme, plus four of series composer Ramin Djawadi’s covers of modern-day rock songs that have appeared in the show: Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun,” the Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black,” Radiohead’s “No Surprises,” and the Cure’s “A Forest.”

Now you — yes, you — can fire up, say, a plinky piano-driven version of the Cure’s 1980 hit and pretend you’re hanging out at 19th century bar with a bunch of spurs- and chaps-wearing robo-people in the Wild West without the fear of things escalating to a horrifying degree at any second looming overhead.

*Well, not you, The Man in Black. Sorry, I’m not about to share the key to the mysterious and mythical deeper levels of the game or whatever. But hey, while you’re here, The Man in Black, I have a question: If you had to spend one day at Westworld doing G-rated things and G-rated things only, what would that day look like? Would you pick up a new skill like, I don't know, saddle-making or something? Or would you just pout in your room all day? OK, thanks, bye.

Image: John P. Johnson/HBO