Movie soundtracks often come in different varieties. Perhaps the most established one is the "original score." One of the more eagerly anticipated original scores of the year is Howard Shore's score for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring ( Reprise ) . In addition to the instrumental music, the soundtrack, fittingly, includes two songs "The Council of Elrond" and "May It Be," composed and performed by Enya.
Pure Horror ( Beyond/Flash Cut ) is "a Compilation of Original Score Themes from Artisan Entertainment" features such as The Blair Witch Project ( by Antonio Cora ) , Book Of
Shadows: Blair Witch Project 2 ( by Carter Burwell ) , and the Kevin Bacon/Ileanna Douglas shocker Stir Of Echoes ( by James Newton Howard ) , among others. All of the compositions are suitably spooky.
On a considerably lighter note, three original soundtracks composed by Vladimir Cosma to the French films The Closet/The Dinner Game/The Jaguar ( DRG ) can now be found on one disc. Vladimir Cosma's most well-known score can be found on the Diva Original Soundtrack ( DRG/Koch ) , which has just been reissued in an expanded 20th-anniversary edition. In addition to the titular diva Wilhelmina Wiggins Fernandez's performance of Catalani's Aria from La Wally, and instrumental compositions such as "Sentimental Walk," "Dead End," "Gorodish," and "Zen And The Art of Buttering Bread" ( identified as "Zen In The Art of Buttering Bread" on the original Rykodisc/DRG release of the soundtrack ) , there are eight previously unreleased tracks.
Walt Disney's Beauty and the Beast ( Walt Disney Records ) has been re-released in a Special Edition Soundtrack to coincide with the re-release of the movie in its new IMAX version. The new soundtrack, with lyrics by Howard Ashman ( who died of complications due to AIDS ) , features demo and early versions of some songs, among other treats.
The majority of movie soundtracks these days consist of previously recorded material compiled as background music for various scenes, and opening and closing credits. Many of them are as unremarkable as the movies with which they are affiliated. But even for a movie as heinous as Out Cold ( RCA ) , the soundtrack does contain new songs by Foo Fighters ( "Win Or Lose" ) and Eve 6 ( "Anytime" ) . Foo Fighters also appear on Orange County The Soundtrack ( Columbia/Sony Music Soundtrax ) with their song "The One." The soundtrack to the movie that stars Colin Hanks ( son of Tom ) and Schuyler Fisk ( daughter of Sissy Spacek ) , as well as the ubiquitous Jack Black, contains new songs by The Offspring ( "Defy You" ) and Phantom Planet ( "California" ) , and contributions by Creeper Lagoon and Cake, to name a few.
While Music From The MGM Motion Picture Bandits ( Columbia ) doesn't contain any exclusive music other than Christopher Young's "Bandits Suite," I do recall, from seeing the movie, the selections ( including Bob Dylan's "Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum," Michael Martin Murphy's "Wildfire," and Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse Of The Heart," were used effectively throughout.
I haven't really decided how I feel about the inclusion of film dialogue on a movie soundtrack. Music From The Motion Picture Ocean's Eleven ( Warner Sunset/Warner Bros. ) contains less than a dozen dialogue snippets, which felt like a lot. The musical selections ( Perry Como, Percy Faith ) are mostly from the '60s, when the original Ocean's Eleven was released.
The song "The Greatest Love Of All," which was a considerable hit for Whitney Houston, was originally featured in the 1978 movie The Greatest, which was about boxer Muhammad Ali. R. Kelly probably hopes that his "The World's Greatest" from the Ali Original Motion Picture Soundtrack ( Interscope ) will have the same success. Lisa ( Dead Can Dance ) Gerrard and Pieter Bourke, who previously worked with director Michael Mann on The Insider, once again provide the score. Other contributors, both old school and nu-soul, include Alicia Keys, Al Green, Bilal, Aretha Franklin, and Angie Stone.
Music From Vanilla Sky ( Reprise ) is considerably better than the movie from which it is drawn. New songs by R.E.M. ( "All The Right Friends" ) and Paul McCartney ( "Vanilla Sky" ) hold their own against more familiar and cutting edge tunes such as "Everything In Its Right Place" ( Radiohead ) . "Svefn-G-Englar" ( Sigur Ros ) , "Directions" ( Josh Rouse ) , "Last Goodbye" ( Jeff Buckley ) and "Mondo '77" ( Looper ) .
The near-perfect Music From and Inspired by the Motion Picture Soundtrack ...I Am Sam ( V2 ) consists of 15 covers of Beatles tunes ( Sam, played by Sean Penn in the movie, is obsessed with the Beatles ) . The first six cuts on the soundtrack are worth the price of the soundtrack alone. The interpretations of the songs "I'm Looking Through You" ( The Wallflowers ) , "Two Of Us" ( Aimee Mann and Michael Penn ) , "Blackbird" ( Sarah McLachlan ) , "Across The Universe" ( Rufus Wainwright ) , "Strawberry Fields Forever" ( Ben Harper ) , "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" ( Eddie Vedder ) , and "Golden Slumbers" ( Ben Folds ) are some of the best Beatles cover I have ever heard. Unfortunately, the remainder of the soundtrack never lives up to the promise of these renditions, although Nick Cave's "Let It Be" comes close.
Electronic eves
On their self-titled 1995 synth-pop debut disc, Garbage's lead singer Shirley Manson sang about "the queerest of the queer" in the song "Queer." Their third album, Beautiful Garbage ( Almo/Interscope ) , features the track "Androgyny," in which Manson sings "Boys in the girl's room/Girls in the men's room/You free your mind in your androgyny." On the whole, Beautiful Garbage is considerably different than their previous releases. Manson sounds like a post-modern Lesley Gore on "Can't Cry These Tears Anymore," a rejuvenated Chrissie Hynde on "Cup Of Coffee" and "So Like A Rose," and Polly Jean Harvey on "Silence Is Golden." Not that she has forsaken her own distinctive sound, which is present, especially on more electronic-based tunes such as "Cherry Lips ( Go Baby Go ) ," "Til The Day I Die," "Breaking Up The Girl," and "Parade."
Shirley Manson isn't the only Scottish lass who knows her way around a song intended for the dance-floor, as Manda Rin demonstrates on Return To Central ( Spin-Art ) , Bis's first full-length album of new material since their 1999 quasi-major-label ( the Beastie Boys' now-defunct Grand Royal ) Social Dancing. As soon as you hear Rins's lead vocals on propulsive synth-pop dance tracks such as "What You're Afraid Of," "Protection," and "Robotic," you will understand what I mean. Even when she's supplying back-up vocals, as she does on "Silver Spoon" and "Chicago," she's an undeniable presence. On more mellow fare, such as "The End Starts Today" and "Two Million," Rins capably demonstrates that she's got what it takes and then some.
Three years in the making, Curve's latest album Gift ( Hip-O/Estupendo ) adheres closely to Curve's proven ( over the course of three full-length albums and a variety of EPs ) formula of Toni Halliday's lead vocals, electronic instrumentation, rip-roaring guitars and bold beats. Standout tracks include the insistent drumming of "Fly With The High" and the title track, the tricky beats of "Chainmail," and the more pop-oriented sentiments of "Want More Need Less" and "Perish."
With her punk rock name, Aimee Echo, lead vocalist of the synth-kissed band The Start sounds like a classic curled-lip new wave goddess on her band's debut disc Shakedown ( The Label/Interscope ) . Think Siouxsie Sioux Clare Grogan ( Altered Images ) or early Pat Benatar or early Bananarama...especially on "Gorgeous," "Melt," "Dirty Lion," and "Kiss It Better."
