MUSIC Songs of the Screen - 3222 - Gay Lesbian Bi Trans News

It's no surprise that Lost In Translation would have a cool soundtrack to accompany it. My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields is the dominant presence on Lost In Translation—Music From The Motion Picture Soundtrack ( Emperor Norton ) , providing the 'bloody' solo tune 'City Girl,' as well as the atmospheric instrumentals 'Goodbye,' 'Ikebana,' and 'Are You Awake?.' Soundtrack co-producers Roger Joseph Manning, Jr. ( of Jellyfish and Imperial Drag ) and Brian ( Red Kross ) Reitzell can be heard collaborating on the instrumentals 'On The Subway' and 'Shibuya.' The ambient Death In Vegas instrumental 'Girls' is also well-suited to the soundtrack. Obscurities such as 'Too Young' by French pop band Phoenix, 'Kaze Wo Atsumete' by Japanese band Happy End, French singer/songwriter Sebastien Tellier's 'Fantino,' and 'Tommib' by UK electronic artist Squarepusher elevate the soundtrack's hipness factor. If you've seen the movie you know that the soundtrack wouldn't be complete without Bill Murray's karaoke rendition of Roxy Music's 'More Than This,' which is here as a hidden track. Eternal diva Barbra Streisand had the opportunity to rekindle the magic and excitement of her 1985 album of Broadway show tune covers by turning her attention to the cinema, but The Movie Album ( Columbia ) doesn't have the same energy or sparkle. It's surprisingly dull; the result of Streisand's lackluster performance and the disappointing selection of material. Streisand's track record for having recorded movie themes, both popular ( 'The Summer Knows' from Summer of '42, 'Prisoner/Theme From The Eyes Of Laura Mars' ) and lesser known ( 'Let Me Go' from Pursuit of Happiness, 'Ask Yourself Why' from The Swimming Pool ) from movies in which she didn't even appear throughout her recording career speaks for itself. But did we really need to hear her interpretation of 'Smile,' a song that has been recorded hundreds of times by others? Any Streisand fan knows of her longtime relationship with Marilyn & Alan Bergman, which makes her selection of the weak 'How Do You Keep The Music Playing?' such a shame. Had she even considered 'It Might Be You' ( Tootsie ) or 'The Last Time I Felt Like This' ( Same Time, Next Year ) ? The most recent movie tune on the album is 'Calling You,' from 1988's Baghdad Café. Streisand's reading is admirable, but overproduced, and it pales in comparison with the original Jevetta Steele version. The songs of Stephin Merritt, as a solo performer or in one of his bands ( The Magnetic Fields, Future Bible Heroes and The 6ths ) , have been appearing on movie soundtracks for a number of years. For the soundtrack to Pieces Of April ( Nonesuch ) , Merritt contributed a pair of songs by The 6ths and from the considerable songbook of The Magnetic Fields, Merritt drew three songs from the band's universally acclaimed 1999 album 69 Love Songs. The real finds on this soundtrack are the five previously unreleased songs. Four of them, including the pop masterpiece 'All I Want To Know' ( which should receive an Best Song Oscar nomination if it qualifies ) , the sad romance of 'Dreams Anymore,' the syncopated 'Heather Heather,' and the mellow cello tune 'Stray With Me,' are credited to The Magnetic Fields. Merritt, himself, gets the credit for the 'I'll always love you in my way' sentiment of 'One April Day.' Mark Isham's distinctive trumpet playing, heard on movie soundtracks for nearly 20 years, in movies such as Trouble In Mind, The Times of Harvey Milk, and Afterglow, is the centerpiece of Music From The Motion Picture The Cooler ( Commotion/Koch ) . Set in Las Vegas, and featuring vocal performances by Diana Krall, Joey Fatone, Bobby Caldwell, and Paul Sorvino, who with Fatone, appears in the movie, Isham's score hums and glows like a cool blue neon sign. Hans Zimmer ( Rain Man, The Lion King, Gladiator ) joins the ranks of Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Byrne, Cong Su, Tan Dun, in the score composition for Asian-themed film category, with his sweeping and epic The Last Samurai: Original Motion Picture Score ( Elektra ) . The Haunted Mansion: Haunted Hits ( Walt Disney Records ) , the companion to the pitiful Eddie Murphy movie scares up the creepy theme and features ( Disney Channel star ) Raven performing 'Superstition,' Morris ( The Time ) Day covering 'Somebody's Watching Me,' and other songs with frightful titles. Expanded, special edition and CD debut soundtrack reissues continue to be the trend. Cy Coleman, who is experiencing something of a renaissance, wrote the music for Sweet Charity: Motion Picture Soundtrack ( Decca ) , the musical based on Fellini's Nights of Cabiria, which opened on Broadway in the mid-'60s, under the guidance of Bob Fosse. Shortly after its Broadway run, Fosse made his movie directing debut with the movie version of the musical. Shirley MacLaine played 'taxi dancer' with a heart of gold, Charity, in the movie and got the chance to sing such classics as 'Big Spender,' 'If My Friends Could See Me Now,' 'There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This,' and 'Where Am I Going?' As Big Daddy, the late Sammy Davis, Jr. sang the vintage 1960s number 'The Rhythm of Life.' Show-tune and drag queens everywhere can now discard their well-worn vinyl copies of Sweet Charity for this CD. There is so much wrong with the movie version of Grease. For starters there is the completely miscast Olivia Newton-John and the coked-up, late-'70s Hollywood vision of the 1950s. There is much more, but I don't have the space. All I can say is shame on Allan Carr ( see also Can't Stop The Music ) and triple shame on Robert Stigwood ( see also Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Moment By Moment ) . That said, The Original Soundtrack From the Motion Picture Grease: Deluxe Edition ( Polydor/Chronicles ) , a remastered and expanded version of the 1978 Grease soundtrack, contains the entire original soundtrack, including the entirely inappropriate Barry Gibb-penned theme song sung by Frankie Valli and other John Farrar 'sore thumb' numbers 'Hopelessly Devoted To You' and 'You're The One That I Want,' as well as original songs from the stage play, including 'Beauty School Dropout,' 'Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee,' 'There Are Worse Things I Could Do,' and 'We Go Together,' as well as a bonus disc with an instrumental, 'sing-along,' single, megamix and remixed versions of songs from the soundtrack. Timed to coincide with the DVD release of the animated Disney classic, The Lion King: Special Edition Soundtrack ( Walt Disney Records ) now includes two more tracks ( 'The Morning Report' and a remix of 'Can You Feel The Love Tonight' ) . The revised CD booklet also features color stills from the movie. Timing is also a part of the equation with Ultimate Dirty Dancing ( RCA/BMG ) . In addition to being newly remastered, it includes every song from the movie Dirty Dancing in the order in which it appeared in the movie, and is being released shortly before the next 'dirty dancing' chapter, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights hits theaters. Five outtakes, the 'previously unissued full version' of 'Dainty June and Her Farmboys,' and the 'film version' of 'Rose's Turn' are some of the enhancements made to the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack—Gypsy ( Rhino Movie Music/WB ) . Considered to be an expert on the music of movie and television science fiction, Neil Norman has released his latest album Sci-Fi in Hi-Fi ( Audio Fidelity ) . With his Cosmic Orchestra backing him up on this Super Audio CD, Norman travels the sic-fi universe to bring us his renditions of the themes from Star Trek Encounters, Star Wars, Space 1999, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner, The Prisoner Buckaroo Banzai, Alien, Battlestar Galactica, and The Outer Limits, among others. Sci-fi also figures into Music From Stephen Spielberg Presents Taken ( DreamWorks ) . The soundtrack to the Sci Fi Channel miniseries, described as an 'epic television event,' includes a broad range of contributors including the Swimming Pool Q's ( 'More Than One Heaven' ) , Mary Lou Lord ( 'Martian Saints' ) , Emmylou Harris ( 'Just Before It Gets Dark' ) , Brenda Lee ( 'I Want To Be Wanted' ) and, appropriately, Sheb Wooley ( the Sci Fi novelty 'Purple People Eater' ) , among others Jennifer Lopez is not the first ( or last ) woman to work in both the film and music industries. In 1976, Oscar-winning actress Bette Davis released an album titled Miss Bette Davis ( DRG ) , which is now available on CD for the first time. Camp of the highest order, Miss Bette Davis features the actress who was not known for her singing performing 'They're Either Too Young or Too Old,' 'Life Is A Lonely Thing,' 'Until It's Time For You To Go,' 'Mother Of The Bride,' and of course, 'I've Written A Letter To Daddy,' to mention a few. The album also includes dialogue from All About Eve, making it the perfect musical companion to the forthcoming essay in verse, Phoebe 2002 by David Trinidad, Jeff Conway and Lynn Crosbie, which is all about All About Eve. Some actresses, such as Goldie Hawn had an easier time carrying a tune. In 1972, Hawn released the album Goldie ( DRG ) , which is also now available on CD. Hawn, who at one time was being considered for the Roxie Hart role in Chicago, and who sang in the Woody Allen musical Everyone Says I Love You, isn't the greatest singer, but she does her best on covers of songs by Dolly Parton ( 'My Blue Tears' ) , Van Morrison ( 'I Wanna Roo You' ) , Paul Stookey ( 'The House Song' ) , Bob Dylan ( 'I'll Be Your Baby Tonight' ) and Joni Mitchell ( Carey' ) . Speaking of Joni, Emma Thompson's character in the cloying British comedy Love Actually considers herself a big fan of the Canadian diva, hence the inclusion of Mitchell's 'Both Sides Now' on Love Actually: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack ( J Records ) . Like both Bette Davis and Goldie Hawn, Russell Crowe has been honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and also shares their desire to sing. Other Ways of Speaking ( Artemis ) is the innocuous domestic debut by Russell Crowe & 30 Odd Foot of Grunts. Much less hard-rocking than I had expected from Crowe ( there are even drum loops on the song 'Mission Beat' ) the album does have a few memorable moments including 'Never Be Alone Again' ( a duet with Chrissie Hynde ) , 'Unfaithful Men,' the trumpet-infused 'Charlie's Song,' and the country-flavored 'Full Length Of The River.' Taryn Manning is a young and rising actress who can be seen in the forthcoming Cold Mountain, as well as 8 Mile, White Oleander, and opposite Britney Spears in Crossroads. Taryn and her brother Kellin ( a Jack Black lookalike ) released an album, Boomkatalog.one ( DreamWorks ) under the moniker Boomkat, which is a catchy collection of dance and suburban hip-hop cuts.

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