Elton John doesn't seem like a natural choice to write for a Disney musical, but he rose to the task on The Lion King, transcending his usual penchant for the softest of soft rock. Sir Elton's collaboration with Tim Rice (former writing partner of Andrew Lloyd Webber) helps connect the soundtrack to the theatrical lineage of all Disney musicals--so much so that, like Beauty and the ...
Alan Bennett's award-winning series of six television monologues, Talking Heads, may have been first aired in 1988, but over a decade later it is still impossible to read these deeply moving and affectionate scripts without hearing the voices of the actors who played them. Maggie Smith as the alcoholic vicar's wife finding a semblance of happiness in an affair with an Indian shop ...
Dick Dale's surf-guitar provided the memorable title theme ("Misirlou"), for Quentin Tarantino's 1994 smash, and although that sound runs throughout the soundtrack (along with bits and pieces of dialogue from the movie), this is a pretty eclectic bunch of really terrific songs. I don't know how it all manages to hang together, but it does (you might say the same for the interwoven stories in the ...
The medically minded Scrubs is an eccentric affair, populated by a zany cast of residents saving lives while learning life's little lessons in the process. Though lacking the show's oddball humor, its soundtrack is undeniably earnest, with a rich understanding of the pleasures and hardships faced by the hospital workers. The show's theme song, Lazlo Bane's quirky banjo twanger, sighs "I'm ...
In many ways, the soundtracks that director Quentin Tarantino commissions are as iconic as his films, and Kill Bill Volume 2is no different. The combination of dialogue snippets and songs reflect the atmosphere of cold-blooded revenge that's the central theme of the film. And, as expected from Tarantino's soundtracks, there's been some clever digging through the archives once again. Wisely, ...
Ennio Morricone anthologies come and go, and there are always several to choose from. But as so many recycle the same tracks, one might be forgiven for thinking Morricone had only scored a dozen or so movies rather than something over 300. This makes picking a collection difficult, but this disc can be recommended for particularly polished remastered sound and, with 20 tracks, a lengthy 75 ...