Man there's nothing I hate more than the requisite soundtrack compilation, especially when half the music isn't even found in the film. Instead, we get a bunch of LAME "inspired by" offerings. Check out the tracklisting for the Superman Returns soundtrack below. Nothing kills the mood of a film faster than a soon-to-be-dated rock song thrown into an otherwise good film. Anyone remember that horrible Prince song in Batman? How about Chad Kroeger's "Hero" in Spider-Man? Contrast this Superman Returns soundtrack with the Superman: The Movie soundtrack Where's John Williams when you need him?
"A collection of rising stars pays musical tribute to the red-caped American icon that is synonymous with Truth, Justice and the American Way on SOUND OF SUPERMAN. The compilation features covers and original songs that explore themes of heroism and name-drop the Man of Steel, who makes his highly anticipated return to the big screen in SUPERMAN RETURNS, opening nationwide on June 30th. SOUND OF SUPERMAN will be available from Rhino Records on June 13 at regular physical and digital retail outlets and at www.rhino.com for a suggested list price of $13.99.
American Hi-Fi saves the day with "The Rescue," the first single from SOUND OF SUPERMAN and an all-new studio track from the hard-rocking quartet. Before the album hits the streets, Los Angeles power trio Maxeen provides a sneak preview with "Save Me," a pre-release available now exclusively through the iTunes Music Store.
Since the superhero’s debut in Action Comics #1 in 1938, Superman has become a pop culture icon familiar to generations. The man, the myth and the metaphor have all found their way into some great songs over the years. Chicago emo-punkers The Academy Is… suit up for "Superman," which was originally recorded by garage rockers The Clique in 1969—the track, with its iconic refrain of "I Am, I Am, I Am Superman," was later revived by R.E.M. on the album Lifes Rich Pageant. Garage rockers The Films go back 30 years with their take on Donovan’s #1 1966 hit, "Sunshine Superman." The Sun get the dance floor bumping with their frantic take on "(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman," originally recorded by The Kinks. A group of rookie rockers called Royal courts the dark side with its version of "Brainiac’s Daughter," a song originally cut by XTC’s psychedelic side project Dukes of Stratosphear.
SOUND OF SUPERMAN also includes covers of more recent vintage with Paramore’s rousing acoustic version of Foo Fighters’ 1997 smash, "My Hero," New York indie-pop quartet Nightmare Of You channeling their inner Flaming Lips on "Waitin’ For A Superman," and the celebrated Boston quintet The Receiving End Of Sirens’ take on the Stereophonics’ "Superman."
The album also contains original music from some fresh new faces in rock. Punk-infused indie rockers Motion City Soundtrack provide the guitar heroics with "The Worst Part…" while Jack’s Mannequin’s infectious piano pop is showcased on the new track "Meet Me At My Window." Chicago’s Plain White T’s add the pulsing anthem "It’s So Easy" and South Dakota rockers The Spill Canvas come to the rescue with "Saved." The collection also features an original rocker from Sara Routh called "You’re Never Gone." Sara is the sister of Brandon Routh, who dons the iconic red cape of the world’s best-known comic book hero in Superman Returns."
SOUND OF SUPERMAN Track Listing:
The Academy Is… "Superman" (The Clique/R.E.M. cover)
Plain White T’s "It’s So Easy" (original)
The Sun "(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman" (The Kinks cover)
Motion City Soundtrack "The Worst Part…" (original)
The Films "Sunshine Superman" (Donovan cover)
Maxeen "Save Me" (original)
Paramore "My Hero" (Foo Fighters cover)
American Hi-Fi "The Rescue" (original)
The Spill Canvas "Saved" (original)
Jack’s Mannequin "Meet Me At My Window" (original)
Nightmare Of You "Waitin’ For A Superman" (The Flaming Lips cover)
The Receiving End Of Sirens "Superman" (Stereophonics cover)
Royal "Brainiac’s Daughter" (Dukes of Stratosphear cover)
Sara Routh "You’re Never Gone" (original)
16 comments:
Yeah, I agree with you in general. A couple of points, however:
1) I watched the first twenty minutes or so of Batman this weekend, having not seen it in years (certainly not since all these Marvel movies). I realized something: it's one of the strangest movies ever made! Not only that, it's actually not that bad, once you realize you're dealing with a completely freak-o approach to the project. It's almost like a Batman opera. The 1989 craziness of that movie is now actually sort of endearing and interesting in retrospect, now that Christopher Nolan has taken the pressure off of them by making a "legitimate" Batman movie. (Although Begins is more derivative of the Burton movies than anyone seems to realize.) Anyway, my point is that I'm glad the Prince songs are there. It's one of those cultural markers like the Nillson song in Midnight Cowboy or the Simon and Garfunkel songs in The Graduate.
2) I don't care what record they put out. I only care what's in the movie.
3) At the end of The Godfather Part III (ugh) the familiar Godfather theme gives way to the horrible Harry Connick song about how he's in love with horse-face in the movie. (Sofia Coppola) This is probably the worst example of what you're talking about; at least it's over the closing credits.
4) Best closing credits song (for a movie that otherwise has an orchestral score)? Hands down, Lord of the Rings all three times. Enya sings "May it Be" at the end of Fellowship, there's the Gollum song in Two Towers and the Annie Lennox at the end of Return. All three are fantastic. I think the trick there is that Howard Shore wrote the songs, and there aren't any rock orchestrations.
5) "Where's John Williams"? He's all over the movie, if you can believe the previews! It's his music, which is just such a fantastic idea.
Oh cool, I didn't realize John Williams was doing the soundtrack! You bring up a good point about closing credit music. I like in ROTS that we basically get all of Williams' signature Star Wars motifs in one long piece. I think it was Wall Street that used the Talking Heads song "This Must be the Place" during the closing credits, which worked nicely. Perhaps I'm just reacting to curren "rock" music, which I just don't dig. You kids get out of my yard!
I also meant to add that I like Batman a lot. It's definitely one of the best superhero films. We need to rank them. Octo?
It's Williams' THEMES and someone else doing the actual scoring. Sorry if I didn't make that clear.
Williams has so much work to do these days, with his unspoken commitment to score EVERY SINGLE SPIELBERG MOVIE (except The Color Purple, scored by Quincy Jones) as well as Lucas' stuff and other side projects.
You know what doesn't work, but should? "Paint it Black" at the end of Full Metal Jacket.
I don't know, the Crow soundtrack was littered with trendy bands but still holds up both in the movie and as a soundtrack. I love that Thrill Kill Kult song, not to mention NIN, the Cure, and JAMC.
You're right about The Crow soundtrack. For some reason that music still works well in the film. I guess I'm thinking more about pop rock. I don't know what the hell I'm saying anymore.
No, you do, it's just that with the big movies there's a lot of second-rate postitioning that has nothing to do with whether the songs fit, and you wind up feeling like you're watching the beginning of Star Trek: Enterprise. Remember that godawful song?
I like that they're covering a bunch of songs already about Superman (I had no idea that REM song was already a cover), but a lot of times cover songs are just as bad. They should have used the original "Another Brick in the Wall" in The Faculty, not that totally forgettable cover.
Good soundtrack choices, like the T-heads song in Wall Street, are made apart from when the song came out. And while a familiar song in the right place can be great, I'd never heard of Thrill Kill Kult's "After the Flesh" until I saw The Crow, and that song rahhhks.
Yeah, and "inspired by the movie" is bullshit. Inspired by dollar signs in the eyes.
You hit it on the head, Octo. There's a difference between artistically selecting certain music for certain scenes than jamming some flash-in-the-pan band into a movie for commercial appeal. The Crow worked because those songs were written for the film.
Cool World also had a good soundtrack:
1. Real Cool World - David Bowie
2. Play With Me - Thompson Twins
3. Disappointed - Electronic
4. Papua New Guinea (7' Original) - The Future Sound of London
5. N.W.O. - Ministry Listen
6. The Witch - The Cult Listen
7. Sex On Wheelz (Glamour Dyke Mix) - My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult
8. Ah-Ah (Mix 1) - Moby
9. Mindless - Mindless
10. Next Is The E (Long Arms Mix) - Moby
11. Do That Thang (Polite Mix) - Da Juice
12. Her Sassy Kiss - My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult
13. Greedy - Pure
14. Under - Brian Eno
15. Industry And Seduction - Tom Bailey
Cool World in general was a totally squandered opportunity. Great cast, great idea, great movie, GREAT preview...and Bakshi, so forget it.
I still remember the preview with the Art of Noise Peter Gunn cover and the titles: "REAL GOOD" "REAL BAD" "REAL COOL" etc. (plus the fading-in-and-out glimpses of the shots at the beginning, years before anyone else. "You're Jack Deebs, aren't you?" etc.
Bakshi totally sucks! What I remember about Cool World sucking is that he really liked to replay certain animated sequences twice, or more. What a freakin' hack.
Slamming soundtrack, though.
For excellent musical choices (and tons of other good stuff) I recommnend Cowboy Bebop. That's either the movie or the series, but the movie has some particularly good choices.
Octo also likes the "Fifth Element" music and I wholeheartedly agree
I do! Although that's almost all original stuff.
I like the soundtrack to Amelie - it perfectly fits with the tone of that film. I guess you could argue that it also sets the tone.
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