1 |
The
Story – Norah Jones |
2 |
Living
Proof – Cat Power |
3 |
Ely Nevada – Ry Coder |
4 |
Try a Little Tenderness – Otis Redding |
5 |
Looking Back – Ruth Brown |
6 |
Long Ride – Ry Cooder |
| 7 |
Eyes on the Prize – Mavis Staples |
8 |
Yumeiji’s
Theme (Harmonica Version) – Chikara Tsuzuki |
9 |
Skipping
Stone – Amos Lee |
10 |
Busride
– Ry Cooder |
11 |
Harvest
Moon – Cassandra Wilson |
12 |
Devil’s
Highway – Hello Stranger |
13 |
Pajaros
– Gustavo Santaolalla |
14 |
The
Greatest – Cat Power |
ALBUM REVIEW:
Come February 2008, you’d want to get a copy of this
soundtrack to Wong Kar Wai’s latest mood piece. While
we were pleasantly surprised to receive this “Advance
Music” version of the album (hence its simple album
art), we are also pleasantly impressed with the choice of
music to represent the auteur’s first Hollywood outing.
Kicking
off the 48-minute disc is multi-Grammy winner Norah Jones’
new song “The Story”, which is featured in the
movie starring the singer-songwriter (now actress!). Drums,
basses, piano – this track is definitely cool and relaxing
enough to make it into your song list for the next chill-out
party. Another artiste to look out for in this soundtrack
is American singer-songwriter (aren’t the talented ones
always singing their songs written by themselves?) Charlyn
"Chan" Marshall, whose stage name is “Cat
Power”. Her sensuous vocals in “Living Proof”
and “The Greatest” complement Jones’ sexy
voice nicely here.
Elsewhere
in this accessible album are soothing tunes from R & B
singer Ruth Brown (“Looking Back”), famed singer-songwriter-guitarist
Amos Lee (“Skipping Stone”) and jazz musician
Cassandra Wilson (“Harvest Moon”), which tell
the lovelorn stories of characters played by David Straightharn,
Rachel Weisz, Jude Law and Natalie Portman in the film. Composer
Ry Cooder (Buena Vista Social Club) contributes the calming
guitar score for this album while a familiar Yumeiji’s
theme (from Wong’s 2000 film In the Mood for Love) is
played out romantically in harmonica.
Like
the signature tunes which have been chosen for Wong’s
previous movies (Xavier Cugat’s “Siboney”
in 2046 and The Mamas and the Papas’ “California
Dreamin” in Chungking Express comes to mind), this soundtrack
will also go down film history as one of the most expressive
selection of music for the auteur’s film. And in our
humble opinion, the music on this album fares better than
the film itself.
ALBUM RATING:
Recommended Track: (1) The Story
Review
by John Li
|
