Movie soundtracks are the most under-rated of compilation albums, because for the music fan they represent a cynical plundering of good songs by movie executive hacks in order to ring the last possible drop of profit from the sodden underwear of mediocre films. But sometimes they're good. Sometimes they're brave in the way they nonchantly yoke together genre, mood, and style, with no compuctions about generic integrity [[which after all is a snobby way to look at music]. The soundtrack to 'A Life Less Ordinary' did just that, as did [in a strange sort of way], the soundtrack to 'There's Something About Mary'. The best movie soundtracks get away with juxtapositions that other albums just can't risk. The 'Summer of Sam' features artists from right across the spectrum; Elvin Bishop, the Emotions, The Who [blasting out the excellent 'Baba O'Riley'] and Grace Jones, who all variously suceed in recreating the mood of the movie and yet producing a strangely compelling mish-mash of style.
This is a movie soundtrack that works.
