Absolute Beginners [Import, Soundtrack]

Gil Evans (Composer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 27, 1993)
• Original Release Date: April 18, 1986
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import, Soundtrack
• Label: EMI Import
• ASIN: B000007TUR
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #153,158 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Absolute Beginners - David Bowie

2. Killer Blow - Sade

3. Have You Ever Had It Blue - The Style Council

4. Quiet Life - Ray Davies

5. Va Va Voom - Gil Evans

6. Thats Motivation - David Bowie

7. Having It All - Eight Wonder

8. Rodrigo Bay - Working Week

9. Sellout Out - Slim Gaillard

10. Riot City - Jerry Dammers

11. Boogie Stop Shuffle (Rough And The Smooth) - Gil Evans

12. Ted Aint Ded - Tenpole Tudor

13. Volare - David Bowie

14. Napoli - Clive Langer

15. Little Cat (Youve Never Had It So Good) - Jonas

16. Better Git It In Your Soul (The Hot And The Cool) - Gil Evan

17. So What (Lyric Version) - Smiley Culture

18. Absolute Beginners (Refrain) - Gil Evans

Editorial Reviews

Virgin. 1986.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Riots, Romance, and Be-Bop in London, November 6, 2002

By 

Daniel J. Hamlow (Narita, Japan) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Absolute Beginners (Audio CD)

I originally bought this on cassette during my musical heyday. That piece of music only had the first ten songs. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the CD had an extra eight songs, all of them songs I enjoyed from the movie and fretted from their exclusion.

David Bowie's title track, played in its full eight minutes glory, is one of his best songs ever, ranking up there with "Space Oddity" and "Life On Mars?" It captures the hope yearned for amid the jungle of broken dreams and teeming nightlife. The verses are more melancholy, but rises to a chorus of hope "If our love song/could climb over mountains/could laugh like the ocean/just like the films" The female singer accompanying Bowie has the right stylings for this number. "That's Motivation", his number about what drives people to succeed, does not quite reach that height, but it's still enjoyable. The third song he does is a cover of "Volare," made famous by Dean Martin.

Sade's "Killer Blow" is extraordinary in a different way than her songs up to that point, and shows she is quite at home doing the 50's jazz genre. The bongo drums are a nice touch. If she made an entire album like this, I'd buy it!

"Have You Ever Had It Blues?" with its backing female vocal rhythm and jazz stylings demonstrates why Style Council was a great Paul Weller vehicle, much underrated in the US.

The Kinks' Ray Davies, who plays Colin's father in the movie, has a serene number with "Quiet Life." The main point in the song is that despite his being buried in the past, "confidentially between these walls, I'm on top of it all. Other lyrics that struck me: "Can't communicate with minds that are small/with some people it's like talking to a wall."

Patsy Kensit's "Having It All" demonstrates why she should have stuck to acting. Her singing is mousey/squeaky, as if she inhaled a mixture of weird gases, including helium. However, it's not that bad a distraction from the album.

The Caribbean sounds of Working Week's "Rodrigo Bay" with a husky wailing female vocalist, is yet another aspect of the soundtrack. Clive Langer's "Napoli" begins slow but gathers up pace and is accompanied by reggae keyboards, resulting in a hybrid of jazz and reggae.

Jonas' "Little Cat (You've Never Had It So Good)" is the song Baby Boom, the child singing sensation, sings in the movie, complete with roars. It's perfect late 50's pop and another favourite on this collection. Tenpole Tudor's rockabilly number mocks Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochrane, and Jerry Lee Lewis. There's also Smiley Culture's reggae number, "So What", played after the climactic riot.

Gil Evans' fast-paced numbers represent the horns and drum swing jazz aspect with "Va Va Voom", the number Suzette dances to at the fashion show, "Boogie Stop Shuffle," which is played during the opening scenes revealing the London nightlife, and "Better Git It In Your Soul." However, he is rivalled by Slim Gaillard's raucous "Selling Out" with horns and xylophone and quick-paced female backing vocals going "Will he? Won't he? Can he? May he? Maybe." This is the number done at Dido Lament's party and represents a festivity in full swing.

This disc is a combination of contemporary pop, jazz, and 50's-style pop, and as such is a delight, with the latter two genres effectively capturing the spirit of the times.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I don't know what the first reviewer is talking about, March 28, 2000

By 

Mikey (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Absolute Beginners (Audio CD)

He obviously is confusing this CD with something else. It's not German, it's not hip-hop, and except for the occasional hip slurring, you can understand what's sung. This CD is actually a soundtrack to the British film of the same name. It's a little be-bop (be not hip) very jazzy and very eclectic. I love this CD because it's atmospheric and puts me in a very specific mood. I highly recommend the tracks "Having it All" and "So What?".

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ABSOLUTE COOL !, September 6, 2004

By 

Armando M. Mesa (Chandler, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Absolute Beginners (Audio CD)

The 1986 film Absolute Beginners is sort of the British/European version of 1984's Streets of Fire(though Beginners was a film-musical fantasy epic about the 1958 British riots)...Both contained characters, themes and elements of rock, rebellion, and 50's noirish movie theatrics, boy meets girl or saves girl...Both films suffered miserable ticket sales and luke warm reviews(if you blinked, they were gone)... Both films contained hot soundtracks that probably did better in sales than their film counterparts. Yet, Beginners like Streets shares that underground mutual cult following status among soundtrack music collectors such as myself or anyone with an eclectic music collection and a taste for the nostalgic...

The soundtrack is a great mixture of late 50's pop-swing-jazz stylings with a few tracks containing some Latin influences (check out the bossa nova flavored Have You Evere Had It Blue by the Style Council).Clive Langer's Napoli and Working Week's Rodrigo Bay also have that Latin or Carribean island backdrop feel and atmospheric sound. The real highlights include a swingin' jazz torch tune by Sade (Killer Blow). Jonas' hip song Little Cat is a riveting and highly catchy 50's sock hop throwback that could have been saved for the Hairspray soundtrack a couple of years later(though Hairspray takes place in the early 60's). Actress Patsy Kensit (Lethal Weapon 2) does a whispy voiced jazz beat-nik number complete with bongos and background fingersnaps...This soundtrack will take you to a different era and time (late 50's, beginning 60's).

There is a lot of wonderful musical arrangements and toe tapping orchestrations. The David Bowie title track tune is probably the only modern contemporary sounding song. Absolute beginners is absolutely infectious and I love the strong pop-jazz influences...You can almost picture a party in someone's retro 50's-60's entertainment parlor or lounge or even a classy nightclub of that era...

This is a soundtrack I recommend for anyone who loves be-bop, jazz, swingin' pop infused tunes with some Latin elements, along with some big band orchestrations ! Also, make sure you can get a hold of the c.d. European import (difficult to find nowadays) which contains 18 tracks as opposed the the American cassette version I once owned which only had 10 tracks.In addition, the import cd/album cover displays the brilliantly colorful great art work/ and comic book-like painting you see here on Amazon.com. The 10 track cheap American version cover artwork had a photo of the two main characters sitting or riding on a moped.