Customer Reviews

Babel (Slip)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

First of all, I bought this CD for one song only and that is Ryuichi Sakamoto's Bibo No Aozora. When I heard it on the film, I knew I was going to get the soundtrack. It's such a simple song, but the cellos are undeniable! But along with Ryuichi's song, I also fell in love with Santaolalla's Deportation (which I am sure is the main theme of the movie). I listen to that song a lot more than Bibo. Although this is not a very good review because I mainly got it for two tracks, I recommend the album for it's diversity. 'Tu Me Acostumbraste' is so beautiful. You would not be upset. Santaolalla delivers in his originals, and the diverse styles has something for everyone I am sure.

I was busy and distracted the first time I listened to this music, and my first impression was Gee, I wish they'd done a better job of editing. (I confess I still feel that way about the bonus CD, but it doesn't matter. Read on.) Three days later, however, I listened again--mindfully--and GOT IT. Disc one perfectly encapsulates Babel's theme: the Global Village's seemingly diverse tribes (be they North African Tuareg or Japanese haute bourgeoisie) are, just under the surface, inextricably linked and what's more--startlingly related. As I paid attention I was captivated by the duh-obvious connections between desert tablas, Tokyo House, and Cumbia. Then fell in love with all three of those arts, none of which I'd been exposed to before seeing the movie (mainly because I'm probably old enough to be your grandmother). Now I want MORE. This CD sent me running to the 'net in search of more Celso Peña (an "overnight" hit at 48, after decades of tune crafting), more Shinichi Osawa remixes, and more Rip Slyme. The latter is a hard-to-describe but way cool Japanese DJ/tech/mod group whose name is a play on Japlish for "lips rhyme." Apart from all that, I'm also cherishing details like the perfect audio portrait of upperclass ennui ("Bibo no Aozora" by Ryuichi Sakamoto; think Phillip Glass in Japanese, but don't let that put you off), and the utterly stark beauty of Moroccan scenery ("Desert Bus Ride" by Gustavo Santaolalla, who wrote Babel's Academy Award-nominated score and whose plaintive oud may haunt you for the rest of your life. FYI, Santaolalla learned to play that traditional instrument specifically for this commission. Wow.) But the last word belongs to Babel's creator and soundtrack producer, Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu: "I conceive a film as a symphony: the structure and textures are determined by the silences and spaces between them. During the entire process, I keep listening to and researching music that could be of great inspiration during the development of the script. That way, I can go forward triggering images in my mind, assimilating and filming my scenes by beats and internal rythms... I only hope that when you listen to these CDs that combine the songs of this great internal and external journey, you can also feel the distant winds and the planet caressing your skin as it spins around."
Amen.

Great soundtrack, but there is one song that I keep listening to that is "Bibo No Aozora / 04". It haunts me, and nearly brings me to tears. I really fills you up with a simple yet gorgeous piano progression and the almost menacing cellos. Just incredible!

I did not care for the movie, but I loved the music. With the movie I did not feel the music necessarily stuck out to me. However, it made enough of an impression to get this and hear the songs in their entirety. It is very good because some of it would be more like easy listening, where other songs have sonic tones to them. I do listen to soundtracks often and think this is one of the best ones I have heard in a while. My favorite tracks are Masterpiece and The Catch, but I do think that they all have something to offer. This soundtrack is great and if you are looking for music that is well composed then try the Babel Soundtrack.

I rarely buy soundtracks of movies but when I saw this movie I bought it immediately. I liked the acoutistic guitar pieces and the techno type music very much and enjoy listening to it.

I don't think I've ever seen a film in my 40 odd years wherein a final piece of music helped the entire long, arduous, wonderful work gel and come together on so many gorgeous, tender levels as I did in "Babel", thanks to the hypnotic, simple music, "Bibo no Aozora" by Ryuichi Sakamoto. I loved this exceptional, humane film after seeing so much H-wood junk and clutter for a decade. And this piece of music will pierce your heart.

BABEL will remain a remarkable achievement in filmmaking despite the fact that the Oscars practically ignored it. To place a story that connects Morocco with California with Japan with Mexico takes not only the ensemble effort of both the cast and the production crew, but it also takes a vision on the part of the director and his choices of cinematographers and musician to intertwine the scope of the film.

Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu has worked closely with Argentine composer Gustavo Santaolalla on successful films before but rarely has the challenge been so great as in BABEL. Santaolalla's intelligence and sensitivity as well as his musical creativity shine in this score for BABEL. This recording is 2 discs of music that offer the composer's own inimitable works that speak of solitude, isolation, loneliness and fear, yet it also incorporates music from Morocco - mystical and haunting - and from Tijuana that reflects the 'Norteño' music surrounding the wedding site - and from Japan where the wildest pop music of the clubs literally shakes the walls. It is a successful mélange that borrows where it can echo, mimics where it can disturb, and pulls at the heart whenever the peaks of agony arise. It is a fine achievement, well worth the awards. This is a film score that bears studying on many levels: it also is a film score that happens to be very fine listening on many levels. Grady Harp, February 07

I can strongly say that music caught me more than the film and theme itself. When the movie was over I couldn't wait to buy it :)
Gustavo Santaoallo is a great great artist, also known from Motorcycle Diaries and Brokeback Mountain.
I really love this guy's work.

Gustavo Santaolalla and González Iñárritu teamed up for the third time to add music to the Mexican Director's "Babel", fitting it with tracks created for the movie by Santaolalla, along with songs that do more than accompany the visuals: they shape the moods in many scenes throughout the movie.

This time around, Santaolalla didn't center his music around some of his more traditional themes, most of which typically remind of Latin American music, even if at a very basic level. He went with the Director, indeed traveling with the crew, breathing in the story, turning around and composing very fitting tracks to go with it. This is particularly true of the music that goes with the Moroccan scenes.

Besides Santaolalla's work, which is the one credited for the most part, the soundtrack contains music by other amazing musicians. Namely, "Bibo no Aozora/Endless Flight/Babel", the most beautiful song in the movie is an 11-minute long, three-part song performed, first, by Ryuichi Sakamoto, Jaques Morelenbaum & Everton Nelson and then (the last two movements) by Gustavo Santaolalla. It is indeed one of the most touching musical moments in the entire movie. Other great talents also in the album, are Chavela Vargas, David Sylvian, Nortec Collective, Susumu Yokota and a host of Nortenno music that help shape the music accompanying the Mexican scenes in the movie.

The soundtrack only really suffers one "problem": at times it can be a little jumpy (from a Moroccan piece to a Mexican piece to a Japanese piece), so it doesn't help build a consistent mood. But you stop seen this as a problem when you see the movie and realize that this is what makes the movie what it is: the interconnection of the stories and the jumps between places to tell them.

Wonderful ... So much music to transport us to "another world," from so many fine artists I had never heard of before. Arab, Argentina, Latino, Indian, Indonesian, Moroccan, North African, Nordic, Japanese, American... so many styles I do not really know the names of, but the overall sound is a trip to the far east and around the world, as if I too have flown.

I have imported both CD's TWICE into iTunes in order to enjoy them over and over again, and a number of songs 4 or more times. Example: "The Phone Call," "World Citizen - i won't be disappointed/looped piano," "Bibo no Aozora/Endless Flight/Babel," "Bibo No Aozoro / 04 - Ryuichi Sakamoto, Jaques Morelenbaum & Yuichiro Gotoh" and more.

New artists (new to me, anyway): David Sylvian/Ryuichi Sakaomoto/Amadeo Pace/Keigo Oyamata/Sketch Show, susumu yokota, Takashi Fuji, Hamza El Din, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Jaques Morelenbaum & Everton Nelson / , Nortec Collective, and of course one of my favorites of all time, Senor Gustavo Santaolalla.

I leave it to the listener to match the song titles to the artist names; it's a journey well worth taking.

Wonderful CD, highly recommended. Leaves me as breathless as the film, with the wind blowing through my shirtsleeves raising me up into the dream of flying high into the air. Rising above the turmoil and strife of daily life surrounded by Life and "humans" everywhere. This is one dream most of us share.

The CD cover photos of the boys arms raised into the wind feeling as though they could fly "says it all." Then comes the dark turn and turmoil of "when things go wrong." No matter who is to blame, when things go wrong everyone suffers in the end. How can we begin to hear? How do we find a cure? What language can speak from the heart and cure our ills? Speaking can so often fail. What will bring people together, parents and children, men and women, adult to adult? Will people ever learn to "hear" and to "heal?"

No one listens, as can be seen even here in the comment and reviews.

One reviewer called this CD "excessively heterogeneous." What the heck does this mean? (Ah, just looked it up: "definitions for heterogeneous consisting of elements that are not of the same kind or nature; "the population of the United States is vast and heterogeneous"

Does this person never "dream to soar?" Indeed!

The great mix of music and of sound reflects the great mix and chaos and mud slipping and sliding as we Babel our way through life... even though the songs are quite different in many areas, one can delete those songs from their play list and duplicate others to make for a longer meditative song as I have learned to do. The entire premise of "Babel" the film is well-represented in the mix of musical styles that bring us together and keep us apart.

I applaud the musicians and the director of this fine and moving film to continue leading the way on this journey we call "life."


I have been shot in the heart and this "symphony of sounds" has become my own Red Cross. Today, listening to this sweet "cacophony of sounds" has kept me alive. We are all "Citizens of the World."

Like it or not. Cacophony or Symphony?

It's all in how we play...