Customer Reviews

The Country Bears

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

John Hiatt wrote 6 of the tunes ( of which he performs 4), and co-wrote 2 others. John is one of America's best songwriters, but sadly, also one of it's best-kept secrets. Sure would be nice if this movie exposure of his music changed that!
Don Henley and Bonnie Raitt do a great duet on the Hiatt-penned "Can Love Stand The Test", and of course Hiatt does his standard great job on the four he sings, but I was underwhelmed by the two female vocalists doing Hiatt songs, Krystal Marie Harris ("The Kid In You"), and Jennifer Paige ( "kick It Into Gear"). Their versions are the reason the soundtrack lost a star, would love to hear John do these songs himself at some point.
Brian Setzer does a twist on The Devil Went Down To Georgia, providing a song of a guitar vs. fiddle battle, performed as a duet with actor Stephen Root .
I know most who read this will be non-Hiatt fans, as the fanatics like me have already grabbed the disc. I personally have to recommend picking up the Hiatt classics Bring The Family and Slow Turning to really be introduced to his best, but for sure pick up this soundtrack down the line as well. I have no complaints with it. Now, I can't wait to see the film and hear and see John Hiatt singing through a giant bear!! :)

Okay, I am a John Hiatt fan, so forgive me if this review is a little prejudiced, or one-sided...

I am so thankful that John's songs are (at least partly) recorded with the Goners (Sonny Landreth, Ken Blevins, David Ranson), and produced by Glyn Johns. When I first heard of this project, all I could imagine was Hiatt is his gravelly-voice, rough-and- ready splendour, trying to match up with a canned-sounding orchestra in typical Disney over-produced fashion. Instead, I feel the written and performed Hiatt songs on this album stand up to his own releases. The music seems organic, the words are (of course) more clever than anything I've heard Disney do, and John is in great voice.

However... John's two songs performed by Jennifer Page and Krystal Marrie Harris, have been synthesized and sanitized beyond recognition as a Hiatt pen. It made my skin crawl a little to listen to them, like I was peering into some parallel universe where John Hiatt is the musical director for "American Idols," and half-talented Brittney wannabes mouth his songs in miniskirts and halter tops. (I did think that E.G. Daily did a good job with "Where Nobody Knows my Name".)

This is a definite must have for Hiatt-fans based on the tracks he performed, but I also feel it is a good listen for people who just like Disney or are curious about what a singing bear would sound like. (The Elton John song "Friends" on here is an overlooked beauty, so that's worth the price of the CD, also).

I'm one of thoes who can watch a movie or read a book over and over and over, so the more I listen to this soundtrack the more I can't wait for the release of the movie. This is one of those albums, (cd's,whatever) that makes the repeat button on my player get a severe workout, especially the song "STRAIGHT TO THE HEART OF LOVE"

I'M a Mum in Queensland Australia and have just seen the movie The Country Bears, and thought what agood heart warming, family movie it was, I don"t know if there is another movie of this type ; but there should be more of them the world might be more humain if they stopped and watched somthing like this instead of wars and fighting allover the world all the time. The music was good and the way the bears move was also up lifting . I hope to see another movie soon.

Also in the movie but not on the disc, Lucinda Willims' "It's Over But I Can't Let Go". What a great song. The music made this an enjoyable movie. There's only 14 songs on the disc, it's a shame so many good ones from the film were left off.

There are a couple good songs on this album including "The Kind in You," "Kick it Into Gear" and "Love Can Stand the Test?" but it's just a good album to relax to I think.

AND, THIS IS A DISNEY ALBUM....I'VE BEEN AMAZED WITH JOHN HIATT'S WORK FOR MANY YEARS, AND WHEN I HEARD HE WAS GOING TO BE DOING "THE COUNTRY BEARS" PROJECT, I KNEW THIS WOULDN'T BE A CHEAP, WATERED DOWN POP ALBUM. I'M GLAD DIRECTOR PETER HASTINGS, ANDREW GUNN AND ALBUM PRODUCER GLYN JOHNS ALLOWED JOHN TO LET HIS CREATIVE FREEDOM SHINE ** MIND YOU I'VE NEVER BOUGHT A "DISNEY SOUNDTRACK" BEFORE. THIS IS A CELEBRATION OF AMERICAN MUSIC - ROOTS-ROCK, FOLK, AMERICANA. "LET IT RIDE" MAKES A GREAT 'GO-GETTER' ROAD TRIP SONG. STILL, I GET A KICK OVER THE FACT JOHN'S VOICE IS COMING OUT OF "TED BEDDERHEAD". I'VE BEEN PLAYING THIS ALBUM FOR MOST OF THIS YEAR, AND I'M NOT GETTING TIRED OF PLAYING IT. THESE SONGS SHOULD BE ON TRIPLE A AND ALBUM ROCK RADIO. BUT, YOU AND I KNOW RADIO WON'T PLAY IT. (I WONDER IF THEY WOULD PLAY TOM PETTY AND THE HB'S NEW ALBUM "THE LAST D.J." EITHER). THIS ALBUM IS VERY ADULT-ORIENTED. THE SOUNDTRACK IS A GIFT TO ANYONE WHO LOVES TRUE MUSIC. PEACE - JG

The soundtrack is excellent as far as it goes. It does not feature some of the best music from the movie like Rose Royce's Car Wash and Lynyrd Skynyrd's They call me the breeze. Too bad... In any case, I expect there will be a sequel to this movie and some of the biggest names will be lining up to get their music in there. That's the album I want.

If you loved the movie, you'll love this CD. Almost all the songs are top notch,Most of them are country but a few rock.

If you loved the movie then this soundtrack is a definite must buy!

I personally rate the following songs as the top songs in order first to last:

1. Straight to the heart of love
2. Where nobody knows my name
3. Let it ride
4. I'm in it for the honey
5. Can love stand the test

Sure this soundtrack might be pricey, but keep in mind that it is out of print.
Even so, I still feel it is absolutey worth it.