Customer Reviews

Cradle Will Rock: Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack

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

 

 

This is an excellent done recording featuring actors known for movies (Susan Sarandon, Joan Cusack, Emily Watson, Hank Azaria) and Broadway Actors (The FABULOUS ERIN HILL and AUDRA MCDONALD).

This music is wonderful~!

I originally bought this C.D. because I'd been waiting for the movie to come out for a year. I got hooked in two seconds! The songs are so great, especially the ones performed by the theatre folk. Even the actors who sing on this C.D. do a great job. The duet between Susan Sarandon and Eddie Vader has become one of my favorite duets. Good job, Tim Robbins! (and David Robbins for doing the music)

The soundtrack to Tim Robbins' excellent, frenetic "Cradle Will Rock" is, well, excellent, and a little frenetic. David Robbins' score, a hybrid of klezmer, gypsy, and Eastern European, eschews the heavy-handedness and sentimentality the partnership of a less skilled director and composer might leap to for such portentous material as the movie discusses - but the real gem of the CD is the cache of songs from Marc Blitzstein's titular musical. Putting a brassy spin on the style made famous by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht, Blitzstein's songs run the gamut from haunting and moody ("Joe Worker," sung by the fabulous Audra MacDonald), to upbeat and catchy ("Let's Do Something"), to blithe and charming ("Honolulu") - not to mention timeless, as shown by performances of Blitzstein songs by Polly Jean Harvey (an excellent, brooding "Nickel Under the Foot") and the less-well-executed duet of Eddie Vedder and Susan Sarandon (both are talented singers - neither seems to be able to handle the intricacy of "Croon Spoon"). One complaint is that the CD only includes the "Cradle" songs featured in the film - perhaps for context's sake, the inclusion of the entire Blitzstein score would have lent greater meaning to the songs herein. And the inclusion of Emily Watson's rendition of "I'm Checkin' Home Now" proves Watson a great actress, but a lousy singer. But aside from that, this is a terrific, vibrant CD, the demerits of which don't detract from the overall quality.

After seeing this at the Ritz, walked 20 blocks to Tower to be told the soundtrack wasn't available until 1/14/2000. This is why I love the truthtellers at Amazon, where I just ordered this. This movie was wonderful, and the closing credits with songs sung by others as well (PJ Harvey) made the soundtrack an irresistable purchase! I have also ordered the 1994 production, based on the reviews here. I plan to get some books about that era as well.