Customer Reviews

Desperate Housewives: Music Inspired By

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This CD combos old covers with new artist (Band of Gold, Mrs Robinson, Harper Valley PTA) with new pieces by Joss Stone, Sara Evens, Idina Menzel (from the cast of Wicked-SEE THE REVIEW)..and piece of dialog for the Housewives cast first season for a great sound track

I love the cuts of SHeDAISY's God Bless the American Housewife and Shania Twain's Shoes. They move this soundtrack along

The one cut that dont work is Danny Elfman's Easter Egg cute (that is a cut supposely after the CD is over of his singing versionof the Desparate Housewives theme, BYPASS THIS CUT!

Catch the Housewives spirit, Get the CD!!

Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD

I'm not a fan of the show, having never seen this, but when I saw the artists who sing on the album I felt compelled to buy it. What resulted was a fun, upbeat, girl-centered album, almost all (if not entirely) female singers. The music is fun, and the random quotes from the show add an interesting aspect. I've never seen it, but previewing the show like this is easy and effortless. The only problem would be that I can't just listen to it randomly because the quotes are in the way, especially when I just want to hear music. But all in all, it's a fun album and worth checking out!

As ever with soundtracks, I bought this because the music appealed to me. I know nothing about the TV series, though the pictures in the booklet illustrate women that seem extremely happy with life and appear to be anything but desperate. One thing to note, for those to whom it matters, is that the title includes the phrase telling you that only some of the music actually featured in the TV series - from and inspired by. Seven of the tracks here are actually brief spoken comments by Mary Alice, Edie, Lynette, Bree, Gabrielle, Susan and Mary Alice again. Fans of the series may be interested in these, but I'll focus on the songs.

Many but not of the songs are covers of famous songs. The singers are a mix of pop, rock and contemporary country, but the end result is very satisfying. The first song here is God bless the American housewife, a very appropriate song for a soundtrack about housewives, performed by SheDaisy. As the album progresses, it is very clear that most, if not all, of the songs fit the housewife / mother theme, even where it isn`t immediately obvious from the title. So you'll hear covers of Band of gold (about a deserted housewife), Mother's little helper (about a mother dependant on drugs), Mrs Robinson (the classic Simon and Garfunkel song, here performed by the Indigo Girls), Harper Valley PTA (about a mother defending herself against criticism), One's on the way (about a pregnant mother), Young hearts run free (about a housewife wishing she could be young and free) and Dreams of the everyday housewife.

Nobody who knows my preferences will be surprised to learn that my favorite tracks are those by Martina McBride (Harper valley PTA, originally recorded by Jeannie CD Riley) and Sara Evans (One`s on the way, originally recorded by Loretta Lynn). At around the time that Martina recorded Harper Valley PTA, she also recorded a whole covers album of old country songs, Timeless. It may even be that Harper Valley PTA was originally intended for that album as it was recorded in a similar style to the tracks that made it to that album, but you won't find it there, not even on the UK edition that includes four bonus tracks. (If you've heard that album, you'll know exactly what to expect here.) Of the others, I particularly enjoy Shania Twain's original song, Shoes, and the covers by Liz Phair (Mother's little helper, originally recorded by the Rolling Stones) and Gloria Estefan (Young hearts run free, originally recorded by Candi Staton). The album closes with the theme song for Desperate housewives, sung by Danny Elfman, the only male vocalist here.

I only came across this soundtrack by accident, but I'm glad I did. The music here is somewhat eclectic and your favorites are likely to depend on your own personal tastes, but there's a lot of great music here.

The music is a great mix of poignant melodies and in-your-face women's rock. You don't have to be a fan of the show to appreciate these great tunes. I have it in the disc changer in my car and listen to it weekly...and have been for 2 years!

This CD is a great fix for fans of the show like myself with the dialogue scattered between the music tracks. The mix of music is hot too - from Joss Stone to Gloria Estefan and Macy Gray. My favorites are Liz Phair's "Mother's Little Helper", I sing along everytime it comes on, along with "One's on the Way" by Sara Evans and "Harper Valley PTA" by Martina McBride. Other standouts are sheDaisy ("God Bless the American Housewife") and Idina Menzel ("Damsel in Distress"). Good stuff

Leaving aside the TV show tie-in nature of this album, this soundtrack stands up nicely as a concept album, with female artists covering classic tunes relating to love and domestic life.

A glance over the list of artists will suggest the soundtrack will be somewhat uneven, and that's borne out by a through listening. SheDaisy doesn't really have the chops of Martina McBride, Liz Phair or the Indigo Girls (and the latter don't even seem to be trying particularly hard).

Some artists, like Phair or Gloria Estefan, try and put their own spin on things, while others do a more note-for-note classic rendition. It's typically those trying to make the song their own who succeed the best, and there are enough such performances to make this album work.

Fun stuff, although it's a shame more of it never made it onto the actual TV show.

A recommended purchase for fans of Liz Phair, Gloria Estefan or Martina McBride.

I never really noticed the soundtrack when watching this show on television but I love the show so was a little surprised when purchasing the album that all the non sound bite tracks are American country music songs. Can't say I'm much of a fan of American country music so was just a bit disappointed. I think a great inclusion on this album though is the sound bites from all the leading housewife characters on this show and this alone is worth the price of the CD.

Was also disappointed that Danny Elfman's Desperate Housewives Theme is not a separate track and ridiculously has some hidden track attached to it. The Desperate Housewives Theme goes for 0:44 seconds then you have a break of silence for a while but still on the same track before at 1:01 a terribly sung summary of the TV show mentioning Wisteria Lane over and over again follows for a minute and twenty seconds. What ligic was there in not making this a separate track? You would then be able to memory it out on your stereo. I like listening to TV themes and I find this just ruins that track because you need to be near your stereo to press skip after 0:44 seconds. This CD is worth purchasing for the sound bites alone but I guess if you're just buying it for the theme song you'll have to wait for some other new TV theme compilation album to get the theme song on its own.

This album also comes with an excellent cover insert booklet with lots of great pictures of characters and scenes from the show.

What a great concept! These songs are amazing - the singers are stellar. You won't be let down! LeAnn Rimes, kd lang, Shania, SheDaisy... every track is superb! Have you heard the HIDDEN TRACK at the end of the album? Check it out. On an album of female singers, it's a GUY singing about life on Wisteria Lane!? It's perfect! I heard a while ago that BARRY MANILOW was gonna be involved. Did he write it? Who's singing it - doesn't sound like Barry's singing. It's a great way to end a perfect album!

When you see this album, you may think it includes all the nice DH score by Jablonsky. However, you would be wrong.

Instead, it contains a random selection of pop tracks, and the theme tune to the programme. I have no idea if these pop tracks were featured in some trivial way in the programme (don't personally remember them), but no matter: it's no different to the standard dross you can buy anywhere.

I don't understand what compelled the creators of this soundtrack to produce yet another generic dance album, instead of putting Jablonsky's score (which is world-renown) on there. If such a soundtrack were released I'd gladly give it 5*.

As for this though...

I have absolutely no idea what went through the minds of the majority of the reviewers here who gave it 5 and 4 stars. Perhaps they just like the music. If you like pop tracks, sure, why not, good as any album, but it's not the "Original TV Soundtrack" as described.

The sorority in Desperate Housewives' first season compilation CD screams gurrl power and savvy pop. With an impressive line-up of country singers and rock chick including Indigo Girls ("Mrs. Robinson") and Shania Twain ("Shoes"), their songs astutely captures the surburbia dystopia to a tee. SheDaisy smartly starts the drum rolling with a satirical "God Bless the American Houswife", Anna Nalick gives a heart-thumping rendition of "Band of God" while Martina McBride narrates a dark tale in "Harper Valley PTA". Fans of pop will no doubt warm up to LeAnn Rimes'"We're Running Out of Time" and Joss Stone's take on Diane Warren's "Treat me Right (I'm yours for life)". However, the most powerhouse performance comes from Idina Menzel's enegetic take on "Damsel in Distress". K.d Lang's "Dream of the Everyday Housewife" beautifully adds an introspective gleam to the exciting compilation. It's fun listening to the soundbites of the Housewives and it seems album producer Mitchell Leib and show creator Marc Cherry correctly nailed the songs that flesh out each character. Like the snappy sitcom, the OST offers plenty of smart and irresistible sass. It's one up for the Housewives.