Customer Reviews

Escape From L.A. (1996 Film)

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

 

 

Proof that director John Carpenter's metal-esque influence on the musical scores to his films is ever prominant; the soundtrack to his 1996 film Escape From L.A. further illustrates this point. White Zombie's "The One" is a ripping track that makes this compilation an absolute must have for White Zombie fans the world over, while Stabbing Westward's "Dawn", Tool's "Sweat", Gravity Kills' "Blame", Clutch's "Escape From the Prison Planet", and the Deftones' "Can't Even Breathe" are all standout tracks. Sugar Ray's "10 Seconds Down" is a must hear just to hear that this band was actually half decent before they succombed to the world of pop radio, while Ministry's "Paisley" finds the band at their sludgey "Filth Pig" era stage. Tori Amos is an odd artist to be featured here to say the least, but her "Professional Widow" cut is a good listen. All in all, the Escape From L.A. soundtrack is definitely worth picking up for metalheads and industrial buffs.

First off - this isnt a soundtrack CD. No sir. What it is, is a group of songs 'Inspired by' Escape from LA, and a collection of 3 or 4 that had 3-4 second bits in the movie.

When I bought this CD - I had seen LA the day before - and all I wanted to do was listen to the theme that plays at the end when the satellites go off... that theme that just gets under your skin...

But was it on the CD? No... which is VERY annoying - and since half the songs werent even in the movie... very dissapointing...

It is true, this album may not have too many songs from the movie (there is a second album with the title song, etc.), but it still has some great tracks. White Zombie's "The One" is excellent, followed by Sugar Ray's "10 Seconds Down", which is another good song. My advice, preview the album before you buy it.

Ironically, this soundtrack fails in the same way that it succeeds. A paradox? Maybe. Here's the breakdown:

I'm a huge White Zombie / Rob Zombie fan. When this soundtrack was released, there was only one song on it that I really cared about: "The one". I had heard it live at a Zombie / Pantera show in SF a month prior, and the song just ripped up the audience.

To my delight, the record contained a bunch of songs by some of my favorite bands; Tool, Ministry, Clutch and Sugar Ray. Sadly, not enough of these were new or very good tracks. "Paisley" is indicative of the turgid sludge that Ministry has become, no fire or wit or power. "Cut me out" shows little of the catchy yet ominous style that made "Possum Kingdom" a hit. I already had "Sweat" (tool) "Escape from the Prison Planet", "Professional Widow" (Tori Amos) and "Fire in the Hole" (orange 9mm) on CD, so this stdk was really a re-hash. The tracks that stuck out for me were "10 Seconds Down", a monster rock track by Sugar Ray at the height of their rocking-ness, "The One", a classic Zombie track, and "Foot on the Gas" by a band I had never heard of before and have never heard from since called Sexpod. the Deftones track was OK. The Stabbing Westward song was as weak as all of their post-UNGOD material.

I think soundtracks succeed most often when they include rare tracks or good remixes of songs we already know. All the people who were likely to buy this soundtrack probably already had most of the songs on it, and that never works (you can tell by the wealth of reviews on this page!). I'm sure it didn't help that the movie tanked royally, and most people will miss a couple great songs.

Personally, I think the movie looks dumb, but I haven't seen it. But this soundtrack is one of the best soundtracks I have. Best bands on here: Deftones,Orange 9mm, Tool, White Zombie, Pre-sellout Sugar Ray, Gravity Kills, and Stabbing Westward. If you like this cd, buy the Bride of Chucky or Crow:City of Angels soundtracks.

3.5 stars would be more accurate. Escape From L.A.'s film soundtrack is a good listen for someone who's in the right mood. The mindlessness that's its weakness is also its strength. For what's essentially a metal compilation, very few big-ticket names pepper the track list (no Megadeth, Rage Against the Machine, or Pantera?), and the big bands the soundtrack does get offer some underwhelming material.

The album opens with a track from Tool, but rather than landing a track from their upcoming third album Aenima (released later that year), they opted for something from their four-year-old (?!) and much less-impressive first album, Opiate. White Zombie's "I Am The One" is the only big standout from a hard rock perspective, but it's still not quite up to par with their Astrocreep 2000 album of the previous year. Stabbing Westward also delivers an original track, but it's a pretty laid-back listen and also not as good as their usual stuff.

What's left is a collection of just-ok tracks from just-ok bands (a few of which I haven't heard of before or since). Sugar Ray's "10 Seconds Down" breaks up the sludge with some guitar that's almost edgy (and it's interesting to hear them playing something that's not a pop song aimed at sixteen-year-old girls), but it's not quite catchy enough to rise above. Another attempt by Ministry to write a decent slow song falls short and feels like a droning headache ("Paisley"). Someone remixed "Blame" by Gravity Kills and the result is less catchy and memorable than the band's original, but perhaps fits better with the album's laid-back attitude. Sexpod delivers a surprisingly good track for an unknown band.

Tori Amos is by far the weird track on the record; "Professional Widow" sticks out like a male cheerleader. Ironically, it's the best song on the album, but that's precisely why it doesn't fit. It's too artsy and ethereal to sound right in between the grime. A better choice would have been something like "Army of Me" by Bjork.

I suspect they were trying to create an eclectic mix of styles (like The Crow soundtrack), but instead they made a record that's not really metal, not really industrial, and not really grunge either. It's not great, but it is listenable. This is the perfect album to put on when you're in one of those "I don't care" kind of moods and just want something completely non-pretentious, unchallenging, and loud to zone out to. Whenever I hear it, I get the mental image of a guy who's just woken up at one pm on an annoyingly-bright day, throws on some clothes without showering, and drives a beat-up truck to the nearest gas station for breakfast while this scratched-up jewel case slides around on the floor. That's the perfect day for Escape from L.A.

Any fan of metal will love this cd. The whole thing is charged with adrenaline and energy. The cd is worth the purchase for White Zombie's "The One," and the Deftones "Can't Even Breathe," alone. Neither were released on their studio albums, so both songs are truly gems. For me, the low point is Ministry's "Paisley." I expected something a little stronger from them, considering the rest of the line-up. But even Paisley has grown on me over my many spins of this cd. The Sugar Ray (pre-fly) track rocks and the Toadies hold their own. as well. Its hard to pick out a few songs to talk about to keep this review concise, because this is a cd loaded from front to back with great songs. I was introduced to a few bands that were previously off my radar, such as Orange 9mm, Sexpod, and Clutch (who is now one of my favorite bands). If a few of the bands on here interest you, you won't be disappointed with this cd. Its consistently strong all the way through, with some of the smaller names out-performing the bigger ones.

For quite a while I couldn't decide which movie had the greatest soundtrack ever compiled, The Matrix, Spawn, End of Days or Escape From L.A. Finally I buckled down and came to the conclusion that Escape From L.A. used songs that are not only rare but excellent peices from bands that I first heard of off of this particular cd. Because of this soundtrack I have found the likes of the Deftones, Tool, White Zombie, Stabbing Westward, Gravity Kills, Ministry and the early Sugar Ray. -All bands which shaped my 12 year old musical tastes back in 96. You might say I owe more to this soundtrack than any other one cd. While the other soundtracks offer a wide assortment of songs from bands that I have come to love it was because of Escape From L.A. that I loved them.

this soundtrack is one of those soundtracks that stands out just a bit better than the movie. for me, this cd is pretty good with only 5 tracks that are kinda weak. i thought the ministry track "paisely" was great. going into this really deep depressing sound that ministry rarely ever visits. "the one" shows white zombie ultizing a rare keyboard usage that is fantastic. "10 seconds down" while already previously released on sugar ray's debut "lemonade & brownies", it's nice to have it without the tie-in to "danzig needs a hug". "dawn" is just one of those stabbing westward songs you'll either love or hate, personally, i love it myself. it's slow and at times hard and pounding. and then theres the deftones track. a gem that was unjustly left on their b-sides album. if anything, this warrants a buy for that tracks alone. i could on forever singing the praises of the songs that i thought were good that make this a rarity worth buying...but i won't. it's better to get a taste and decide for yourself.

. . . but not all of it is in the movie, and one important piece of music from the movie _isn't_ here: Dick Dale's "Scalped" (from the tsumani/surfing scene). So I'm posting this brief review for the benefit of anyone who's looking specifically for that piece.

It's available on Dale's 1994 CD _Unknown Territory_ (http://www.amazon.com/Territory-Dick-Dale/dp/B0000005QS). Don't know why it's not on here, but this CD would have been better with it than without it.

(Incidentally, Randy Newman's "I Love L.A." isn't on here either, even though we hear it on Map To The Stars Eddie's tour guide.)