Customer Reviews

Groove (2000 Film)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have not seen the Greg Harrison film, "Groove," but partly because of the impressive quality of this soundtrack album, I now intend to do so. The producers could easily have put together a mishmash of pedestrian dance music for a film about raving, but instead it's apparent that a great degree of care was used in the selection of these tracks, which have been mixed nonstop to good effect by WISHFM.

The cd starts out with a boilerplate (but pleasant) "uplifting" vocal garage record, and then swings into a housey groove for several tracks. Most noteworthy here is the inclusion of "20 Minutes of Disco Glory," a fine track by Garth, one of San Francisco's best house dj's.

For longtime fans of dance music, the track list will clearly include some familiar and well-worn tunes, appearing here in edited versions: Orbital's classic "Halcyon + On + On," Libra Presents Taylor's infectious "Calling Your Name," and perhaps the most widely played trance anthem of the first part of the year 2000, "Heaven Scent" by John Digweed and Nick Muir (aka Bedrock). Hybrid's jazzy/breakbeat "Beachcomba" is another welcome addition, followed by a tweaky acid-breakbeat track by Symbiosis called "Protocol." The mix cools down a bit as it concludes, winding up with a long and ethereally hypnotic Scott Hardkiss mix of Alter)ring's "Infinitely Gentle Blows."

The only real shortcoming of the disc is that for a full-length mix cd, it's a bit on the short side (59 minutes). As it stands, it's certainly well worth the attention of both longtime dance music/rave fans and also moviegoers previously unfamiliar with today's wonderful electronic dance music who might have found the film's soundtrack suffiently appealing to inspire another good listen.

A disappointing soundtrack when compared to the film. The movie was seething with industrial, trance, progressive, and ambient tracks that got inside you, worked their beats against your temples, and thrust you into the center of the dance floor. We're lucky enough here to have surround sound and a DVD player, and the tracks in the movie surrounded my living room with color and body. An amazing soundtrack for a powerful film.

Then the album came out. What a misrepresentation of the spirit of the movie. All traces of the industrial beats are gone, and many quality tracks are forgotten. I think the mixing is mediocre in comparison to the film, certainly not a Digweed production, and the layout of the album is lacking as well. However, for a green dance fan coming away from the movie looking for a little bit of everything, you can find it here.

(I think a girl named Asher was asking about the track right before Bedrock's "Heaven Scent." It's a progressive number called "Blue Bottle" by POB and features DJ Patrick Reid. Check it out, it's a sick track.)

While I agree with most of the above (or blow) reviewers opinions, the only gripe I have with this Soundtrack is that it does not portray all of the songs heard in the movie. While I do believe that this mix might be influenced by the movie groove, very few songs of the soundtrack are heard in the movie itself. Moviegoers might purchase this soundtrack expecting to hear tracks played in the movie, and recieve something else. Unless the moviegoer knows most of the artists songs by heart, they will not be able to identify the songs on the CD they are about to purchase.

OK Happy Campers, first off i'd like to say the movie was fantastic and the day after i saw the movie i bought this soundtrack...to be honest i was a little disappointed. The movie featured many awesome songs....including one DJ Pollywog produced herself...but the soundtrack didn't reflect any of the movie music with a few exceptions. First the opening quote from the movie is great and a nice lead into track #2. But i hit the first pitfall in the middle of the album with Orbital's Halcyon On + On. Don't get me wrong it is an awesome track (which i have personally loved since the Original Hacker's Soundtrack) but this song has no bearing in this album. Although WISHFM is a great DJ and Producer, he still couldn't mix in Halcyon without making me cringe.....so now eerytime i listen to the soundtrack i skip the last part of Track #7 and #8 al together. With that said WISHFM brings back the orginal flavor of the record with Track #9 and then probably the best track on the record: Bedrock's Heaven Scent. It was featured in the movie as Digweed'd final track so i was disappointed that it wasn't the final track on this album....although WISHFM chose a great track to end up this fairly good album. I just hope that on feature albums they feature the music more from the movie.....esp. Pollywog's Track

This CD is good but a lot of songs from the movie were left out. I read rumors of a second CD but that seems to have faded away...too bad. As another reviewer pointed out, an awesome track called Bluebottle by POB (which I found on the CD "Platipus Beginner's Guide") is missing. I didn't know the track's name before buying this disc and was disappointed that it wasn't here. I thought it was the best track in the movie. Overall, still a CD worth owning.

For someone who actually 'attended' a few raves in 1990's San Francisco, I actually thought this movie was great!!!! And the accompanying soundtrack is killer too!

Does anyone out there care about the mixing in a mix cd? If you do then you will find that you will be disappointed in this mix. Sure the track selection is fantastic and that counts for more than anything (that's why I gave the cd 3 stars). The mixing is so undenyably poor (at points) that it takes away from the overall beauty of the mix. If we as the consumer continue to let our DJs get away with this rubbish, then in the end all we'll be left with is a bunch of commercial DJs who release crap compilations...just like any other genre in the music industry of today.

This mix by WishFM wanders around in a minimal house funk until Orbital saves the night with a smooth transition into a worthy (if obvious) trance set ending way too soon with a segue into drugged-up dialog presumably from the film. The end result is a broad but incoherent taste of the current dance sound that completely misses the point that to build a vibe you must first build a groove. To cover this much territory a DJ needs at least six hours.

I gave this soundtrack only 4 stars because it is missing a LOT of music from the movie.

However, this doesn't necessarily mean it is bad.

I agree that a lot of the "industrial" sound is missing from this CD. I am disappointed by that. I am also sad that "Heaven Scent" by Digweed is NOT the version in the movie! >sigh<

When will the soundtrack folks realize how important having the SAME MIX of the music in the movie on the soundtrack is REALLY important to us music fans?!?!

But the music represented here is a good mix in its own right. (If you are ripping this to mp3, make sure to make it a 'continuous album'. It doesn't sound right unless continuously flowing in the intended sequence.)

So, if you decide to buy this, here is how to look at it:
Buy it for GOOD techno dance music. DON'T buy it expecting it to match the movie.

Happy listening!

Great music, just love to sit back a relax to it. Someone get me a Cosmopolitan please. I just love it