Customer Reviews

Groundhog Day

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

 

 

It is usually acceptable to add music to a soundtrack that did not originally make it to the movie, but I find it difficult to accept a product with parts missing. "You Don't Know Me" for some reason was left out of this particular CD being replaced with a guitar rendition instead. While this version is alright, I had expected the vocal version as featured in the film and was of course disappointed that it did not appear. If your looking for that song as it was played in the movie, DO NOT BUY THIS CD, it will only break your heart.

This cd missed being a good soundtrack by one track, the missing one. The Ottmar Liebert instumental of "You Don't Know Me" is OK, but without the best rendition of this song that IS in the movie, that of Ray Charles, the disc doesn't ring true. I like the fact that the Rachmaninov "Variations" is included in toto along with "Phil's Song". But not including the Ray Charles take leaves a big hole in the cd, where I imagine the groundhog soundtrack burrows back in for 6 more weeks of winter.
(The Ray Charles track appears on his CD entitled "Modern Country and Western Music"-a less expensive outlay than getting the Ultimate Hits Collection.)

Loved the film. Loved the music so bought the CD. Still love the music but feel slightly cheated that the best song in the film 'You Don't Know Me' - the most poignant and the one with perhaps the best lyrics for Phil and his feelings for Rita - is just a quiet little instrumental version. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice version, but not at all the one that sweeps you up in the film with Ray Charles's great powerful voice and those wonderful lyrics, and really makes you feel for the characters. So it was disappointing - a bit like going to see the groundhog and finding out he's turned into a squirrel. But the rest of the CD is fun and will have you chuckling as you remember the film.

I searched high and low for the song featured in this movie entitled: "You Don't Know Me". I originally searched all of Ray Charles' Albums. The only one I found was a garland 4 disc box set. Which is probably the same song from 1962.

The original artist of the song is Eddy Arnold. You can find the song on his best hits album. I haven't lstened to either of these albums so I can't rate the songs on them.

Over all the entire cd is worth purchasing just for George Fenton's hauntingly beautiful "The Ice Sculpture". That song is so beautiful that it is worth it just for that one song. I am a professional composer that has written songs such as a soldier's song by sylvia desrochers and sgt holly bingham and the hills of yesterday by sylvia desrochers and i believe my taste in music is halfway decent. You will enjoy The Ground Hog Day CD.

Great to have the soundtrack to one of my favorite movies. A one note skip in opening track of 'Weatherman'. Instrumental version of 'You Don't Know Me' is a pleasant bonus, but then as a negative the vocal version is not on the CD. Piano version of 'Somewhere in Time' theme is well done and a contrast to the jazzy version in the movie (also included on cd).

To those of you complaining that the Ray Charles version of 'You Don't Know Me' from the movie is not included in the soundtrack CD, it's available as a 99¢ single from Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Genius-Ultimate-Ray-Charles-Collection/dp/B001QAZAPS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1274289607&sr=1-1 ) or from the iTunes Store, or on several best-of-Ray-Charles CDs, including 'Genius: The Ultimate Ray Charles Collection', 'Ray Charles' Finest' & or even as a pseudo-duet with Diana Krall, on 'Genius Loves Company'.

Personally, I think they should have included on this CD two versions of the oom-pah (& to me, the main musical theme of Groundhog Day) 'Pennsylvania Polka': the full version that's on the CD, plus an instrumental-only version, because instrumental snippets were more often used in the soundtrack.

But such minor shortcomings do not spoil what is included on the CD, which is some very nice music.

To be honest, when I was watching Groundhog Day, I didn't even notice the music. It's there every once in a while, but most of the movie is silent. As such, when listening to these tracks, they didn't really recall the music. The music itself is OK, but not anything particularly special - an odd mix of romantic songs and filler music.

It's great because you can really see how much time went into choosing the perfect music for the dreamy feel of Groundhog Day. From the catchy country-like pop of "Weatherman" to the swingy happy sigh of "Almost like being in love", there's never a moment where you aren't as spellbound as you are when you're watching the film. Every time it got to the part with Phil and Rita out in the snowy night, I would wander what that gorgeously painful song was that they danced to. As it turned out, it was "You don't know me" - one soulful cry about unrequited love, with devastating swirls of strings behind a voice full of emotion. Brilliant!

Great CD! This offers all the songs from the movie. It makes you feel as though you're in the movie with Bill Murray.