Customer Reviews

Life: Music Inspired By The Motion Picture

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Comprising music that hardly features in the movie (LOL!!) and largely produced by R Kelly and Wyclef (with some help from Darkchild on 1 track), this is a stunning R&B collection from a stellar cast of performers.

`It's like everyday' by DJ Quik (featuring R Kelly) is an outstanding sleek bubbly rap. `Stimulate me' is by the soon-to-explode Destiny's Child. Both are R Kelly compositions/productions. `Every which way' by Talent and Vegas Cats is an R Kelly production with some help from Darkchild.

`It's gonna rain' is an R Kelly ballad featuring the powerful vocals on Kelly Price. Vocally, it starts off delicate and builds up in intensity with Price soaring towards the end.

`Discovery' starts off as a piano/string ballad, with percussion and more instruments filtering in along the way, and featuring an outstanding performance from Brian McKnight. In a similar vein is the ballad `Follow the wind' featuring country singer Trisha Yearwood. Both are R Kelly Compositions/productions.

Next is Mya on the lilting midtempo ballad `Why should I believe you?', followed by the Wyclef composition/production `What would you do' by City High with lyrics about hard living and asking what you would do in her place? This song belatedly became a hit in 2001 hitting #8 on the Billboard hot 100.

'What goes round' by Khadeja, the uptempo reggae-ish `Lovin' you' by Sparkle (the only song I'm not really into on this CD I must confess, cannot compare to Minnie Ripperton's classic original), the rap `25 to life' featuring Xzibit, Juvenile, Ja Rule Nature, and Reptile, and the excellent lilting `New day' with soothing vocals by Wyclef are all Wyclef compositions/productions.

`Speechless' is a tender ballad featuring some dramatic falsetto from Ronald Isley, and the upbeat organ laden `Life' features a fiery vocal performance from K-Ci and Jojo with an almost gospel fervor.

Saving the best for last; Maxwell! `Fortunate' is a tender ballad composed and produced by R Kelly. This song hit #4 on the hot 100, #1 R&B, and was the #1 R&B song of 1999. His biggest hit to date. Multiple vocal layering, a stunning vocal performance meandering from falsetto to full vocals, and moving lyrics about seeing everyday things in a different light because of love.

This isn't a true soundtrack. The music is INSPIRED by the movie. Having said that, it's also one of the best soundtracks to come out in the 90s. Every song on this album is great except for the offensive Stimulate Me. Why Destiny's Child did that one I don't know. The standouts are Brian Knights'gorgeous rendition of Discovery and Maxwell's Fortunate. Trisha Yearwood makes a powerfu stand with Follow the Wind. Speechless by the Isley's is sexy and smooth--Ron Isley's falsetto will send chills down your spine and Life by K.C. and Jo Jo sums up the movie.

I heard "Fortunate" and "It's Gonna Rain" on the radio for the past couple of months, and have been searching Amazon high and low to see what CD contained those songs. I was so pleased to find them on one CD, and, because of that, it will be in heavy rotation on my stereo. Those two songs just *talk* to me; they are powerful, deep expressions of emotion. Imagine my surprise when I saw that they were both written by R. Kelly (as were most of the album's songs). I never had any respect for his work before, because I thought he was just cheesy, but a man who can write some spiritual stuff like this deserves some credit.

The rest of the album is iffy, but these two cuts made purchasing it worthwhile to me.

The cd 'Life' was very mixed. It included slow songs to the very fast rap songs. R-Kelly really had not too much to do with it besides editing it. He's just on the cd so it would sell more.

Great soundtrack to go along with a great movie. Brian McKnight's "Discovery" is one of the best on this CD. Wyclef is a genous, and makes a great inspiring song "New Day" with Kenny G on the sax. Mya has a great song. Last but not least the Isley Brothers do their thing on a great track. The first song on the CD with Xhibit, Juvienlle etc. is great, Juvienlle although not a great rapper does well with this Wyclef produced track. The rest of the songs are worth a listen as well.

I havn't got this cd yet...but i'll buy any cd with Maxwell on it. He is truly inspirational and fortunate is an AMAZING song

Maxwell holds it down, wyclef does his thing with Bono on that track "new day". One of the best songs is clearly "Life" By K-Ci and jojo. In my opinion of course.

The LIFE cd wasn't that interesting to me, but when I heard Kelly Price's "It's Gonna Rain" (I'm not sure what the title is) I was like "Oh my God" this song makes all the difference on this CD. But it's tight!!!

Various Artists - Life: Music Inspired By the Motion Picture (Rock Land, 1999)

Though hardly any of the songs have anything to do with the movie it's named after (maybe because the music is "INSPIRED" by the motion picture as the title suggests), and it's evident that R. Kelly used this as a vehicle to promote his new Rock Land Records, there is still some quality material on here written by Kelly. For instance, the title track really gives K-Ci a chance to shine while JoJo sings background. "Fortunate", also written and produced by Kelly, actually saved Maxwell's career back in 1999. But Kelly Price's "It's Gonna Rain" is actually the best song on the album; it's too bad that it's been overshadowed by "Life" and "Fortunate" in the public's eye. R. Kelly's tunes that he wrote for Brian McKnight, Mya, and Trisha Yearwood are also great, but it's the severely underrated "Speechless" sung by The Isley Brothers that surprised me.

The tunes handled by soundtrack co-producer Wyclef Jean aren't as strong, especially the unnecessary remake of "Lovin' You" by former R. Kelly protégée Sparkle and the weird combination of Xzibit, Nature, Juvenile, Ja Rule, and Reptile (who?) on "25 to Life". City High's "What Would You Do" was so bad that they had to bring it back in 2001 to get some fans, and "Every Which Way" by Talent belies the group's name. But this soundtrack is still worth checking for the R. Kelly-penned tunes. -EJR

Along with Sparkle I've had great pleasure in listening to this album/cd. It is one of the most hiliarious films made and this soundtrack is one in a million. A must have to all