Customer Reviews

Love Actually

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Craig Armstrong does it again with his magnificent work on the "Love Actually" soundtrack. Sure, there are several excellent songs that have been gathered for this soundtrack,including classics such as "God Only Knows," "Both Sides Now," and Eva Cassiday's excellent cover of McVie's "Songbird." But be careful. There have been at least three releases of the soundtrack. Check the tracks very carefully to make sure you are getting the one you want.

I say this because in my humble opinion, the most important, emotional and soulful moments of this movie were brought home by the wonderful compostions by Craig Armstrong, which appear as a trio ONLY ON THIS PARTICULAR CD, the 2007 European release of the "Love Actually" Soundtrack: "Glasgow Love Theme," "PM (Prime Minister) Love Theme," and the best of the set, "Portuguese Love Theme." Watch out - the US release only included "Glasgow," overlooking most of the (seven or eight?) Armstrong compositions that were so important to the impact of this film.

As a result of hearing these wonderful orchestrations, I went back and ordered Craig Armstrong's "Piano" collection (which also contains "Glasgow"), which is also outstanding.

For some reason, I've found many of the "soundtrack" releases from movies which contain a solid foundation of original work from a talented composer along with a selection of previously released tracks from popular artists, always seem to omit most of the original music written specifically for the movie. As far as I know, this particular import release has as much of the Craig Armstrong music as can be found in any mainstream CD.

It's great! And this UK release of the soundtrack has the three main Craig Armstrong pieces from the movie (including PM's Love Theme and Portuguese Love Theme). The US release only has the Glasgow Love Theme.

This is an excellent cd. I bought this one over the other Love Actually soundtracks because this particular version--the UK version--had all three of the love themes: Glasgow love theme, PM's love theme, and the Portuguese love theme. It also has a great selection of good music by loads of great artists. If you enjoyed the music from the movie at all, you would be very happy to have this cd, and it will be worth the money you spend on it.

I absolutely LOVE this movie and the soundtrack (Special Edition) $39.99 does not disappoint!!!! I especially loved the intro written in the jacket that tells us this compilation was a lot of "accidents" that combined to make one great album. I especially love the 3 C. Armstrong pieces and that you can recall (or at least I can 'cause I've seen the movie about a billion times) each scene that corresponds with each song.

I highly recommend this item!

I enjoyed the movie so much, I had to get the soundtrack. So glad I was able to get it, since it is not available here in the States (thank you, Amazon!).

I wanted the Portuguese Love song track and the two other Craig Armstrong songs, so I am thrilled! Also enjoyed Olivia Olson's "All I want for Christmas." I was disappointed that they took out the Pointer sisters version of Jump and substituted a cover band. Also the "all you need is love" and "Christmas is all around," are studio versions rather than those that appeared in the movie. A bit stilted and lacking some of the extra musicians. But I'm still glad I have the CD so I can put the songs I want on my Zune.

I LOOOOOVE the movie "Love Actually," ESPECIALLY Craig Anderson's score, and this is the only album version that includes any of the orchestral tracks. That being said, I think it is far from perfect. The tracks aren't in chronological order with when they are played in the film (which I know is common with film soundtracks, but it still annoys me). "All You Need Is Love" and "Jump (For My Love)" are not the same versions as in the film, AYNIL is a more subdued and in my opinion kind of boring cover, and Jump is a cover. There are also some tracks that I don't recognize from the film at all and just plain don't like (my least favorite being Wyclef Jean's "Take Me As I Am"). And the whole reason that I bought this version (for the orchestral score pieces) was a letdown--there are only 3 of these tracks, and none of them are that long. It's an okay album and definitely the best version available, but it still leaves a lot to be desired in my opinion.

If you are looking for the original sound track by the original artists, get over it. This is not for you! Quite disappointing.

love this UK release CD- a much more complete collection of tracks from the movie

Has all the songs from the movie including the theme music and Joanna singing all I want for Christmas at the Christmas School Play.