Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil: Music From And Inspired By The Motion Picture [Soundtrack]

k.d. Lang (Artist), Joe Williams (Artist), Paula Cole (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 18, 1997)
• Original Release Date: November 18, 1997
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Warner Bros / Wea
• ASIN: B000002NJF
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (72 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,991 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #24 in Music > Miscellaneous > Comedy > General AAS
  • #26 in Music > Miscellaneous > Comedy > General

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Johnny Mercer meets Clint Eastwood, August 16, 2001

By 

R. Fanning (Grosse Pointe Farms, MI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil: Music From And Inspired By The Motion Picture (Audio CD)

What ever you think about Clint Eastwood's acting or directing, he has great taste when it comes to jazz. On this soundtrack, you'll hear the wonderful lyrics of Savannah's first son of song, Johnny Mercer, performed by gifted musicians. Many of these tunes you won't hear in the movie, which is really too bad. There's only one song on the whole recording that wasn't done especially for the soundtrack, Tony Bennett's "I Wanna Be Around." Highlights include pianist/vocalist Diana Krall on "Midnight Sun", the late Joe Williams on "Too Marvelous For Words", singer Kevin Mahogany on "Laura" and bluegrass violinist/vocalist Alison Krauss on "This Time the Dream's On Me". Great instrumentalists as well with guest appearances by tenor saxophone greats Michael Brecker, Joshua Redman and Ernie Watts, pianist Brad Mehldau, bassists Charlie Haden and Christian McBride, and arrangements by Clint's close friend Lennie Niehaus. You'll be pleasantly surprised by kd lang on "Skylark" and even more surprised by actor Kevin Spacey's singing on "That Old Black Magic". I'm not crazy about daughter Alison Eastwood's Billie Holiday impression on "Come Rain or Come Shine", Paula Cole's "Autumn Leaves" or especially, Clint's singing on "Accentuate the Positive" (though the jazz musicians backing them up are great). But Rosemary Clooney makes you forget their performances with her "Fools Rush In". I only wish that Clint would have had Margaret Whiting sing Johnny Mercer and Jerome Kern's "I'm Old Fashioned". Otherwise, a great recording of music by one of the greatest lyricists of all time.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Too Marvelous For Words"....., August 15, 2005

By 

L. Shirley "Laurie's Boomer Views" (Huntington Beach,CA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil: Music From And Inspired By The Motion Picture (Audio CD)

"Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil: Music From And Inspired By The Motion Picture" CD(Warner Bros/Malpaso)is as the song goes, "Too Marvelous For Words". It's a light, jazzy and romantic tribute to Johnny Mercer and includes 14 fabulous tracks sung by some of the greats.

k.d. lang's strong and beautiful voice opens the album with a touching rendition of "Skylark". Legend Rosemary Clooney treats us to "Fools Rush In(Where Angels Fear To Tread)",The sentimental "Laura" gets a dreamy sound by Kevin Mahogany. Tony Bennett, Diana Krall and, Paula Cole(a gorgeous version on "Autumn Leaves") are also among the fabulous voices to cuddle by the fire with. Clint Eastwood(who directed the film) takes a fun turn at "Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive" and even Kevin Spacey(star of the film) and Allison Eastwood turn in wonderful performances of "That Old Black Magic" and "Come Rain or Come Shine".(See buying info for complete list of songs and artists).

Th CD is a fine quality and sounds wonderful. It's a good length at almost an hour. The 14 tracks run from 2:10 to a beautiful 5:10 for "Dream". Included is a nice booklet, "A Johhny Mercer Songbook". It has the words to the songs, and credits for each track including all the outstanding instruments heard. There are also some nice pix from the film as well.

This is one of those rare soundtracks, that stands on it's own. Whether or not you have seen this film, if you are a Johnny Mercer fan, you will love hearing his works done with the feeling these legendary voices add.

"That old black magic has me in it's spell"
enjoy.....Laurie

also recommended:
Orchestral Album
Con Air: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
No Mercy

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars highly recommended, January 3, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil: Music From And Inspired By The Motion Picture (Audio CD)

This cd is full of great songs. I was really impressed with K Spacey's version of "that old black magic"...what a pro. I have the movie on both dvd and tape (somewhere) as well as the book, but what I revisit more than all of those is this soundtrack. This is a throwback to when songs had depth and soul, as opposed to the slick singles that you hear on the radio these days. Basically, to sum it all up, if you want to own a timeless collection of songs, then buy this cd.

The only reason I don't give it 5 stars is b/c of Eastwood's song.