Customer Reviews

Only You: Music From The Motion Picture

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

 

 

Simply put, ONLY YOU is a cute little romantic comedy. It has a good cast who work wonderfully together and a fun story. However, Rachel Portman's score pushes this simple film to the next level. With her music, she captures the core essence of the characters, story, situations, etc. and pulls more out of them than could be expected usually. Also, the collection of pop and classical favourites all work as well. Although it would be nice to get all of the score uninterrupted, these selections do a good job of effectively complementing the main attraction of this soundtrack, Ms. Portman's score.

After a turn by the inimitable Louis Armstrong singing the title track, the magical and dreamy texture of the short track "Written in the Stars" immediately tells the listener what to expect from the film, although it is out of order from where it is heard in the film. The shortness of the track is an intoxicating invitation to listen to more. This is followed by Ezio Pinza's rendition of "Some Enchanted Evening," which itself is followed by the delightful "I'm Coming With You" which accompanies Faith's dash to the airport. After "O Sole Mio" and Verdi's "Libiamo Ne' Lieti Caliei" from his opera LA TRAVIATA, the alternating of the score and song ends, and Ms. Portman's score takes the spotlight. Without the distractions of the songs, it is easy to get lost in her soundscapes. The consistency of quality which is heard makes Ms. Portman's considerable talents obvious.

One of the strongest examples of Ms. Portman's music is the incredible ONLY YOU theme itself. I associate this theme principally with Marisa Tomei's character, Faith. This lush and beautiful music perfectly encapsulates all of the elements of Faith's personality. With each statement of this music, it gets more elaborate and unrestrained. The first time this theme is heard on the soundtrack is in the track "Venice." The flute solo gives an enchanting yet understated version of the theme. By the time "Theme from 'Only You'" is heard, the music is exuberant and allowed to run free.

Although the soundtrack is for the most part a great success, I have two main complaints. First and foremost, although a generous amount of Ms. Portman's music is present, why wasn't all of it included? The album is only about 45 minutes long, so it couldn't be due to limited space. There are many aspects of her complete score which are missing from this soundtrack. This is very frustrating.

The second complaint is the inclusion of Michael Bolton's horrid "Once In A Lifetime (From 'Only You')." Its triteness as a song is totally out of place with the great pop and classical standards which have come before it on the album. Also, Mr. Bolton has a "singing" style which sounds as if he's being put under extreme torture, which only exacerbates the torture he heaps on the listener. It is only because of Mr. Bolton's presence on the album that it took me FIVE times to get the courage to buy this soundtrack. Luckily, I was able to overcome this gross shortcoming to enjoy the greatness of the rest of the album. In fact, his appearance here only augments the greatness of the rest, so don't let him scare you away from what is otherwise an excellent soundtrack.

I bought the CD and DVD together. I watched the movie first and then listened to the CD. The CD is far better than the background music in the movie. The pieces are played in their entirety, unlike the movie.
I've only had the CD for a short while and have listened to it at least five times. The music is beautiful. One of my favourites is 'Written in the Stars' which from first hearing spoke to my heart. It's followed by 'Some Enchanted Evening' which fitted superbly into the mood already set.
I'm a Rachel Portman fan and from time-to-time I hear a similarity to the music from Chocolat which I also have and love.
This is a gentle and moving selection of music and one I know I will be listening to over and over again.

I got this due to the beautiful theme song to use in our daughter's wedding. The music is extremely moving and beautiful - perfect for a wedding. Overall, nice music to listen to!

This cd meets our expectations. We really liked the music in this movie, hence the reason to order the cd. It is very nice to listen to, a great compilation of tunes.

I ordered this through Amazon after a friend's recommendation. I've loved Rachel Portman's other scores (such as THE ROAD TO WELLVILLE) but the themes in ONLY YOU are brilliant. The album is marred only by the final cut, a bellowing Michael Bolton song.

Two songs which have not been included in the soundtack are Amore Contro and Senza Perdici di Vista both by Eros Ramazzotti.

Yes, the movie had a great score, and when you hear it on CD, it takes you back to when you watched the film. However, I found the music by Italian singer Eros Ramazotti to be unfortunately omitted from the soundtrack. I believe he had 2 or 3 songs in the film. If anyone knows the names of these songs, please let me know.

Buy this cd for Michael Bolton's "Once In A Lifetime", a wonderful romantic song!

I like the songs you have playing so far, but it would be nice to hear all of them. It would be nice if you can buy the soundtrack on a tape cassette.