Customer Reviews

Songcatcher: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture

5 star:		(57)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

It's always disappointing--jolting, really--when you buy the soundtrack to something and find that it bears no resemblance to what you loved in the film. The most glaring example I can think of is the "When Harry Met Sally" soundtrack, which in the theatres featured gorgeous standards rendered by people like Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong--but on the CD, has Harry Connick, Jr. singing the same tunes. I like Harry Connick, Jr., but he's not the reason I wanted the "Harry Met Sally" soundtrack.

Such is the case with "Songcatcher," which had lots of great songs sung by the actors in the movie--Emmy Rossum, Pat Carroll, Iris Dement, and more. What you have on the CD is a grouping of some of the same songs, all performed by greater-known lights of country and bluegrass music--people like Rosanne Cash, Emmylou Harris, and Dolly Parton. I'm not complaining--they do a super job, and they know this kind of music, so their renditions are heartfelt and gorgeous to listen to. It's just not the same as the music in the film, so it's a little disconcerting.

Iris Dement's upright rendition of "Pretty Saro," on which her wiry, plaintive voice is accompanied only by a fiddle, is particularly fine and just as she sang it in the film. And newcomer Emmy Rossum's warm and vigorous version of the quietly horrifying "Barbara Allen" is gorgeous, but it is just one verse leading into Emmylou Harris doing the same song. Frankly, I prefer Emmy Rossum's less prettified version and wish they'd kept it instead of having it segue into Harris. Rossum was in her early teens when she recorded this, but she has a vocal maturity that leaves you wanting more.

Patty Loveless on "Sounds of Loneliness" is a revelation, giving full throat to her mountain-music voice. She soars effortlessly on the upper range and does full, dark justice to the lower register. It's worth listening to over and over again. Maria McKee's quiet and intense version of "Wayfaring Stranger" almost makes you hold your breath as you listen--it's that compelling. One I'd never heard before, "Mary of the Wild Moor," is performed by Sara Evans, whose pristine voice stands in stark contrast to the frightening tale she describes.

Perhaps one of the best things on the album is actress Pat Carroll's witty, humorous take on "Single Girl," in which she details all the things better about being single than married--particularly fitting when you consider that she plays a mountain woman who'd had eight or nine children. There's lots of gold to mine here, once you get past the idea that what you hear here is not at all the same as what you heard in the film.

Like another of the above reviewers, I left the theater after seeing this stunningly moving film and drove directly to the music store to buy the soundtrack CD. I was hoping that the music featured in the film would be presented as it was in the movie, maybe even with extended versions of some of the shorter selections included (as was done on the O Brother soudtrack). It is an understatement to say that I was extremely let down!
The music on this CD is disappointing on two levels. The theme of the movie is that a professor of folklore and traditional music travels from Britain to Appalachia to search out and record the regional music of the area, much of which was brought over from the British Isles, and which because of the relative isolation of the area has been preserved in a condition closer to its "roots" than the music being "collected" in Britain. The professor begins collecting the tunes in a very academic/scientific manner, and she ends up completely captivated by the stark beauty of the music and the soul of the local people. Over the course of the movie she falls in love with the music for its own sake, rather than for any academic value it might have, and she becomes dedicated to trying to preserve and promote the music in its natural state, and to prevent its exploitation.
The music on this CD (except for a few "token" tracks and snippets) is mostly commercial, Nashville-influenced music, recorded in a manner that in no way reflects the spirit of the movie. I am an amateur old-time musician (I have actually played with several of the musicians featured in the movie at old-time music workshops in North Carolina), and I can tell you that any resemblance between the commercial country music recorded on this CD and the traditional music featured in the movie is in name only. I am afraid that either the artists featured on the CD are too far removed from their traditional-music roots, or that any of the original soul of the music is effectively removed by the commercial recording formula.
This CD also disappoints on a second level, in that if you take it purely as a compilation of traditional tunes by contemporary artists, it is not really very satisfying. (It reminds me of all the obligatory Christmas albums halfheartedly recorded bt just about every pop and country artist over the last 15 years.) I get the feeling that the CD was put together just so that there would be a "soundtrack" album available, mainly for those interested in collecting soudtracks, and that those responsible for the recording felt that the music actually included in the film just wouldn't "sell".
If you are one of the folks who, like me, were totally captivated by the music in this movie and its performance by the actors, you will be sorely disappointed by this CD. Don't buy it!

This CD, part movie soundtrack, part separate compilation is a wonderful introduction to the early rural roots of American country music before it went suburban and became watered down Muzak al la Faith Hill and Shania Twain. Like the soundtrack to the movie "O Brother, Where Art Thou," it recalls a time when music was enjoyed for its own sake, and not solely drive by spreadsheets and profit margins.

But "Songcatcher" actually predates "O Brother" in that the songs that are here are either hundreds of years old ("Fair and Tender Maidens," "Pretty Saro," "Barbara Allen," "Wind and Rain," etc.) or originals heavily influenced by the style the movie and this CD seek to pay homage to ("When Love is New," "All My Tears," etc). These are the old ballads that were sung in rural England in the 16th and 17th centuries and brought over with the English settlers when they settled the southern Appalachians. By the early 20th century, when the movie is set, these ballads had mostly died out in England and in urban American, but survived in the mountains. Folklorists, such as Cecil Sharp and Olive Dame Campbell (among others) helped to see that these ballads were preserved thought their efforts of collecting them. Their efforts helped to inspire the movie "Songcatcher."

These old ballads are part of the roots of American country music. The mountain ballads eventually mixed with other genres to form bluegrass and bluegrass, of course, is a significant sub-genre of country music. At a time when Nashville has sold its soul to the highest bidder, the success of the "O Brother" soundtrack is most welcome, and the efforts of "Songcatcher," both the film and this wonderful CD, are helping to remind people just where that music came from.

Songcatcher may lack the exuberance of the O Brother, Where Are Thou? soundtrack, but it is still awfully good, with one sublime performance after another. The songs are mostly traditional, and the rest could as well be. They range in style from some that sound almost like field recordings (e.g., Iris DeMent's "Pretty Saro") to others set inside tastefully spare but distinctly modern arrangements (Emmylou Harris's "Barbara Allen"). Some are sung by performers whom one would never have expected to take on folk material (Rosanne Cash, Allison Moorer, Deana Carter), while other artists are at-ease veterans of the genre (Dolly Parton, Gillian Welch, Harris, Hazel Dickens). Whatever their backgrounds, all manage to turn in loving, assured readings. Carter, however, gets a little too close to the original, so faithful to her model, the influential Clarence Ashley variant of "The Cuckoo Bird," that -- just as Ashley's slipped tongue had it -- the bird "wobbles" (as opposed to "warbles") as she flies. The one overlap with O Brother is "Conversation with Death," called "O Death" in Ralph Stanley's version on the other disc. Amazingly, this version holds its own against Stanley's memorably eerie rendition. Like O Brother, Songcatcher gives old music new life, and we are all the better for it.

Whether or not this album is a "soundtrack" to a movie, or a compilation that stands on its own is really beside the point. Regardless of which category it falls into it deserves to be reviewed for what is here, and what is here is very, very enjoyable.

If you have any interest in American roots music, this disc is for your regardless of whether or not you have seen the film. Some of the finest women recording artists today are featured here -- Roseanne Cash, Iris DeMent, Gillian Welch, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, among many others, and they all have recorded songs that have either been steeped in traditional American music for hundreds of years, or songs that were highly influenced by them. While one can justifiably gripe that Emma Rossum's version of the old ballad "Barbara Allen" is way too short (although it is no shorter than the version in the movie) one can also rejoice that a major talent has been "discovered" here. If there is any justice someone will come up with a batch of wonderful traditional songs, give them to Rossum, take her to a recording studio and release the results to the public.

But for me, as others have mentioned, the real highlight here is the remarkable version of the old ballad "Pretty Saro," as sung by Iris DeMent. Accompanied only by a fiddle, DeMent's mournful voice creates an exquisite piece that is not to be missed by her fans, or by any and all admirers of American roots music.

I saw the film "Songcatcher" and loved it. So, I went ahead and bought the cd. I should have realized that a cd that says that it contains music from and inspired by the motion picture would be a cop-out. Instead of plenty of that old-timey mountain music found in the movie, the producers of this cd decided to be more homogenous about the album. The result is an album that barely gives the listener a taste of the music that made the film so popular, leaving the listener who has seen the film somewhat unsatisfied. The cd, while highly enjoyable, is neither fish nor fowl.

Instead, the producers opted to infuse the cd with a more mainstream sound to ensure greater commercial success. It is too bad that the producers lacked the courage to make an album that capitalized on the public nerve that the music in the film touched. The signature folk song in the film that began the song catching quest, "Barbara Allen", sung by the enormously talented Emmy Rossum, is a scant forty three seconds long on the cd, while the more commercial Emmylou Harris version is 4:33 seconds long. While I love Emmylou Harris, why not have Emmy Rossum, a glorious, new, talent sing a longer version, as well?

Iris Dement is terrific, as she was in the film, singing "Pretty Saro", as is Pat Carroll, singing"Single Girl". These two singers capture the raw vitality of the film and its old-timey mountain music, as does Emmy Rossum when singing "Barbara Allen". The same goes for Hazel Dickens, David Patrick Kelly, and Bobby McMillan when singing "Conversations with Death". Simple is sometimes better, a concept that the producers of this cd chose to forget.

"Sounds of Loneliness" by Patty Loveless has the old-timey mountain feel, even though its arrangement is purely commercial. The same goes for "All My Tears" by Julie Miller and "Wayfaring Stranger" by Maria McKee. I really enjoyed the different, mournful interpretation of "Moonshiner" by Alison Moorer. " With her rich, fulsome voice, she breaths new life into this oldie but goodie. The Wind and Rain", sung acapella by Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, and David Steele, is an interesting blend of harmonies.

Fans of both Dolly Parton and Emmy Rossum will enjoy their duet "When Love is New". Emmy Rossum has a little of the young Dolly Parton in terms of the timbre of her voice. Together, they are as wonderful as they each are individually.

"Fair and Tender Ladies", as sung by Roseanne Cash, is a pretty, pleasant ditty, overlaid with its strictly commercial arrangement and mainstream sound, as is "Barbara Allen" sung by Emmylou Harris. I enjoyed them both, though neither song sung by each has much raw power. The same goes for "Mary of the Wild Moor", as sung by Sara Evans. "The Cuckoo Bird", sung by Deana Carter, would have been better left unsung and off the cd. It adds nothing, musically or vocally.

"Score Suite #1" and "Score Suite #2" by David Mansfield, while pretty orchestral instrumentals, strike a discordant note in this cd. Since this cd was never really about the film anyway, why interject the score? It makes no sense, whatsoever.

Still, while I was disappointed by the mistaken direction producers took with this recording, it is still quite enjoyable due to the talent found within its tracks.

I typically cringe when I see the words "Music from and inspired by..." on a movie "soundtrack." In this case, it was more like a rolling of the eyes. The best movie soundtracks let the listener take a bit of the experience of watching the movie home with him/her.

There is no doubt that the songs on this album were performed by talented and well-regarded artists; I, for one, was glad to see the return of Maria McKee, who hasn't released any new material in several years.

The CD contains a few tracks as performed in the movie, but it also contains tracks that are renditions of songs from the movie performed by modern country artists in a style that is too far removed from the original source. I enjoyed many of the songs on the album, but it was those that appeared in the movie that made the album most enjoyable for me.

The success of the "O Brother, Where art Thou?" soundtrack, which sold excellently despite almost no radio play, proved that the audience at large can enjoy listening to the "old stuff". I can only conclude that the producers of the "Songcatcher" CD decided to go the easy route of catering to the modern country crowd.

So, I give the CD three stars for the fact that the album is a fairly decent collection of old and new, but as a soundtrack, it just doesn't complement the film.

It seems that an awful lot of people are reviewing this album for what it isn't rather than for what it is. What it isn't, is the standard movie soundtrack. Some of the songs featured in the film are indeed missing (although they are generally songs that were only sung for a few seconds) and many of the songs on this disc were not in the film at all. So if you are looking for the standard soundtrack you need to be aware that this is not what you are getting here.

But if you like the type of music that was featured in the movie, this disc is very much for you. The forty-three seconds of "Barbara Allen" that one reviewer complained about is the same forty-three seconds that was featured in the film, so it seems a bit odd to complain that this disc is different from the film, and then gripe about a song that is identical to the movie. It is a magnificent forty-three seconds and granted letting Emmy Rossum record a full version would have been most welcome.

Aside from a pair of tracks that are taken from the films score, the rest of the songs are traditional folk ballads, or originals inspired by the genre, sung by a virtual who's who of the folk world. The real star here is Iris DeMent who's take on "Pretty Saro" is nothing short of astonishing. It alone is worth the price of the CD (and of a box-office ticket)

Other highlights include a lovely duet between Rossum and Dolly Parton on a song called "When Love Is New" (fans of Parton's recent "Little Sparrow" CD take note -- this song would fit right at home on it), Roseanne Cash's "Fair and Tender Maidens," Julie Miller's new, acoustic version of "All My Tears," Hazel Dickins, David Patrick Kelly, and Bobby McMillon's "Conversation With Death," and Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, and David Steele's chilling take on the traditional "Wind and Rain." Some of these songs are in the movie, some are not. So what? They are all on this disc and they are part of the reason it is such a wonderful one.

I rather generously gave this CD 2 stars due to the talents of the best in the genre. My argument is that the sountrack is somewhat between pseudo-authentic and slick Nashville. I do not believe that the majority of the soundtrack was consistent with the tenor of the film. There is a plethora of music available that is good old-timey or slick made to sell. This seemed like a hodgepodge thrown together because some people believe that a soundtrack must accompany a movie. I realize that tracks containing cylinder recordings of authentic British Isles music would be a hard sell. I think the CD should be entitled "Contemporary Adaptations of Original Folksongs". At least that would be more honest. After viewing the film, my expectations of the CD were not realized.

I was very disappointed that this CD did not use the artists and style of the movie. The Corporate "suits" evidently decided that the raw and exhilirating style of REAL mountain music was not suitable for current tastes. The result -- songs from and inspired by -- is a modern country mutilation of old mountain music. Over instrumented and sung in the modern style, most of the tracks are "Hillbilly Swing". The only tracks that really "grabbed" me were PRETTY SARO, Iris Dement; BARBARA ALLEN, Emmy Rossum (43 seconds long!); WIND AND RAIN, Gillian Welch-David Rawlings-David Steele; CONVERSATION WITH DEATH, Hazel Dickens-David Patrick Kelly-Bobby McMillan; and SINGLE GIRL, Pat Carrol. Twelve minutes out of about sixty gives the real traditional sounds short shrift. The CD is not unpleasant to listen to, but most of its style is just like a thousand other modern country albums. If you're looking for old-timey mountain music, skip this CD unless you're willing to pay full price for one-fifth mountain music.