Customer Reviews

U Turn: Music From The Motion Picture

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

 

 

I'll try to improve on the crappy review I wrote over 3 and a half years ago. But I'll repeat what I said originally. The first 10 tracks of the CD are country songs from the likes of Pasty Cline (how come she don't put out no more records?) and Johnny Cash. Even if you are not a fan of such music they are easy going and don't get on your nerves. With the exception of 'More and More' by Webb Pierce.

Morricone's score is very weird indeed. Tracks like Grace (and the reprise), U-Turn, Dialogue with the Indian and A Banjo in the Desert really help set the mood for the zillion degrees location of the movie. These tracks almost make you see heatwaves.

The tracks Against and Hallucination Walk use screeching violins to scary and menacing effect. While tracks like Go on...kill Grace, End of Sheriff and Fall and Rise seem sarcastic and crackpot with a touch of nervous tension.

But the standout track is definitely Old Family Souvenirs. This music is haunting and creepy. A woman's voice humming sad sounding tune. I said before that I would describe this track as being 'tragically erotic'. And I stick by that, you can deny that description when the violin comes in halfway through for the most tear-jerking solo ever. I mean this music is worth the purchase of the CD on it's own. And I would go as far as saying that it is even better than Ennio Morricone's own theme for 'The Mission'.

Buying this CD is a wise move. It's a classic. No doubt.

The songs featured on the CD are amiable enough but Morricones score is n absolute belter. Track 20 (Old Family Souvenirs) is tragically erotic and tracks 21 and 22 are bizzare. Like the rest of the score, but very listenable and coherent.

This CD starts with a rather nice mix of 10 songs. Mainly country songs, some old jazz songs and a mexican song. My favorites are the two jazzy songs "It's a good day" and "Speaking of happiness".

Being a fan of Morricone, his score is the reason I bought this CD in the first place, so I'll concentrate my review on his 42 minute contribution. This is one of the examples of a score which works absolutely terrific in the movie, but is less interesting on CD. At times the score is either erotic, hypnotic, paranoid, dark or just plain silly. It makes your adrenaline pump, makes you sad and even makes you laugh. It has two absolutely wonderful cues; the main title called "U-turn" plus the track "Old family souvenirs", which I personally believe is two of the best film score cues from 1997. They are both melancholic and sad, especially the latter of these, which has the Morricone trademark; Edda Dell'Orso as wordless soprano. The score could have been incredible had these two cues worked as themes and provided the basis for the entire score, but considering the movie, there really was no place to do so. The rest of the score is rather interesting, but sadly more interesting than listenable. Morricone is very original in this score(as he always is), and use a very untraditional mix of instruments. Acoustic and electric guitars, a harmonica, panpipes, a banjo, a jew's harp and wordless soprano. I recommend buying this CD, especially for the two wonderful cues mentioned above. If you are prepared on the fact that it's not all melodic and listenable music, I don't think you will be disappointed.

After seeing the movie, I was very impressed with the music, both the songs and the Ennio Morricone score. When I saw the soundtrack for sale, I knew I had to have it. Upon listening to the score I was disappointed to learn that almost all of my favorite music cues from the film were not included on the CD! Some of the music absent from the CD: Almost all of the cues underscoring the scenes with Darrell the mechanic, the scene where the Russian is chasing Sean Penn through town, and the Spanish music when Sean is walking out of the bus station with his bus ticket. I can only think that they excluded these cues because of their short duration.? Much of the score music that is included on the CD goes on way too long, and gets a bit boring. It seems like they only included the longer, more listener-friendly music cues on the soundtrack, which is a mystery to me. What do people have against a soundtrack with short music tracks? That being said, I do think it is a worthwhile buy for those who enjoyed the film, and there is plenty of good music on it. I can only hope they will one day release a more comprehensive version...

If you were spooked out by this creepy movie, I wouldn't recommend the CD. There are only a couple good songs on the soundtrack; the rest just poke along and remind me too much of the miserable scenes of the movie- especially the original score by Ennio Morricone.