A Mighty Wind: The Album [ENHANCED] [SOUNDTRACK]

Various Artists (Artist)

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 8, 2003)
• Original Release Date: May 9, 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced, Soundtrack
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00008QS9V
• Also Available in: Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (74 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #36,307 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  Music > Miscellaneous > Comedy > Comedic Music > Comedy Rock

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
As he did with Spinal Tap, Christopher Guest has the uncanny ability to perfectly mock and pay tribute to a music sub-culture. This time around, he spoofs the folk revival scene of the 1960s that spawned the Kingston Trio, Limeliters, and Peter, Paul & Mary with a movie about the reunion concert of fictitious groups Mitch & Mickey, the Folksmen, and the New Main Street Singers. Mitch & Mickey's romance-themed duets sound more earnest than campy, though it's hard not to laugh at the autoharp solo on "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow." The real highlights belong to tracks by the hilarious Folksmen, whose repertoire somehow included a goofy song about the Spanish Civil War ("Skeletons of Quinto"), a harmonizing take on the Stones' "Start Me Up," and a tune seemingly about a train wreck in a coal mine ("Blood on the Coal"). Simply hilarious. --Jason Verlinde

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is an insanely great album!, April 30, 2003

By	Michael Vanier (Pasadena, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This album leaves me speechless. I'm a big fan of the work of Guest, Shearer, McKean, Levy et. al., and I thoroughly enjoyed the movie "A Mighty Wind", of which this is the soundtrack. But the movie wasn't by any means the funniest thing to come out of this very talented group of people (I think "Best in Show" and "Waiting for Guffman" were both better, and "This is Spinal Tap", of course, is legendary). Nevertheless, it was clear from the movie that the folk song parodies were dead on, so I got the soundtrack album. I've just been listening to it for the last two hours; every time I finish it I start playing it again. The songs are THAT GOOD. There are three groups here, with three different personalities. The Folksmen (consisting of the three members of Spinal Tap: McKean, Guest, and Shearer), stick closest to the folk formula. Their songs are very enjoyable both from the humor standpoint (what they do to the Stones' "Start Me Up" will have you rolling on the floor) and also musically. The New Main Street Singers are so unctuously sweet that they'll put you into a diabetic coma; "Potato's in the Paddy Wagon" is their best song. But the real surprise is Mitch and Mickey (Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara). Their four songs are astonishingly beautiful and not played for laughs at all. This is way, way beyond mockumentary good; these two have real talent (songwriting as well as singing), and I wouldn't be at all surprised if this album wins some Grammy awards. I want to hear more songs from them (and from the other groups too). The album ends with the title song, performed by all three groups together, which is also a terrific song (and has a nice joke at the end, if you can catch it). This is spectacular work -- it might just bring folk music back into style. Way to go, guys!

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A silly, setimental sendup as well as a top notch folk album, May 11, 2003

By	"zero_tolerance" (Vancouver, BC) - See all my reviews

I've loved the work of Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy's mockumentary style over all three of their movies. A Mighty Wind is the most sweet, sentimental and musical movie of the three. Waiting for Guffman and Best In Show are of course the other two. I was very pleased with the movie, as it is a tad darker and the plot is bit more serious. The music throughout the movie is outstanding and gives us a deeper glimpse into the wellspring of talent this unique ensemble cast is capable of offering.

Now to the album. I saw the film and was immediatly taken by the great songwriting and remarkable performances of the cast. All the principles sing and play their instruments. No overdubs or studio standins. It is expected that Spinal Tap aka The Folksmen are no strangers to music and their renditions of "Never Did No Wanderin" and "Blood on the Coal" are true to the folk roots and hit home with a tongue in cheek authenticity. The New Mainstreet Singers are a saccharine sweet parody of the New Christy Minstrels and the Rooftop Singers. They perform goofy over the top campfire singalongs like "The Good Book Song" and "Potato's in the Paddywagon" with great hooks and harmonies. However, Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara steal the show and the album with some truly beautiful and touching duets. As the long estranged former husband and wife team of Mitch and Mickey, they convey catchy and genre perfect interpretions of the coffee house style like "When Your Next To Me" and "The Ballad of Bobby and June" and are taken right from the pages of the best duos of the 60's. The absolute highlight is the wonderful and affectionate "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow" It is arguably the films climactic moment as well as a true folk song for the ages. I can't overstate the quality of the performances of Levy and O'Hara. I demand a Mitch and Mickey album. This soundtrack is a gem.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's a P-A-R-O-D-Y!, and a loving tribute, April 21, 2003

By	Robin Currier - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Saw the movie this weekend, and I must say it's one of the funniest movies I've seen in recent years. Those who listened to this CD without paying attention to the words can be forgiven for not getting that the songs are parodies, because the style and music are perfectly in tune with folk music from the 60s. That's what makes this movie work so well. The people involved in making it obviously have affection and respect for the folk music of that time, and it shows in this gentle, yet VERY funny send up. Taken superficially, the music is very well done and very authentic. Yet, if you actually listen to the words, the movie makers are slyly poking fun at the genre.

Take the lyrics of the Folksmen's (led by Harry Shearer) big hit, "Old Joe's Place":

Well, there's a puppy in the parlor
And a skillet on the stove
And a smelly old blanket
that a Navajo wove
...
There's sausage in the morning
And a party every night
There's a nurse on duty
If you don't feel right

And, of course, since the neon sign at the diner is always broken, the chorus says:

"So if you've got a hankerin, I'll tell you where to go.
Just look for the busted neon sign that flashes 'Ea-a-oe's'."

The CD has bonus tracks that weren't in the movie (among them, a funny Folksmen version of a Stones classic "Start Me Up") and if you put it in your computer, you can see a music video of Mitch and Mickey's "When You're Standing Next to Me" that sounds like the version that plays over the end credits of the movie.

As an interesting note, this bogus folk group, The Folksmen, actually performs, and in an ironic twist, once opened for Harry Shearer's OTHER parody music group, the heavy metal band Spinal Tap (containing the very same people), but were booed off the stage by fans who thought they were real and who wanted Spinal Tap. As Harry Shearer puts it "We were booed off the stage in favor of...OURSELVES!"