Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Moody, lovely, sensual music, March 13, 2004
This is an incredibly beautiful CD. From the opening notes of the first track, a mood is set by the wonderful Mark Isham. It is dark, sexy and haunting by turn. And it is a CD you'll want to listen to over and over. There are some great performances by noteable singers - Bobby Caldwell is outstanding with "Luck Be A Lady" - Diana Krall is exactly what you would expect singing "I'll String Along With You". I had a little trouble with Tierney Sutton singing "My Funny Valentine" - she has a kind of lock-jawed approach to singing it - when I saw the movie it worked in the scene with the mood, but as something to listen to by itself, I don't like it. A completely unexpected thrill was an unknown (to me) singer named Rebecca Kyler Downs, singing a song that I thought I knew - "Candy" - but it turned out to be this great original tune that she wrote. Not only is it a great song, styled as a classic tune, the lyrics are very, very hip, very cool, very sexy. And her performance is fabulous. Very hot, very languid, filled with angst, but also a touch of humor. I googled her and it turns out she has her own CD out and the song is on it and it is called "Love Me Like Candy" - I don't know why the title was changed for this CD, because "Love Me Like Candy" is a great title - and a great song. So I am her new fan. I listened to some of the other tracks (on her CD) and she is a great singer and a great songwriter, so kudos to Mark Isham for putting her on the CD. And for including Joey Fatone who was surprisingly good - really great in fact. I didn't like the wimpy Sinatra wanna be Nick D'Elgidio, or whatever his name is, nor do I understand why they bothered to stick Paul Sorvino's track on the CD , but Mark Isham's scor more than made up for these momentary lapses in judgement. Overall the CD is great - and great to play if you're trying to set a mood
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Rippling, Outstanding Stand-Alone Release, Yet True to the Film, April 30, 2006
I reviewed the Ocean's Eleven soundtrack a year or so ago, and didn't like it. From another albeit differently-themed Vegas film, they started with a great mix of the old and the new, original music and well-chosen standards, which went great together in the film. But Hollywood cheek got the best of them, and they mixed in a gratuitous amount of film dialog, and released a junk CD. On this outstanding CD the film and soundtrack producers got it right. You can tell they're music lovers, as they left the music alone, and their soundtrack CD swells, pulses and croons just right, evoking clear memories of the film as well as personal visions and scenes from the music alone. I congratulate and thank them for this wonderful release, one that stands on its own, and one you'll enjoy whether you've seen the film or not.
Like the film, which I liked very much, there is a lot going on here. On the front and back ends, and almost alternating through the CD is the outstanding Mark Isham original score, highly evocative of the film, but also serving as some fascinating aural counterpoints to the well-chosen covers. You've got boss, big-band horns blowing a fat, deep Vegas A-lounger sound, as well as subtle harp flourishes hinting at the hidden and magical movements taking place out of sight and sense.
The recording opens with The Cooler theme, highly reminiscent of the ethereal opening bars of John Barry's Body Heat theme. The tune matures rapidly, becoming a bittersweet yet ultimately triumphant love theme, and then the big band struts in with a full, wonderfully arranged sound, telling us the power and the depth of the story to come.
Smartly, the producers have kept Isham's music in more or less film-chronological order, so what comes next is the sad theme of cooler's life and circumstances. There's a shift to a Shaft-like pump, and then cools back down for the bump finale. This is not mere soundtrack fill, but a fully developed song, as are all of the Isham pieces.
Track 3 gives us the first non-Isham piece, a sweetly drippy crooning of "Candy," at once a winking, slinky burlesque shuffle and a mewling come-on from a woman in deep need. It's the over-the-top sensuality and blatant tease of Marilyn Monroe, ratcheted up one notch more, and it's fantastic. Both in music and lyrics, it's a great tune, and by the final chorus I'm physically warmer, yeah.
Paul Sorvino follows with a cover of "You're Getting to be a Habit With Me." It's a great choice for the vocal, someone who knows the song and how to sing it, but doesn't lay down the velvet-smooth you'd expect. It's another good tune that sets the uneasy swing of the entire release.
An absolute given for the film and this CD is "Luck Be a Lady Tonight." A Sinatra or Bennett cover would have been predictable and properly reverent, but the choice to steer clear is the much better one. Like the Sorvino vocal on track 3, the Vegas delivery is spot-on. Best is the boss arrangement of the big band, lots of horns, both smooth in the verses and rocking and punchy in the coda, swinging all the way through. This is a great cover.
This pumping track is followed by the Isham original, "Amateurs." This is a haunting tune, highly evocative. I found it highly reminiscent of the very subtle, brilliant Sneakers theme by Winston Marsalis. And the pendulum swings back again with the following "Can I Steal A Little Love." The horns are a bit too much here, punching up the sugary lyrics a bit too hard. Again, the vocal is soft, understated, not a stereotypical Vegas lounge delivery, but youthful and resilient.
Isham's "Look In My Eyes" follows, another track that I found to be deep, ethereal, and highly evocative. The Cooler theme slides in effortlessly as a counterpoint.
Diana Krall's cover of "I'll String Along With You" here just didn't work for me. If anything, it's the tempo; this song doesn't need to be upbeat, but this cover was just too slow. The Isham piece "Heartbroken" is a perfect follow-up to the Krall cover, also very slow, and sad.
It's a traditional arrangement, but "My Funny Valentine" didn't work for me here either. (Tierney Sutton sure can sure sing, though, I'll give her that.) It's so slow that it comes off like a dirge, and despite Sutton's vocal strength it loses its musical way. It's a soulful ballad, and Sutton does it very well, but the pace is so slow that the lyrics and melody both lose their punch.
Of course, tracks 9, 10, 11, and 12 come at the nadir of the film, the fall and the depths of despair, what appears to be betrayal and loss. Each of these brings this feeling home, and together they form a powerful portion of the soundtrack itself. Then you're immediately brought out of it by the swinging opening bars of "Almost Like Being in Love," and it's clear things are working out, and there is light at the end of the tunnel.
The CD concludes with a very deliberately paced "Leaving Las Vegas" with the Cooler theme drifting in to punctuate it. It's the sound of emergence and transcendence, of imagined opportunity and undefined adventure, tinged with just a little bit of uncertainty.
Bottom line: If you enjoyed the film, this CD is for you. If the soundtrack caught your attention in the film, this CD will fulfill all of your expectations, and then some. It is an outstanding collection of the music used in the film. It also works as a stand-alone release of evocative instrumentals mixed with wonderfully unexpected yet full-throated Vegas lounge covers. But, if you're looking for hot Vegas lounge covers a la Dino, Bennett, and Sinatra, this probably isn't the right choice.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Can I steal a little love?, December 28, 2003
I saw "The Cooler" the weekend before Christmas and I just absolutely loved the film. The actors were all brilliant in the film. What really made the film for me was the music. Mark Isham's film score for the movie ranks as one of the best film scores that I have heard in a long time. The music fit perfectly with the mood of the film whatever the main characters of the film were up to. I hate to admit this considering how much I loathe NYSNC's music (let alone 99% of pop music today) but I couldn't help but fall in love with Joey Fatone's "Can I Steal a Little Love". It is so over the top cheesy, very Las Vegas, very Wayne Newton or Tony Orlando sort of cheese. Joey makes a cameo appearance in the film as a cheesy Las Vegas act ala Wayne Newton and sings the song. It is very infectious and irresistably catchy. The goofy little love song breaks up the serious mood of Mark Isham's original songs "Amateurs" and "Look in My Eyes". I also adore Bobby Caldwell's "Luck Be a Lady". It is a fun catchy little song. I am not exactly a Diana Krall fan but she sounds absolutely sexy on "I'll String Along With You". Even the Paul Sorvino song "You're Getting to be a Habit With Me" is immensely enjoyable to listen to, and anyone who has seen the film will see the irony of the song he sings in the film and his backstage 'hobby'. I thank the heavens that I found a copy of "The Cooler" today in the used bins in the soundtracks section of my favorite record store ... "The Cooler" has to be the soundtrack of the year for me.
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