Release Date:
Tuesday, March 14, 2000
Artist:
Various Artists
In an era when soundtracks are used as marketing tools, its refreshing to hear one that goes against the grain. Conspicuously absent from the soundtrack to the latest film by art-house impressario Wim Wenders (The End Of Violence, Buena Vista Social Club) are big-beat blow-offs from Fatboy Slim, same-y alterna-rock snorers from Lit, and insipid covers by Madonna of songs that werent that good to begin with. Instead, U2 frontman Bono and producer Hal Willner put together an atmospheric collage of music that suggests hes more interested in creating a mood than manufacturing a hit. U2 contribute three downbeat new tunes, and Bono lends his versatile pipes to another three, but the stellar cast of musicians assembled here (which includes producers-extraordinaire Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, as well as jazz guitarists Brad Mehldau and Bill Frisell) deserves equal credit for reviving the lost art of the soundtrack.