(Epic)
Tom Hanks is seemingly a jack-of-all-trades. Actor and now producer of the hit film That Thing You Do, Hanks has also helped co-write part of the soundtrack for his foray into the world of production and the fictitious accounting of a 60's wonder group, the Wonders.
Since That Thing You Do *is* a soundtrack, not all of the songs are attributed to the Wonders. Rather, the soundtrack traces the history of the "Play-Tone" label, and the liner notes associated with the compilation have the look (and feel) of many "authentic" 1960's albums.
The title track (which appears here in its "original" form and its "live" form, the latter reminiscent of Beatles-mania) is starting to generate airplay today, in 1996. Penned by Fountains of Wayne member Adam Schlesinger, "That Thing You Do" is candy-sweet bubblegum pop with a playful chorus. Mike Viola (the real singer, from the Candy Butchers) sounds like Buddy Holly crossed with a bit of the Brit-pop invasion.
Unfortunately, the remainder of the album runs true to the course of their fictionalized biography - good enough for record, but nothing ever approaching the success of *that* hit single. The Hanks-penned "Loving You Lots and Lots" feels like a Kingston Trio song, and nearly all the other songs echo from the 1960's. The other Wonders songs sound resonate with the Merseybeat sound of Gerry & the Pacemakers and Herman's Hermits, "Hold My Hand, Hold My Heart" recalls girl groups of the 60's, Darlene Love, Phil Spector and the Wall of Sound; the "Theme From Mr. Downtown" is a knockoff of Duane Eddy meets the James Bond spy series sound and the instrumental "Voyage Around The Moon" and "Drive Faster" remind one of leftover demos from Dick Dale or the Beach Boys.
Ironically then, the strongest point for the soundtrack of That Thing You Do is also its weakest point - tracing the history of the band that couldn't shake that big hit single, and their many failures. Some of the songs "could" have been hits in the 1960's, but with the exception of the title track, wouldn't be regular songs on the golden oldies stations today. Recommended to people who walked out of the movie with a smile on their face, or long for the days of the early-mid 1960's.
