REVIEW: Soundtrack, Clay Pigeons (Universal)
- Lang Whitaker
Slap the dog and spit on the fire. The soundtrack for the new country-fried Vince Vaughn and Joaquin Phoenix flick "Clay Pigeons," assembles a collection of folk & country authentic enough to knock out your two front teeth and put your cars up on blocks in your yard.
Playing country-alt-rock isn't the most technically challenging task in the world. What is difficult is endowing the music with a sense of the artist's personal pain and tragedy. For instance, when you listen to old Hank Williams stuff, you know the poor guy's heart is made up of sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground.
The Old 97's kick off Clay Pigeons with a driving version of "Timebomb" that will leave tobacco juice on your boots. Jimmy Wakely's "Moon Over Montana" is a cowboy ballad, narrating a beautiful scene over the wild, wild west. Wakely mixes a poignant oboe with a theremin to create a Western vista populated by technology junkies. Tonic's twangy take on "Everybody's Talkin'" tries really hard to be country, but it sounds just off the mark, like how Sheryl Crow tries to reinvent herself but never quite succeeds. The Verve Pipe don't even try to act like they're a country band, instead relying on the inclusion of an acoustic guitar to flash their message on their song "1229 Sheffield." Strangely enough, it sounds more authentic than the Tonic track.
A big surprise comes from the normally annoying Sister Hazel, who is much better here with their version of the Bellamy Brothers' commercial classic "Let Your Love Flow," even tossing in some cool twin electric guitar flatpicking. Their lead singer still sounds like Travis Tritt with a cold, honking his way through the song.
Wouldn't you know it? The one guy who gets it, really gets it, is of course Lyle Lovett. His voice is so divinely controlled and tightly spun, he's probably not even able to order pizza over the phone without sounding lyrical. And when Lovett sings, "I know about lonesome, now teach me about love," you simply have to believe him. He didn't get Julia Roberts to marry him because of his looks, you know.
