Soundtrack,Philadelphia- Bob Gajarsky

REVIEW: Soundtrack, Philadelphia

- Bob Gajarsky

With the new year comes new movies, and with the arrival of new movies comes new soundtracks. The first soundtrack, with blockbuster performers, comes in the shape of the Tom Hanks/Denzel Washington film Philadelphia.

The soundtrack opens, as does the movie, with Bruce Springsteen's "Streets of Philadelphia". With an almost acoustic, quiet sound similar to "My Hometown", Bruce harkens back to the early 80's with a somber, thoughtful tune that captures the spirit of the film in just 4 minutes. The song keeps growing and getting stronger with each listen. Its place at the beginning of the Tom Hanks film signifies that this is no comedy.

Two other songs from the soundtrack truly stand out; Peter Gabriel's previously unreleased "Lovetown" and Neil Young's "Philadelphia". Both tracks from these superstars are slow and well-paced, giving the introspective music afficionado a great time. Pop fans beware; the aforementioned three tunes aren't up-beat, dance songs, but carefully crafted combinations of thoughtful music sung with respectful lyrics.

The Spin Doctors' cover of the Creedence Clearwater Revival favorite, "Have You Ever Seen The Rain?", comes up just a little bit short. It's good, and doesn't lapse into a Steve-Millerish rendition of the song; but it just doesn't have the extra oomph to carry the song over the edge. Cover songs, I feel, should either be different workings of a song, or take a song to new heights. Unfortunately, the Spin Doctors do neither of these, and leave the listener wanting to listen to John Fogerty.

The same problem plagues two of the other covers on the album, the Indigo Girls "I Don't Wanna Talk About It" (originally by Crazy Horse; also by Rod Stewart), and Sade's "Please Send Me Someone To Love" (originally by Percy Mayfield). Sade fans will enjoy her version of the Mayfield classic, but other listeners will wonder if it was really necessary; I don't think so. The one new song which IS good is by Pauletta Washington. Titled "It's In Your Eyes", this track established Washington as being able to carry a soft tune and turn it into a romantic croon.

I feel Philadelphia comes a couple songs short from falling into the "must-buy" category of albums. The originals by Gabriel, Springsteen, and Young carry the soundtrack, but the covers by younger artists just fall short of the mark.

Track listing: Streets of Philadelphia - Bruce Springsteen; Lovetown