NEW ON CD
"Shrek 2"
Original soundtrack
(Geffen)
Soundtrack for ‘Shrek 2’
is solid, with Douridas
at the helm
I wasn't exactly bowled over by the animated movie's first soundtrack back in 2001, with too many mediocre songs mixed in with a pleasant-enough collection of original material.
This soundtrack for the sequel, however, antes the pot with the participation of music supervisor Chris Douridas, the founder and original host of the hip, and still influential, public radio show out of Los Angeles called "Morning Becomes Eclectic."
Douridas champions such edgier, more emotionally nuanced "adult" acts as Tom Waits, Joseph Arthur and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, all of whose music make surprising appearances in the PG-friendly summer movie opening tomorrow in theaters nationwide.
Waits gave Douridas permission to use his "Little Drop of Poison" (originally used in Wim Wenders' "The End of Violence") in a tavern scene, and it'll be interesting to see how Cave's sombre and graceful "People Ain't No Good" (from 1997's "The Boatman's Call") will be used in the context of the cheery "Shrek 2."
While those two songs give the soundtrack an interesting and unexpected texture, the bulk of the songs are pop songs of the first order.
The aforementioned Arthur, a critic's favorite, chimes in with "You're So True," a song that includes clarinet and musical saw.
Adam Durvitz and Counting Crows return to the public spotlight with the leadoff theme/single "Accidentally in Love." (The enhanced CD includes an animated "Shrek 2" featurette set to the bouncy song.)
Hawaii-born Dean Pitchford and Meat Loaf lyricist Jim Steinman's "Holding Out for a Hero" gets done two ways, one a more intimate version by Frou Frou (singer Imogen Heap and producer Guy Sigsworth, who's worked with Björk and Madonna) and an over-the-top orchestral/ dance treatment by Jennifer Saunders of "Absolutely Fabulous," who voices the Fairy Godmother.
Her "Fairy Godmother Song" also shows she can be a fine musical comedy singer, with support by the movie's excellent score composer Harry Gregson-Williams, who also did the first "Shrek." Antonio Banderas, as Puss-in-Boots, draws from his Broadway experience with a hammy rendition of "Livin' La Vida Loca."
Throw in a smoothed-out revamp of David Bowie's "Changes" (with Bowie and newcomer Butterfly Boucher), a remix of Dashboard Confessional's "As Lovers Do" (which you can now call "ogre emo"), Pete Yorn's cover of "Ever Fallen in Love," inspired by the Buzzcocks original, and, for good measure, Lipps Inc.'s "Funkytown," and this makes for one solid CD.
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