Ashes To Ashes [Soundtrack]

One of the many strengths of Ashes To Ashes, along with its predecessor Life On Mars, is the use of music from the period in which the drama is set, perfectly capturing the 'feel' of that moment in time and giving extra impact and meaning to the action on the screen. The music on the soundtrack ranges from hits that are still very well known today such as Duran Duran's 'Girls On Film' and 'Let's Stick Together' by Bryan Ferry to songs that may not have been familiar to some of the Ashes To Ashes audience but have been a real pleasure to discover, such as the fabulous 'Staring At The Rude Boys' by The Ruts. The soundtrack features a good cross-section of both, many of which will bring images from the series straight back to mind - Gene and Alex in the Quattro racing to 'The Finish' pub in the docklands to the glorious 'Swords Of A Thousand Men' by Tenpole Tudor or hurrying through the subterranean labyrinth of corridors in the Edgecome nuclear installation in search of the vault containing the mysterious Artemis file to 'Reward' by The Teardrop Explodes. The soundtrack also contains one of the songs which I, for one, now simply cannot divorce from the context in which it was used in the series - Ultravox's 'Vienna'. I don't think I'll ever be able to listen to the first few bars of that song again without my mind's eye picturing that jaw-dropping slow motion shot of falling shards of glass as Gene steps through the shattered window to save Alex.

So why have I only given it three stars? This is entirely due to what has been left out rather than what was included. The quality of the music used in Ashes To Ashes is such that the soundtrack could easily have merited a double CD. As it is, some absolutely key tracks from the series have, astonishingly, been omitted. These include Duran Duran's 'Careless Memories' which we hear as Gene makes his triumphant entrance in the Quattro in episode one, the edgy and disorientating 'Ghosts' by Japan from the end of episode six when Alex realises with a shock who the man in her bed from her recurring dream actually is, 'The Man With The Child In His Eyes' by Kate Bush which is playing on the radio as Gene puts himself in the uncharacteristically vulnerable position of asking Alex if she would like to go out to dinner with him, and Supertramp's upbeat 'Take The Long Way Home' from the end of episode eight, which promises that this is exactly what Alex will do, having further adventures with Gene and learning more about herself and him along the way. But most mystifyingly, the one track which for me was as much the theme of the series as Bowie's 'Ashes To Ashes' itself - Roxy Music's 'Same Old Scene' - is also not included. This track was used in the ultra-cool sequence at the end of episode one which contained virtually no dialogue. The piece of music that the show's producers were originally going to use for this was 'Imagine' by John Lennon; considering how much the mood of the sequence would have been altered if they had gone ahead, it becomes clear how essential this Roxy Music song actually was in setting up the dark, brooding, sexually charged atmosphere so successfully evoked. For me, a comprehensive soundtrack of the series has to include all of these tracks and so I've resorted to iTunes to fill the gaps, but I would much rather have bought these songs as part of a single package.

Also, I would have liked the soundtrack to have included the epic Western-inspired theme that we hear when Alex first recognises Gene in episode one and again when he makes his rousing 'unbreakable' speech to Lord Scarman in episode eight. It's this piece of music that I think of as 'Gene Hunt's Theme' rather than the incidental music with that title which appears on the CD.

Although some dialogue from the series has been included, this is another area where too much has been left out. With the wealth of Gene Hunt's brilliant one-liners in Ashes To Ashes, to include only two of them in the soundtrack is so positively criminal that Special Branch should be on the case.

Playing this in the car is amazing. There is something iconic about "Vienna"- played to death in the 80s, but a seismic classic these days. There are beautiful songs too that I'd almost forgotten, especially track 7- "Souvenir" by OMD, and the typically eighties "Fade to Grey" by Visage, and of course, the incomparable David Bowie to kick off with the eponymous "Ashes to Ashes". There are two bits of dialogue inserted to remind you where the compilation came from in the first place. The first bit is Keeley Hawes' voice over intro "My name is Alex Drake and I have just been shot"etc. It sounds a bit weird in amongst the music but I didn't really mind it. Then you have the Gene Genie himself arresting some hapless criminal with a succint "You're nicked speech" which gave me a laugh every time I hear it sandwiched between tracks. All in all a great album, and a good mixture of styles and tracks which brought back fond memories of a top quality and much missed TV drama. Not to mention memories of the decade that style forgot. Or did it? That white leather jacket started to look quite good to me!

Brilliant CD great songs to dance round the kitchen to.Only wish they'd made it a double album and put the rest of the songs that was on the TV programme.