Wild at Heart [Soundtrack] [Import]

This Soundtract also propelled Chris Isaak and his salacious ballad 'Wicked Game' in to the mainstream, also on this CD is his superior, heartbreaker 'Blue Spannish Sky' which is one of the most beautiful ballads ever composed, its drowned in acoustic lament and Isaaks incredible voice sends a shiver through anyone alive, or dead.

Other reasons to get this soundtrack is because the ubiquitous actor 'Nicholas cage' shows us his velvet tonsils with his tributal rendition of 'Love me tender' and another song called 'Love me' which is an original song paying homage to 50s music, and all things that rock n roll.

Its not tangible to describe this CD, i love it because its got something for everyone, rock music, classical, gorgeous ballads, soul (hear 'up in flames') , hard rock, and the hilarious, but respectful covers of Elvis by that so cool and retro impresario that is Nicholas cage. There is also enough tracks on here to have done 2 seperate albums, out of 100s of CD's i own if i could choose 5 items of music to take with me to live on a desert island with, this would be one of them.

Also if you love the film score by Angelo Badamenti on this CD, he does all of David Lynch films from 1990, and he also composed the unforgettable 'Twin Peaks' eerie score,and the recent Lynch film 'Mulholland Drive' the guys a maestro of musical genius,

5* for this album, for being so cool and ahead of its time, in short : WILD AT HEART !!

It opens on an excerpt from Strauss' Im Abendrot- which accompanied the credit sequence- though the track it cut to in the film is absent (In the Mood by Glen Miller). This and several other tracks are not included here- whether due to space constraints or licensing problems I don't know (other absent songs- First Movement by Duke Ellington, Chrysanthemum by Shony Alex Braun, Buried Alive by Billy Swan, Streamline by John Ewing, Far Away Chant by African Head Charge, Kosmoginia by Kryztof Penderecki & Boomada by Les Baxter).

Powermad's Slaughterhouse recurs throughout the film, a prediction of music like Rammestein in Lost Highway and as good as Fade to Black-Metallica, Kyuss or Slayer. As with all Lynch works following Blue Velvet, Angelo Badalamenti contributes original music- Cool Cat Walk is one of his avant-jazz styled tracks (like Audrey's Theme or Bats with Red Teeth)- while tracks like Dark Lolita & Dark Spanish Symphony are more classical in sound (think Bernard Herrmann's Vertigo soundtrack or bits of Parsifal by Wagner).

Nicolas Cage displays his Elvis-obssession with performances of standard Love Me Tender and the more esquisite Love Me (though sadly this doesn't have the teenage girl screaming on as in the film!). Lynch contributes both lyrics and music- the former on the Badalementi co-written Up in Flames performed by Koko Taylor- it fits into a similar world to that of Barry Adamson & Tom Waits (the lyrics "My head is full of smoke" remind me of the setting for earlier Lynch classics Eraserhead & Elephant Man).

There are a few standards- Them's classic Baby Please Don't Go (used to counterpoint Johnny Faraday's journey in the film)& Gene Vincent's Be Bop a Lula- which displays Lynch's frequent 50's stylings and provides a theme for Laura Dern's character. This film is probably most famous for bringing Chris Isaak to the attention of the world- here we get two tracks from his 1989 album Heart Shaped World: Blue Spanish Sky & Wicked Game. The latter is the famous vocal version which had a video directed by Lynch to when it became a hit - the instrumental version used in the film is on the best-selling Wicked Game compilation of 1991.

Wild at Heart is an excellent soundtrack, whether you like the film or not and is great value at this budget price on the Spectrum label.