Elizabethtown, written and directed by ex Rolling Stones writer turned film maker Cameron Crowe, is liberally doused in music. Annoyingly, it's an example of a soundtrack that has to leave as much off as put in, although there are still highlights on the disc. The film itself, overlong, soppy, and a bit of a muddle, still has scenes that can delight, with my personal favourite being the Freebird moment, as well as the idea of a special someone taking the time to put together a soundtrack for you to listen to on a roadtrip (although I'd like to see what she could have knocked together for a 12 hour bus trip through the Chilean desert).
Of all the reasons you could put forward for the film being unrealistic, surely the main one would be the fact that it would never be the girl that makes the boy the Cd's to listen to in the car, it would be the other way round. The boy, let's call him Kevin T (purely for argument's sake) would spend hours constructing a compilation of perfect symmetry, that contained a mix of both the known and unknown, a delicate fusion of genres, held together beautifully by a running order that simply could not be improved. Girls, it has to be said, don't do this. In defence of girls, the only artice I ever read that articulated the great art of a compilation was written by Laura Barton in The Guardian. The advent of CD's robbed the master compilation makers of the 'Track One Side Two' conundrum, which if I'm honest, I miss.
My final destination for this post is my favourite track from the Elizabethtown soundtrack, 'Don't I Hold You' by Wheat, about who I know nothing apart from the fact that they are from Boston.
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I consider myself to be the master of the mix, a mixmaster if you will, I regularly thrust upon people CD’s of outstanding beauty impressing on them that no, you have to listen to the full 8 minutes of Nuclear War, I will be asking questions!
ReplyDeleteThis week I asked for a compilation from my good lady, the last one that she did for me was when we first got together, this was 14 years ago, over that period of time I have introduced her to delights ranging from Rainbow, to Hefner, to Billy Bragg to Journey, I think I am due one more all this time later. She is aware of the rules, no duplicate artists unless it’s a single artist mix, she has read High Fidelity and she nodded sagely in all the right places. Do I think the mix will be much cop, that depends, the secret of a good mix is the blend of the familiar, the unfamiliar and the surprise, get them and you are halfway there, put on John L’s House Rent Boogie and a multitude of sins are forgiven.
When she does complete the mix (I predict 2009) I will post the tracklist for appraisal.