:: theLogBook.com Music Reviews ::

Not everybody has a soft spot for David Lynch’s 1984 film adaptation of Frank Herbert’s seminal SF novel “Dune”. Maybe it was the acting, or the special effects, or the almost-necessary shortening of the story (to which even the Sci-Fi Channel 2000 miniseries fell victim in different areas), who knows? A canvas as broad and deep as “Dune” doesn’t lend itself easily to film, where a story is expected to be told in under three hours. But the music…well, you may not agree with me here, but the music was almost perfect for the film.

Some film music fans have decried to use of rock-music-as-score in such films as Ladyhawke, but with Dune, the rock group Toto struck a perfect balance, occasionally adding the odd contemporary touch to what was largely an orchestral score augmented by synths and samples. Not bad for 1984, really.

If I have an issue with Toto’s score from Dune, it is that it sometimes drones along, not really developing thematically, which is a potential pitfall encountered anytime a rock musician experiments in a new medium. In places it’s almost annoyingly repetitive, and in other places it’s surprisingly fresh, such as the “Robot Fight” cue. As far as the arrangements and the balance of traditional and modern instruments go, the Dune score is an excellent mix of old and new, with all the grace of an Alan Parsons instrumental rock opera.

One last caveat - there are at least three different versions of this soundtrack available; some have around 20 tracks, while the one I listened to weighed in at 30 tracks. I’m not sure if the longer version is still available.

1. Prologue / Main Title (3:20)
2. Guild Report (0:55)
3. House Atreides (1:44)
4. Paul Atreides (2:22)
5. Robot Fight (1:23)
6. Leto’s Theme (1:47)
7. The Box (2:41)
8. The Floating Fat Man: The Baron (1:15)
9. Departure (1:14)
10. Trip To Arrakis (2:37)
11. Sandworm Attack (2:52)
12. Betrayal / Shields Down (4:31)
13. First Attack (2:49)
14. The Duke’s Death (2:07)
15. Sandworm Chase (2:40)
16. The Fremen (3:08)
17. Secrets Of The Fremen (2:25)
18. Paul Meets Chani (3:08)
19. Destiny (2:57)
20. Riding The Sandworm (1:27)
21. Reunion With Gurney (1:42)
22. Prelude: Take My Hand (1:03)
23. Paul Takes The Water Of Life (2:52)
24. The Sleeper Has Awakened! (3:24)
25. Big Battle (3:09)
26. Paul Kills Feyd (1:55)
27. Final Dream (1:26)
28. Dune: Desert Theme (5:33)
29. Dune Main Title - demo version (1:26)
30. Take My Hand (2:43)

Released by: SuperTracks
Release date: 1997
Total running time: 72:40

This first outing by the collective of rock legends - Roy Orbison, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne - has attained something of its own legendary status, and listening back to it, it’s not hard to see why.

The two group efforts, “Handle With Care” and “End Of The Line”, deservedly got a great deal of attention as singles, but there were plenty of other music treasures to be found. “Dirty World” and “Tweeter And The Monkey Man” are obviously Bob Dylan’s babies, while Lynne’s influence is obvious on the retro-rocker “Rattled”. But far and away, the prize on Volume One goes to “Not Alone Anymore”, which was the last thing any of us heard out of Roy Orbison before his death. It was a nice preview of the sound Orbison and Lynne would glean from their collaboration on Orbison’s final solo album Mystery Girl, and took on a bit of a haunting quality in hindsight.

Harrison’s “Heading For The Light” ain’t shabby either…and I think it’s the last song we’ve heard out of him that really sounds like him, Beatles Anthology “new” songs notwithstanding.

It’s a bit of fun with a little touch of a country twang to it, and while the follow-up, Volume Three, had its own charms, Orbison’s presence - and, indeed, the presence of the other four rock legends working together for the first time - made Volume One a special outing for the Wilburys.

1. Handle With Care (3:20)
2. Dirty World (3:30)
3. Rattled (3:00)
4. Last Night (3:48)
5. Not Alone Any More (3:24)
6. Congratulations (3:30)
7. Heading For The Light (3:37)
8. Margarita (3:16)
9. Tweeter And The Monkey Man (5:30)
10. End Of The Line (3:30)

Released by: Wilbury Records
Release date: 1988
Total running time: 36:25

With some of his earliest stuff only just recently becoming available on CD, this George Harrison greatest hits collection is just the ticket for those who don’t feel like trying to track down a bunch of out-of-print vinyl (and the turntable necessary to play it). Though it’s heavy on songs from the Jeff Lynne-produced Cloud Nine, which was only two years old when this CD was originally released, there is a lot of good stuff on here.

Personal favorites include “Blow Away” (possibly the best song Harrison has ever written), “All Those Years Ago” (which predates “When We Were Fab” with its tribute to Harrison’s heyday in the Beatles), and “Crackerbox Palace”. And of course, there are the obligatory new tracks which only exist on this collection - “Cockamamie Business” and “Poor Little Girl” (particularly the latter) have the odd distinction of sounding like a summation of all of Harrison’s stylistic tricks, neither sounding terribly original. Also included from the Lethal Weapon 2 soundtrack is “Cheer Down”, which I’ve always rather liked.

If nothing else, this collection makes one glad that the old Harrison material is now returning to the shelves. He really did have something going before Cloud Nine, especially the early songs - many of which had been tried and rejected by the Beatles - where his sound was still very new.

1. Poor Little Girl (4:32)
2. Blow Away (3:58)
3. That’s The Way It Goes (3:34)
4. Cockamamie Business (5:14)
5. Wake Up My Love (3:32)
6. Life Itself (4:24)
7. Got My Mind Set On You (3:50)
8. Crackerbox Palace (3:56)
9. Cloud 9 (3:14)
10. Here Comes The Moon (4:07)
11. Gone Troppo (4:24)
12. When We Was Fab (3:56)
13. Love Comes To Everyone (3:40)
14. All Those Years Ago (3:44)
15. Cheer Down (4:07)

Released by: Warner Bros.
Release date: 1989
Total running time: 60:28

R.E.M. pulled a bit of a bait-and-switch with the first single from their new album, Reveal. “Imitation of Life” sounds a lot like the band’s work on albums like Lifes Rich Pageant and Green, enhanced by the acoustic and orchestral effects the band mastered on Automatic For The People and “The Great Beyond” (from the Man On The Moon soundtrack). Some longtime fans of the band, perhaps a bit disappointed with 1998’s Up, listened to Peter Buck’s uptempo electric guitar and said, “Ah ha, old school R.E.M. is back.”

Well, as it turns out, not so much.

As good a song as it is, “Imitation of Life” is something of an anomaly on Reveal, which consists mainly of slower, sparser songs with a heavy amount of electronica, sampling and looping. Many of the songs sound more like they were assembled than performed. But while fans of the band may have once again had their hopes of seeing the band be what it used to be dashed, Reveal is another example of R.E.M.’s skill at the art of songcraft. Some of these tunes are forgettable or best left as background music, but some are among the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard.

The opening track, “The Lifting,” is just outstanding. Michael Stipe’s lyrics conjure the possibilities of a break from worn-out routines and conventions and our reluctance to leave the safety that they provide. (The refrain: “You said the air was singing/It’s calling you you don’t believe/These things you’ve never seen never dreamed”) The electronic elements are crucial here; they give the song that otherworldliness that balances lines like “The weather’s fine/The sky is blue/It’s perfect for our seminar.”

The weight of missed opportunities and failed relationships haunts “I’ll Take the Rain,” an excellent ballad with some fine acoustic guitar work from Buck and what I believe to be Mike Mills’ usual excellence on the keyboards. The song alternates soft, understated verses with more expansive, lush choruses for an effect that is beautiful in a way that almost hurts to hear.

Those three highlights make the album more than worth your time, but the rest of the album will grow on you if you give it time, and if you listen to it as a whole. I’m not sure “All the Way to Reno (You’re Gonna Be a Star)” will stand up well as the next single, for example, but on the album it fits. If you absolutely hated the very idea of Up, you probably won’t like this album, but if you liked Up, or thought it was a good concept but poorly executed, I’m pretty sure you’ll find something on this album worth adding to your favorite song list.

1. The Lifting (4:39)
2. I’ve Been High (3:26)
3. All the Way to Reno (You’re Gonna Be a Star) (4:45)
4. She Just Wants to Be (5:22)
5. Disappear (4:15)
6. Saturn Return (4:55)
7. Beat a Drum (4:21)
8. Imitation of Life (3:57)
9. Summer Turns to High (3:32)
10. Chorus and the Ring (4:31)
11. I’ll Take the Rain (5:51)
12. Beachball (4:14)

Released by: Warner Bros.
Release date: 2001
Total running time: 53:46

Despite generally favorable reception to their 1995 album One Hot Minute, the Red Hot Chili Peppers dropped out of sight for a while and came back strong - partly because of the return of original member John Frusciante, back from a long and torturous battle with drug addiction. Despite the addition of Dave Navarro as a replacement for Frusciante on that previous album, the vibe somehow wasn’t the same (even though it yielded the minor hit “Aeroplane”). Now the Chilis are back in force.

The album kicks off with a funky quasi-rap, “Around The World”, which begs comparisons with the earlier hit “Give It Away Now”, but it’s in the second track that the Chilis find their new groove - driving, well-harmonized rock, combining the hard edge of their earlier material with a feel not unlike that of the early ’90s ballad “Under The Bridge”. The first single from Californication, “Scar Tissue”, is a perfect example of the new happy medium the band has struck (and the fact that it stayed on the charts for a while demonstrates that the instincts of Anthony Kiedis and his bandmates are still sharp). Other good examples include “Otherside” and the title track. And there are other tracks which delve surprisingly into ballad territory, such as the excellent “Porcelain”. That may not be the kind of music that won the Chilis their large fan base, but damned if they can’t do it well.

Other tracks will satisfy the hardcore fans’ demand for harder-edged material, and though that’s not always my taste, it sounds crisp and there’s a little more production work going into it.

1. Around The World (3:59)
2. Parallel Universe (4:30)
3. Scar Tissue (3:38)
4. Otherside (4:16)
5. Get On Top (3:18)
6. Californication (5:21)
7. Easily (3:51)
8. Porcelain (2:43)
9. Emit Remmus (4:00)
10. I Like Dirt (2:38)
11. This Velvet Glove (3:45)
12. Savior (4:53)
13. Purple Stain (4:13)
14. Right On Time (1:53)
15. Road Trippin’ (3:25)

Released by: Warner Bros.
Release date: 1999
Total running time: 56:26