It's a killer (Natural Born Killers - Soundtrack)

Member Name: Slim Lee

Product:	Natural Born Killers - Soundtrack
Date:	20/01/01 (1935 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great mixture of tracks and a "true" movie soundtrack giving a feel for the film, Long playing time, Different OST which uses dialogue intermittently to good effect

Disadvantages: It's a varied mixture of styles so you have to be very open minded in your musical tastes

WARNING! - long opinion ahead!

One criticism that certainly cannot be levelled at my opinions is a targeting of “popular” areas. This opinion will probably fall into this category because of the hype surrounding the film, but many people also never even gave the film a chance because of the hype, and in so doing have missed out on a pearler of a soundtrack.

“Natural Born Killers” was a highly controversial (and heavily banned) film from the outset in 1994. The film was labelled as being too graphic and glorifying of violence in places. I don’t want to go into the ethics of the film on this opinion. I’ll save that one for the censorship debates.

In keeping with the adult nature of the film, the soundtrack should also come with one of those little “Parental Guidance” warning stickers (curiously missing on my copy).

For those people who have seen the film (probably a fairly small number on here) you will hopefully agree with me that the music score added a substantial amount to the feel of the film (no matter if you liked it or not). If you liked the film then I would expect you to also like this soundtrack.

If you haven’t seen the film (or it’s been a while since you last saw it) the soundtrack roughly follows the same order as the film. In other words the songs are played on the CD in the same order as they appear in the film. This was also one of the first soundtracks I had listened to and enjoyed that uses soundbite clips from the film in between the songs. In this case it seems to gel the storyline and music firmly together, which is rare for many soundtracks.

It is one of those “Music from and inspired by” the film soundtracks. For once it doesn’t try and peddle a load of tired old songs on the back of the film’s reputation. Out of the twenty-seven tracks on the CD I can only think of three of them that did not appear in some
form during the film.

If you haven’t seen the film then the spoken clips will be pointless. They have been put into the soundtrack to act as a visual flashback for the listener. As about a third of the CD is filled with these clips then not having seen the film will seriously detract from your enjoyment of this soundtrack.


• Tracklist / Review


1. Waiting for the miracle - Leonard Cohen
A slow haunting melody. Softly spoken and slightly depressing lyrics (par for the course for Cohen). A good track to ease the listener into the atmosphere of the movie;

2. S***list – L7
Remember them? An all-girl grunge band that hit the Seattle scene around the same time as Nirvana. Not their best track but is a good inclusion here from the café seen in the film;

3. Moon over greene county – Dan Zanes
This one starts with a clip from the café scene (about a minute long) and then slides into an instrumental. A pretty weak track but mercifully short;

4. Rock ‘n Roll n***er – Patti Smith
This is one of my favourite tracks from the album. In the film it’s used as the score over the opening credits (very weird that they are too). A thumping track with a catchy chorus to shout (not sing) to. It injects a bit of life and energy into the film at this point. Some people may be offended by the use of the word I starred out … it depends on how you read into the context it is used in;

5. Sweet Jane – Cowboy Junkies
Another clip from the film starts this one of with the instrumental of the song playing in the background. Once the clip ends, the lyrics begin with a slow dreamy quality to them;

6. You belong to me – Bob Dylan
Not really my cup of tea this one (never been much of a fan of Dylan) and I tend to skip past it. It ends with another short clip from the film;

7. The trembler – Duane Eddy
Very atmospheric (gu
itar) instrumental tune this one (used in Mickey’s escape from prison during a storm in the film). Interlaced with sound effects from the film;

8. Burn – Nine Inch Nails
Not a surprise to find a NIN track on the album seeing as it was produced by their frontman Trent Reznor. It’s electronically heavy industrial music and unfortunately it’s also one of their weaker tracks. It is one of the tracks I cannot remember being anywhere in the film so he must have used his “poetic licence” to sneak this on;

9. Route 666 – Robert Downey Jr & Brian Berdan
An absolute classic snippet from the film with Robert Downey Jr camping it up as a TV crime reporter;

10. Totally Hot – Remmy Ongala & orchestre super matimila
Another clip from the film with a latin beat playing in the background;

11. Back in baby’s arms – Patsy Cline
Bet you didn’t expect this to be on the soundtrack!

12. Taboo – Peter Gabriel / Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
This one is kind of Indian tribal chanting. I can’t really describe it in any other way!

13. Sex is violent – Jane’s Addiction
I have never been a fan of this band and this track doesn’t change this. A rather warped and disjointed track inter-laced with commentary from the film (but it does fit the mood of the scene);

14. History repeats itself – A.O.S
An emotional track which is heavy on vocals and piano. The lyrics reflect on how life’s lessons are never learnt until too late;

15. Something I can never have – Nine Inch Nails
Oh look here they are again! Except this time the track IS in the film and justifies it’s placement on the CD. It starts off with a small excerpt from the film with the instrumental playing in the background. It’s a song touching on loss and despair (at a poignant point in the film) and is a track I associate mor
e with the film than the NIN album it is taken from;

16. I will take you home – Russell Means
Quite an odd track but very listenable. Russell Means is an actor playing an Indian healer who tries to drive out evil spirits. This is his chant. I know, it sounds dull but it is surprising good;

17. Drums a go-go – Hollywood Persuaders
Guess what! Yes it has drums in it … I think this CD is starting to get to me now. Anyway it’s only a minute long so it doesn’t get on your nerves as much as it could have;

18. Hungry ants – Barry Adamson
Film clip again. This time inside the prison with a detective discussing why he devoted his live to tracking down serial killers (recognise Tommy Lee Jones in there as the prison warden??);

19. The day the n***** took over – Dr Dre
Yet another style of music is thrown into the mix here with rap. An appropriate change in the mood of the music to suit the change in direction of the film (it plays in the background during a prison fight in the film);

20. Born Bad – Juliette Lewis
Another excerpt from the film where one of the characters sings from her high security prison cell;

21. Fall of the rebel angels – Sergio Cervetti
A clip from the film of a conversation between Robert Downey Jr’s Newsreporter and Woody Harrelson’s Serial Killer. Over the top acting at it’s very best!

22. Forkboy – Lard
Heavy metal, fast loud, indecipherable lyrics. This is the music played on the prison break scene from the film. Brilliant;

23. Batonga in batongaville – Budapest Philharm
Robert Downey Jr again as the TV reporter completely loses it with booming classical music in the background. Funny!

24. A warm place – Nine Inch Nails
I know. Again. This meandering instrumental is a little out of place in this part of the CD. I suppose it was meant to portray a
calming point in the film;

25. Allah, mohammed, char, yaar - Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
The Indian chanting again. I even find myself trying (in vain) to sing along to this one. At least I can clap my hands in time to it!

26. The future – Leonard Cohen
One of the best tracks of the film (which plays as the credits roll). Just listen to Cohen’s gravelling lyrics, they are very apt for the film. An upbeat and lively conclusion to a very bizarre musical collection;

27. What would u do? – Tha Dogg Pound
I have no idea why this one was put on. It was a single at the time of the CD release so I think it was a rare marketing gimmick. A good hip-hop rap track but not at the end of the CD. Wrong Wrong Wrong.


Phew!
I need a breather after all that.....

Right, off we go again!

One of the things I really like about this soundtrack is the varied musical styles showcased here. Many of the artists are relatively unknown (and still are) but manage to create great pieces to fit into the jigsaw that is “Natural Born Killers”.

It’s an odd mixture of songs when looked at on it’s own, but when listened to as a musical score (in order) of the film it works. In fact, this CD probably captures more of the type of hallucinogenic atmosphere that Oliver Stone was trying to create in the movie. It can be dreamy and mellow in some parts, confrontational, loud and angry in others.

It’s over six years old now so you should be able to pick it up for under £10 without too much difficulty. Considering that price you are getting a lot. On it’s own it is a decent mixed-bag collection, but for me it really comes into it’s own if you’ve seen the film.

It’s what a soundtrack really SHOULD be like i.e. representative of the film. I can’t remember the last time I found one recently which had more than half of the tracks actually IN th
e film.

Exceptions to this rule of thumb after “Natural Born Killers” soundtrack have been “Pulp Fiction” and “The Crow”. Particularly “Pulp Fiction” which went on to sell both the film and the soundtrack by the bucket load. The main difference is that “Pulp Fiction” used a lot more established names for the score (music people were already familiar with).


P.S.
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If you haven’t already checked my profile it does state there in black and white that my musical tastes are broad to say the least.

You have been warned!!


P.P.S.
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I really did try to keep this one short, so sorry if I bored anyone! I could have easily written three times the amount of words on each track.

As a side note you should be able to pick this CD up for a bit less than the £10.99 price tag I have put on it as it is fairly dated now. I wouldn't be too surprised to find it online or offline for around £8.00, i've even seen it recently on eBay for £3.00 used! What are you waiting for then?

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