SOUNDTRACKS
Soundtracks are a lot more than movie music...

...or so I'm ready to argue as a 30 year devotee of this sorely under appreciated genre.  So, in an effort to do my part, each week
I'll be making recommendations of soundtracks current and vintage, make a fuss over long awaited soundtrack scores finally getting
a well deserved release, and in general, make some noise about this often overlooked category.  Beyond my long experience as a
listener and as a pianist and songwriter, both of which I've put to use in writing a quarterly soundtrack column for the
Chicago
Tribune, I can only offer my recommendations.  You'll discern my taste soon enough and upfront I'd like to make it clear that I'll
focus most heavily on SCORE soundtracks.  In the end, all criticism is subjective but if I can point a listener toward a little heard
soundtrack or strongly advise you to either ORDER IMMEDIATELY or SKIP ALTOGETHER, all the better.
This is not a soundtrack recommendation.  Indeed, Back to Black, the sophomore effort
from English sensation Amy Winehouse is a million miles from what I usually urge readers to
heed in this column.  But for those that love their 1960s girl groups, blistering soul singers
like Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield and most especially, The Goddess,
Laura Nyro, Back to
Black
is a CD that you need to own.

In a previous life I toiled away as a singer-songwriter and
Nyro was always my greatest
muse.  Something about the late singer’s wild song structures, piercing vocals and her
frankly idiosyncratic ways spoke volumes to me (and still does – she’s always gonna be the
greatest in my book).  Also, her refusal to be constricted by typical musical boundaries.  Nyro
wrote songs that incorporated pop, jazz, rock, soul, and much more in a musical era that
worshipped at the altar of such creativity.

Here and there over the ensuing three decades (yes, that long ago) I’ve come across talents
that have reminded me of Nyro’s – if only for the uniqueness of the artist in question.  
Rickie Lee Jones was certainly one (and she’s written many times about Nyro’s influence on
her), Kate Bush and PJ Harvey two others.  Of course we can’t leave out Jane Siberry (now
officially renamed Issa), Bjork, Ani DeFranco, and in some respects, Tori Amos (though
vocally I’ve never caught Amos fever).  An acquaintance pointed me to Amy Winehouse’s
“Rehab” video and after one listen I was hooked.  I went to her website,
www.amywinehouse.
com and immediately became further entranced after hearing more samples from Back to
Black
, which, like Winehouse’s first CD, Frank, has taken her native England by storm.  It’s
not just the clever production that so perfectly mimics the Supremes-Dusty dynamic of the
early sixties, it’s Winehouse’s unadulterated writing skills, her throaty, soul soaked voice and
what sounds like her own private lyricism.  She’s a very emotional girl beautifully in touch
with her talent – at only 23!  Next up (I’m sure) will be stardom in America (her two CDs
have yet to be released here).

If they ever get around to making a movie out of the life of my beloved Laura Nyro,
Winehouse is the gal to play the lead.  Then I’ll get to write about the soundtrack for a
movie that will blow the roof off theatres.  In the meantime, order
Back to Black (you will not
be disappointed), check out her myriad videos and live appearances on
www.youtube.com
(apparently, like the young Nyro, she’s sowing some wild oats) and be the first on your block
to tell everyone else about this extraordinary young woman.  Just remember that I told you
about her first.


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ARCHIVES


Next Recommendation:  TBA
Top: The cover of my new
musical obsession's
sophomore CD,
Back to Black.  
Below, a very Nyro-esque
portrait of Amy Winehouse, a
powerhouse talent from
England who's destined to take
America by storm.  Sez me!