June 28, 2025

Various Artists - Saw III (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2006)

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Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Metalcore, Industrial, Thrash Metal, Groove Metal, Alternative Metal, Hardcore
Label Number: TRI 300 CD
 
© 2006 Artists' Addiction/Warcon
With a cover adorned by a trio of bicuspids and molars, roots attached and hastily transformed into necklaces, it becomes awfully apparent what awaits the listener within the jigsaw-shaped disc called Saw 3. Composer Charles Clouser has returned, providing the film with a whole lot of tripped-out, electronic and orchestral tension and the soundtrack with one measly passage called the "Sh*! hole Theme," but its' alternative/industrial/death metal that provides the third installment of the popular horror series with the kick in the gut it needs. As usual, the songs are of the "inspired by" type, meaning that most of them have little or nothing to do with the film itself, but the incorporation of hard-hitting classic acts like Slayer ("Eyes of the Insane"), Helmet ("Monochrome"), and Ministry ("Fear Is a Big Business"), as well standout contemporary acts like Mastodon and Meshuggah into the mix helps keep some of the lesser locker room meat (think Drowning Pool and Disturbed) from stinking up the whole house. 
 
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Various Artists - Saw IV (Music From & Inspired By Saw IV)

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Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Electronic, Industrial, Alternative Metal, Metalcore
Label Number: ADM-90080-2
 
© 2007 Artists' Addiction Records
It's no secret that among the young, and perhaps the morbid, the splatter horror film franchise known as Saw is wildly successful. 2007 sees the fourth incarnation of this gory, epic, and second only to Hostel -- who has some catching up to do -- these films generate interest, controversy, and plenty of cash. It's no wonder that the soundtracks chosen for these flicks are issued by the Adrenaline imprint. This one, like previous incarnations, is fueled with pedal to the metal industrial, punk, emo, thrash, and industrial metal itself. A list of the participants tells you plenty: Ministry, Skinny Puppy, Nitzer Ebb, Oxygen, Avenged Sevenfold, Fueled by Fire, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, etc., etc., etc. Saosin is singled out here -- despite the fact that many mainstream critics express a widespread disdain for their music and marketplace success -- because they have both the compositional element in song, lyrical content, and sheer musicianship to communicate something that fits the place of a cinematic concern, though it is wasted on this film. (Hopefully they got paid handsomely.) They transcend the soundtrack. Submersed is another example that while not as out of place here, has more to offer than speed, aggression, and misanthropy. Some of those seeking the aural equivalent of the movie experience will want the souvenir; those who collect music by any of these bands may grudgingly purchase it for the sake of completism. As for the rest of us, why bother? You know what it sounds like already. 
 
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Various Artists - Saw V (Music From & Inspired By The Motion Picture) (2008)

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Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Film Score, Electronic, Alternative Metal, Industrial
Label Number: SPV 306202 CD
 
© 2008 Synthetic Symphony
*No professional reviews are available for this release. 

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Various Artists - Saw VI (Music From & Inspired By Saw VI) (2009)

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Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Metalcore, Gothic Metal, Deathcore, Hardcore, Groove Metal
Label Number: TK0128
 
© 2009 Trustkill Records
Like Saw 2, Saw 3, and Saw 4 (the soundtracks for Saw and Saw V were largely orchestral), Saw VI mines the increasingly dense modern rock/alternative/death metal scenes for its bloody goods. It's a fitting marriage, as hard rock and heavy metal are the sonic suitors to horror and torture porn films and video games. Hatebreed ("In Ashes They Shall Reap"), Converge ("Dark Horse"), My My Misfire ("The Sinatra"), and Kittie ("Cut Throat") provide the most ferocious moments this time around, while generic angst jams like Memphis May Fire's "Ghost in the Mirror" and by-the-numbers goth cuts like Lacuna Coil's "The Last Goodbye" would be better served trapped in one of Jigsaw's murderous contraptions. 
 
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June 18, 2025

Various Artists - Double Dragon (Music From The Motion Picture Soundtrack) (1994)

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Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop, House, Film Score
Label Number: 7313835700-2
 
© 1994 Milan
*No professional reviews are available for this release. 
 
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Grieves - Irreversible (2007)

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Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Label Number: None
 
© 2007 [Not On Label]
*No professional reviews are available for this release. 
 
* Due to past abuse, comments for the Hip-Hop section have been disabled. 
 
 
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June 17, 2025

The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat (1968)

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*Japanese first pressing. 
Contains 6 tracks total.
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Experimental Rock
Label Number: P33P-25041
 
© 1968-1987 Verve Records
The world of pop music was hardly ready for The Velvet Underground's first album when it appeared in the spring of 1967, but while The Velvet Underground and Nico sounded like an open challenge to conventional notions of what rock music could sound like (or what it could discuss), 1968's White Light/White Heat was a no-holds-barred frontal assault on cultural and aesthetic propriety. Recorded without the input of either Nico or Andy Warhol, White Light/White Heat was the purest and rawest document of the key Velvets lineup of Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, and Maureen Tucker, capturing the group at their toughest and most abrasive. The album opens with an open and enthusiastic endorsement of amphetamines (startling even from this group of noted drug enthusiasts), and side one continues with an amusing shaggy-dog story set to a slab of lurching mutant R&B ("The Gift"), a perverse variation on an old folktale ("Lady Godiva's Operation"), and the album's sole "pretty" song, the mildly disquieting "Here She Comes Now." While side one was a good bit darker in tone than the Velvets' first album, side two was where they truly threw down the gauntlet with the manic, free-jazz implosion of "I Heard Her Call My Name" (featuring Reed's guitar work at its most gloriously fractured), and the epic noise jam "Sister Ray," 17 minutes of sex, drugs, violence, and other non-wholesome fun with the loudest rock group in the history of Western Civilization as the house band. White Light/White Heat is easily the least accessible of The Velvet Underground's studio albums, but anyone wanting to hear their guitar-mauling tribal frenzy straight with no chaser will love it, and those benighted souls who think of the Velvets as some sort of folk-rock band are advised to crank their stereo up to ten and give side two a spin. 
 
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The Velvet Underground - Loaded (1970)

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*U.S. first pressing. 
Contains 10 tracks total.
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Pop Rock
Label Number: 9-27613-2
 
© 1970-1987 Warner Special Products/Cotillion
After The Velvet Underground cut three albums for the jazz-oriented Verve label that earned them lots of notoriety but negligible sales, the group signed with industry powerhouse Atlantic Records in 1970; label head Ahmet Ertegun supposedly asked Lou Reed to avoid sex and drugs in his songs, and instead focus on making an album "loaded with hits." Loaded was the result, and with appropriate irony it turned out to be the first VU album that made any noticeable impact on commercial radio -- and also their swan song, with Reed leaving the group shortly before its release. With John Cale long gone from the band, Doug Yule highly prominent (he sings lead on four of the ten tracks), and Maureen Tucker absent on maternity leave, this is hardly a purist's Velvet Underground album. But while Lou Reed always wrote great rock & roll songs with killer hooks, on Loaded his tunes were at last given a polished but intelligent production that made them sound like the hits they should have been, and there's no arguing that "Sweet Jane" and "Rock and Roll" are as joyously anthemic as anything he's ever recorded. And if this release generally maintains a tight focus on the sunny side of the VU's personality (or would that be Reed's personality?), "New Age" and "Oh! Sweet Nuthin'" prove he had hardly abandoned his contemplative side, and "Train Around the Bend" is a subtle but revealing metaphor for his weariness with the music business. Sterling Morrison once said of Loaded, "It showed that we could have, all along, made truly commercial sounding records," but just as importantly, it proved they could do so without entirely abandoning their musical personality in the process. It's a pity that notion hadn't occurred to anyone a few years earlier. 

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Various Artists - Scream: Music From The Dimension Motion Picture (1996)

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Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Alternative Rock, Indie Rock, Pop, Electronic
Label Number: TVT 8080-2
 
© 1996 TVT Sountrax
*No professional reviews are available for this release. 
 
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June 12, 2025

Various Artists - City of Angels: Music From The Motion Picture (1998)

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Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Pop Rock, Rock, Film Score
Label Number: 9 46867-2
 
© 1998 Warner Sunset/Reprise Records
*No professional reviews are available for this release.

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Various Artists - City of Industry Soundtrack (1997)

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Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Trip Hop, Big Beat
Label Number: 314-524 308-2
 
© 1997 Quango Records
Think about Harvey Keitel. Think about what kinds of songs you'd pick to put in his movie. The result is, most assuredly, everything included on the City of Industry soundtrack. As a trip-hopped compilation, the album is without fault. As an indicator of just how far "underground" dance music had seeped into the mainstream by 1997, it's massive. And as a mirror of the darkness that percolated through the film, City of Industry is perfect. It's a rare success, concocting a blend of tracks that not only reflect the action onscreen, but also work together out of the cinema and long after the fact. This set does both with ease. The artists included read like a Who's Who of the late-'90s dance industry: Massive Attack, Bomb the Bass, and Tricky represent trip-hop's holy trinity with "Three," "Bug Powder Dust," and "Overcome," respectively. But that's just the beginning. What made this particular soundtrack so vital at the time of its release was that many of the tracks culled for the disc were new to ears in the U.S. Lush's "Last Night" could initially only be heard as a promo B-side; both "Walking on Water" (Palm Skin Productions) and "Rocco Sings for a Drink" (Death in Vegas) were import-only; and Mr. Jones' "Red" was a vinyl compilation track -- great if you were one of the few people who still owned a record player in 1997, but infuriating for the rest. Butter 08's "Degobrah," meanwhile, was remixed specially for the OST. This is a timeless collection; it grooves, it rocks, and it's creepy to boot. The songs get under your skin; the sounds are ethereal and sweet, raucous and menacing. And it's never once watered down for those not in the know. 
 
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Various Artists - Moog (Original Film Soundtrack) (2004)

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Country: U.S.A
Genre: Electronic, Alternative Rock, Pop, Pop Rock, Leftfield
Label Number: 2061-62471-2
 
© 2004 Hollywood Records
*No professional reviews are available for this release. 

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June 03, 2025

Various Artists - Napoleon Dynamite: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2004)

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Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Pop, Pop Rock, Alternative Rock
Label Number: LKS 33810
 
© 2004 Lakeshore Records
Napoleon Dynamite's soundtrack works on the same mix of awkward and sweet that typifies the film. It's sprinkled liberally with soundbites of Napoleon himself (Jon Heder) and those in his life, such as quotable comebacks like "Yeah right, who's the only one who knows the illegal ninja moves from the government?," or Kip's (Aaron Ruell) declaration of his plans to become a cagefighter. Napoleon Dynamite also takes a page from the Rushmore soundtrack by sequencing composer John Swihart's suitably quirky score amidst the handful of indie pop and 1980s faves that anchor the set. Rogue Wave fans will note a live version of the Out of the Shadow standout "Every Moment," and Figurine's "New Mate" is a gem from the trio's 1999 revivalist synth pop album Transportation + Communication = Love. Though the music here is united by a certain offbeat quality, relationships -- family, friends, love, self -- are the real focus. It gives listeners the range, from the swagger of Bow Wow Wow's "I Want Candy" to the crackling soul-jazz and bootstraps message of Money Mark's "Sometimes You Gotta Make It Alone." There's also a touchingly heartfelt cover of Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time," and less often heard '80s standouts from Yaz ("Only You") and Alphaville ("Forever Young"). With its movie quotes, endearing score (including Swihart's version of "The A-Team Theme"), and well-chosen musical cues, Napoleon Dynamite is a comprehensive keepsake of a film likely destined for cult favorite status.
 
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Various Artists - Spider‐Man: Music From & Inspired By (2002)

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Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Alternative Rock, Post Grunge, Film Score
Label Number: CK 86402
 
© 2002 Columbia/Roadrunner/Island Def Jam/Sony Music Soundtrax
 From all accounts, Sam Raimi invested Spider-Man with some of his own personality -- lobbying for the great, geeky Tobey Maguire to play Peter Parker and giving the visuals a crackling energy equally reminiscent of his own work on Evil Dead and Darkman and the original Marvel comic books. That's very good, especially since studios are notoriously reluctant to let directors imprint their own signature on tent-pole pictures like this and, given the choice between having the picture or the soundtrack for Spider-Man have distinctive personality, the movie should have a personality since it is a movie, after all, and the ultimate concern. Still, it's a disappointment that the soundtrack to Spider-Man is so calculated, pitched directly at the nü-metal/rap-rock/post-grunge crowd with little regard for flair or personality. Almost none of the songs on the soundtrack are heard in the movie -- Macy Gray's "My Nutmeg Phantasy" is put to the forefront once, but most of these songs are heard either way in the background on the radio or over the closing credits. This isn't unusual for soundtracks of this nature, but sometimes the "inspired by" soundtracks have some spark, most notably with Prince's songs for Batman. Though many of the bands do try to tie into the theme of Spider-Man -- Alien Ant Farm has "Bug Bytes," Chad Kroeger of Nickelback offers the dour anthem of "Hero" -- it all winds up as something that sounds crafted for modern rock radio, not the movie, especially since it lacks both the colorful zest of the film's design or the geekiness of Peter Parker. Some songs distinguish themselves along the way -- the Hives display why they're rightly touted as an antidote to generic modern rock with "Hate to Say I Told You So," the Strokes toss in their B-side worthy "When It Started," and Pete Yorn gives listeners his gentle "Undercover" -- but on the whole, it's a pretty undistinguished affair, topped off by an awful version of the classic "Theme From Spider-Man" from Aerosmith, who treats it as serious heavy psych-rock. At least when that's finished, you can begin the disc again and hear the original theme, which sounds much livelier and is more fun -- and, after all these years, still feels appropriate for Spider-Man, even in Raimi's version (there's a reason why he put it over the end credits of the film, after all). 
 
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