Album Review: Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World – Soundtrack
4 min read
Superbad’s Michael Cera is a one of the years teen film favorites and the acting industry’s brightest new stars and adding further justification to that statement, August welcomes the release of Cera’s latest project, which is already proving to be the years most anticipated teen rock headbangers, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World.
Of course a film with such a prominent rock music element would be left standing naked without a truly sturdy soundtrack and the collection of numbers comprised to create the Scott Pilgrim Vs The World soundtrack is just that. As far as film soundtracks go, this one is a cracker of a collection.
As the films tagline boasts, the film is an epic of epic epicness and the same can quite easily be said about this music featured here.
The coinciding soundtrack release brings together 19 tracks of teenage angst in a rock thumping orgy featuring new numbers from Beck, Metric, Dan The Automator, The Bluetones, Frank Black and Kid Koala.
The collection is quite raw and pulls in elements of rock, grunge and alternative punk to deliver a rather tasty set of numbers that will without doubt have the capacity to appeal to not only fans of the film but also those who have a general liking to the guitar heavy rock realm.
Beck’s contribution to the compilation is the big draw here. Not only does he add two unreleased numbers to the collection but he also penned the tracks played by the film’s fictional band, Sex Bob-Omb.
Though Beck’s career has slightly dipped on the international scene in the past decade his contribution to a film with such a high profile will undoubtedly do the singer/songwriter great things and could quite easily pave the way for the musicians rise in the international limelight a second time around.
His work on the album goes hand in hand with the greatness of the overall collection heard here. Providing the double up tracks Ramona (Acoustic) and the following Ramona (Mellotron), Beck also brings the films fictional band Sex Bob-Omb to life with the tracks Garbage Truck, Threshold, Summertime and the album opener We Are Sex Bob-Omb.
Frank Black’s, I Heard Ramona Sing, is a highlight in the soundtrack. It’s got more of a sensitive feel to it but fits in nicely amongst the heaviness generated from its surrounding numbers.
An amazing cover of Sade’s By Your Side sneaks into the soundtrack, obviously after it is given a fantastic bluesy makeover by Beachwood Sparks. This one is the standout on the record. It’s a perfect cover of a popular melancholic hit and is a well worthy addition to the soundtracks track-listing.
Although the album boasts a variety of guitar heavy genres and is dominated by the newer, unknown bands, there are also a couple of golden oldies featured on the record with the Rolling Stones adding a touch of A-list with their track Under My Thumb as well as 70’s supergroup T-Rex throwing in their 1974 hit Teenage Dream for good measures. The addition of these bands adds further scope of appeal to a larger audience.
Because music plays such a vital role in the film itself the selection of songs to soundtrack such an eagerly anticipated teen flick is heard throughout this collection. Gone are the days when soundtracks get lost among the sale racks if all future soundtracks stood as firmly and true to the parent film as the soundtrack to Scott Pilgrim Vs The World does.
Usually the way that soundtracks go there are very few released that use the soundtrack as a musical template that has any real connection with the film itself. Rather they are used to promote and exploit new bands and random pieces of music that never really fitted with the film in the first place. The same can’t be said for Scott Pilgrim Vs The World. Though there are a variety of new acts found on the collection, these bands have all contributed pieces that piece together in harmony around a film that it’s best suited making the Scott Pilgrim Vs The World soundtrack a genuinely fantastic record.
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