Hbo movie soundtracks in TV & Movie Soundtracks

"Deadwood: Music From the HBO Original Series [PA]" (02/08/2005) Rock & Pop Original Soundtrack, Lost Highway RecordsEnthusiasts of the acclaimed HBO series DEADWOOD will love this well-selected soundtrack. In addition to its excellent song selection, which features musical highlights from the program's first season, the album includes snippets of dialogue from the show. Memorable exchanges between characters Clell Watson, Joanie Stubbs, Seth Bullock, and the foul-mouthed, appropriately named Al Swearengen are interspersed with the musical treasures here, making this as much a souvenir piece as a collection of music. But the music is superb as well, with its emphasis on American roots styles that evoke an old-world flavor. Jelly Roll Morton's hot jazz take on "Stars and Stripes Forever" and Mississippi John Hurt's "Farther Along" represent, respectively, the urban and rural strains of African-American music at the time, while Gustavo Santaolalla's Brazilian excursion "Iguazu" and Margaret's Native-American "Creek Lullaby" keep the stylistic palette revolving. Contemporary artists Michael Hurley and Lyle Lovett fit surprisingly well with the old-school blues and country here, making DEADWOOD an engaging listen, even for those unfamiliar with the show. (Note: The edited version of the soundtrack excludes the dialogue tracks.)

"Deadwood: Music from the HBO Original Series [Clean] [Edited]" (02/08/2005) Rock & Pop Original Soundtrack, Lost Highway RecordsEnthusiasts of the acclaimed HBO series DEADWOOD will love this well-selected soundtrack. In addition to its excellent song selection, which features musical highlights from the program's first season, the album includes snippets of dialogue from the show. Memorable exchanges between characters Clell Watson, Joanie Stubbs, Seth Bullock, and the foul-mouthed, appropriately named Al Swearengen are interspersed with the musical treasures here, making this as much a souvenir piece as a collection of music. But the music is superb as well, with its emphasis on American roots styles that evoke an old-world flavor. Jelly Roll Morton's hot jazz take on "Stars and Stripes Forever" and Mississippi John Hurt's "Farther Along" represent, respectively, the urban and rural strains of African-American music at the time, while Gustavo Santaolalla's Brazilian excursion "Iguazu" and Margaret's Native-American "Creek Lullaby" keep the stylistic palette revolving. Contemporary artists Michael Hurley and Lyle Lovett fit surprisingly well with the old-school blues and country here, making DEADWOOD an engaging listen, even for those unfamiliar with the show. (Note: The edited version of the soundtrack excludes the dialogue tracks.) The soundtrack to HBO's award-winning western series is as mischievous and grim as the town that serves as its namesake. Composer David Schwartz (Northern Exposure) provides the rousing title sequence with a theme that blends classic cowboy motifs with spooky bits of worldbeat flavor that reflect Deadwood's multi-cultural locals and hellfire and brimstone proselytizing. Like The Sopranos, modern songs rarely occur before the closing credits, so the producers have integrated audio clips from some of the town's most creative and colorful orators -- mainly Al Swearangen whose electric vocabulary reflects the prefix of his last name -- to fill in the gaps. For the most part, Deadwood plays like a country-folk jukebox with a little piano blues thrown in for good measure, but there are notable highlights including Michael Hurley's amiable "Hog of the Forsaken," the late June Carter Cash's gorgeous and sparse rendition of "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" and Lyle Lovett's "Old Friend," a song that poignantly followed the death of one of the show's central figureheads Wild Bill Hickock. [The soundtrack is also available in a Clean Version that omits all of the "offending" sound bytes.] ~ James Christopher Monger