Loudon Wainwright III - Strange Weirdos: Music From & Inspired By the Film 'Knocked Up'
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Loudon Wainwright IIIBrand: Baker & Taylor
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2007-05-22
Music Label: Concord Records
Soundtracks:
- Grey In L.A.
- You Can't Fail Me Now
- Daughter
- Ypsilanti
- So Much To Do
- Valley Morning
- X Or Y
- Final Frontier
- Feel So Good
- Lullaby
- Naomi
- Doin' the Math
- Strange Weirdos
- Passion Play
Free Music Notes for Strange Weirdos: Music From & Inspired By the Film 'Knocked Up'
Free Music Review: A soundtrack that actually outshines the movie
Hit: 5 Stars
Sometimes it's difficult to rate a genre of music that I don't normally listen to. But be rest assured, the quality of musicianship on Strange Weirdos is unmatched. I heard "You Can't Fail Me Now" on the radio before I even saw Knocked Up. For me, this is the flagship piece in the album. Patrick Warren's subtle string arrangement at the bridge is so gorgeous that I rushed out to buy the cd. Now "gorgeous string arrangement" is a phrase that is oft abused, but you won't make that mistake here: the stateliness of the quartet is the core of that which makes perfect unions.
Though "Ypsilanti" (an instrumental) and Strange Weirdos incorporate the same string quartet and similar arrangements, "You Can't Fail Me Now" is the track when everything - lyrics, music, voice, arrangement - come together. Joe Henry, who co-wrote many of the songs on this soundtrack have stated that "You Can't...." was mostly his song. Enamoured with it as I was, I searched for the music of both Patrick Warren, who was responsible for the string arrangment and Joe Henry. Joe Henry released an album in 2007 called "Civilians" which also featured this song. Loudon Wainwright III also performs it live on the dvd extras of Knocked Up. Both versions are without string accompaniement, and to my ears, never quite attain the perfection of the track on this cd. So this version is not to be missed!
As for the rest of the soundtrack inspired by the movie, it's a mixture of what some may call "Neo-Folk," from Van Dyke Parks's accordion-laden opening measures of "Grey in L.A." (which could be read as a repartee to Randy Newman's "I Love in L.A.") to the bluesy honky-tonk "So Much To Do" and "Feel So Good" to the shuffle of "X Or Y" and "Passion Play," the slow 3/4 waltz of "Final Frontier. "Daughter" stands out as perhaps another installment of the ongoing lyrical skirmishes (Father/Daughter dialogue) between Loudon and his musician daughter Martha, who wrote "Bloody MF ****ole" in honor of her dad.
"Lullaby" though a quiet, stately piece musically, contains lyrics that one can't help reading into, given Wainwright's tumultuous parenthood in real life. (He is also the dad of Rufus Wainwright) "Naomi" is another instrumental which is the only piece that sounds remotely like something used in the movie.
Upbeat "Passion Play" closes out a remarkable cd that includes Richard Thompson on electric guitar, Greg Leisz, a host of skillful supporting musicians and the Section Quartet. A plausible and logical combination for a sountrack to an implausible movie about an implausible union.
Strange Weirdos: Music From & Inspired By the Film 'Knocked Up' Poster
Track Listings:Grey in L.A.You Can't Fail Me NowDaughterYpsilantiSo Much to DoValley MorningX or YFinal FrontierFeel So GoodLullabyNaomiDoin' the MathStrange WeirdosPassion PlayRather than an ordinary film soundtrack, this might more accurately be considered an exceptional Loudon Wainwright album. A diehard Wainwright fan, director Judd Apatow explains in his liner notes that he asked the singer-songwriter to score Knocked Up, Apatow's first film since The 40-Year-Old Virgin, only to learn that Wainwright was about to embark on his next recording project with producer Joe Henry. The resulting album features material that Wainwright had written before the film score that the director wanted to use, other cuts that are instrumental snippets in the movie but are songs with lyrics on the album, and still others that take thematic inspiration from the film. While Wainwright so often writes lacerating and hilariously personal material, many of these songs are more like character studies, with a musical range that extends from the ragtime "So Much to Do" (one of two songs written with Henry) and the call-and-response of the chromosome ditty "X or Y" to the Brecht/Weill cabaret tinge of "Final Frontier" to the bluesy "Doin' the Math." Among the musicians providing stellar support are guitarists Richard Thompson and Greg Leisz and keyboardists Patrick Warren and Van Dyke Parks. --Don McLeese
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