Wire: & All the Pieces Matter - Five Years
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Free Music Notes for Wire: & All the Pieces Matter - Five Years
Free Music Review: Well worth the wait
Hit: 5 Stars
I remember I was out there searching for music from "The Wire" just after the first season came to an end and wondering why there wasn't any available. I thought there just had to be a soundtrack album at some point simply because not only was the music so good, it was also utilised incredibly skilfully and carefully.
And here we are at last. Better late than never I suppose and actually, looking back on it now I suppose it wouldn't have made much sense to release a soundtrack to accompany every season. This idea here is obviously so much better. Almost all of the music I remember hearing and loving on the show is on this CD, including all four versions of the title tune, "Way Down In The Hole". My favourite is the version by Domaje, the only one not performed by a big name act and I'm pretty sure the version by The Blind Boys From Alabama on here is slightly different and rather longer than the one from the show. It's all good though.
There are 35 tracks on the disc in all but some of those are, inevitably, spoken interludes from key scenes from the show over all five seasons. It's an eclectic mix, with banging hip-hop mostly provided, naturally, by local Baltimore talent, which I think is a great thing. There's also folk, bluegrass, blues, music with a distinct Middle Eastern flavour and even jazz, though I would've really loved it if they had included Miles Davis's "All Blues", which I definitely did hear playing in the background during a bar scene from season one - but maybe that would be asking too much.
The comprehensive inner-sleeve booklet, including contributions from David Simon, George Pelecanos and Jeff Chang, is a great companion to the DVDs and a good indicator of what the show offers for anyone who hasn't yet seen it. Music impresario Trevor Nelson usually divides music into what's good for the club, what's good for the jeep and what's good for the bedroom when he reviews albums on MTV Base and I would say that this is definitely one for the jeep. Put it in and blare it loud.
My favourite tracks on here include "Oh My God" by Michael Franti & Spearhead, "Assume The Position" by Lafayette Gilchrist, "Efuge Efuge" by Stelios Kazantzidis, "Projects" by Tyree Colion, "Ayo" by Bossman and "The Life, The Hood, The Streetz" by Mullyman. Every time I hear that last one, I just think of Donut riding around in those massive SUVs he used to steal, his head barely high enough for him to see outside the windscreen, his feet barely long enough to reach the pedals. It always brings a smile to my face. And of course, there's that ghostly closing theme "The Fall" by Blake Leyh.
All in all, a great CD to complement a phenomenal TV show. Well worth the wait.
Free Music Review: Crafted with care
Hit: 5 Stars
The makers of The Wire care.
This is evident in the show itself, with its passionate attack on all that is wrong with America today. The same search for truth and justice is also present in the writing of David Simon and other writers who were involved in the show, such as George Pelecanos (the reason I originally became interested in the show).
Another kind of care goes into details. In one of the great essays involved in this compilation's booklet, Simon explains how they would go to great lengths in order to get the voices and worlds of ghetto boys and longshoremen alike just right. This extended to the musical choices: apart from the season finale songs, all the music had to be something you could actually hear coming from radios, blaring from jeeps or playing in clubs in Baltimore.
Often this care and attention to detail made things more difficult for the creators of the show, but the result is something that I believe will endure for many years to come. It is a show to be proud of, and this compilation reflects the love that went into making The Wire.
The stylish black-and-silver packaging is impressive. In the thick booklet you'll find three interesting essays talking about the show itself and the music on the CD. The booklet is printed on quality paper and features numerous color photographs as well as choice quotes from along the way. In short, it's above and beyond most soundtrack albums I've seen. I sort of hope that the DVD sets had contained more extra material like this, because The Wire is one of those rare beasts I want to know more and more about.
The music and dialogue snippets bring back great memories from the show. It's a varied mix, with styles ranging from rough-sounding hip hop to melancholy Greek singing. Simon and Pelecanos are definitely music lovers, which comes through clearly in Pelecanos' essay, and they've managed to make strong picks while steering clear of the obvious choices. They've had great help from De'Rodd Hearns (whose early life was documented in The Corner) and Blake Leyh, resulting in an impressive collection of music. Like the show itself, it might just expand your horizons.
Free Music Review: All the pieces really do matter
Hit: 5 Stars
HBO's brilliant, critically acclaimed, and dreadfully underrated crime drama (compared to The Sopranos, Deadwood, and many other HBO shows that garnered more limelight) The Wire may be over and gone, but at least before then the good sense of HBO was finally put forward in releasing a soundtrack album to the beloved series. "The Wire: And All the Pieces Matter" is a collection featuring songs used in the series, as well as dialogue snippets that outline everything from the beginning of the series to the very end. Here, we get versions of the show's opening song "Way Down in the Hole" by The Blind Boys of Alabama, The Neville Brothers, Domaje, and Tom Waits (Steve Earle's take is not here, but he does contribute "Feel Alright"), as well as "The Body of An American" by the Irish-fueled The Pogues, and assorted tracks that can be found on the "Beyond Hamsterdam: Baltimore Tracks from The Wire" companion album (which kind of makes that disc not worth picking up if you buy this, unless you're a completest). What really sparks this compilation however are the dialogue tracks peppered between the songs, when all are combined perfectly captures the dangerous atmosphere that makes up David Simon's brillaint show. Closing out the album is Blake Leyh's brilliant and haunting score "The Fall", which is only fitting as a closer here after closing out every episode of the series. All in all, "The Wire: And All the Pieces Matter" is a must own for fans of the beloved series, and now that the series is over and gone, this is even more worth picking up all the more.Free Music Review: A powerful musical compilation, representative of the series. Maintains the quality that defines The Wire
Hit: 5 Stars
Not much to add beyond what others have said, really.
This isn't a CD as much as a book with a CD. The insert has three essays, one by David Simon, George Pelecanos, and Jeff Chang (not sure who he is), that discuss the series and the use of the music. It's rather substanstial, surprisingly so, and I really liked reading it. Also full of gorgeous pictures of the show.
My only "complaint" would be that I wish we could have had more of the character voices: Snoop, Bubbles, Marlo, Omar, Prop Joe, Rawls... Just hearing Bodie, The Bunk, McNulty, Sobotka, Stringer, Poot, D'Angelo brings the whole movie back. They should could included the voices that said the little quotes that preceded each episode, for example.
I almost wish they'd release an 80 minute CD of just some great lines of dialogue (Good night, Moon from Season 5 makes me cry its so good) as well as the episode pre-quotes, etc. I'd love to just listen to the 5 seasons unfold like that.
Free Music Review: Great CD overall
Hit: 5 Stars
Nice collection of some of the more memorable songs from show. My only fault is on some of renditions of "Down in the Hole" they included the tail end of the wire theme fading into the actual song, so it's not a clean copy of that song. I expect that nonsense from radio, but not from a CD I paid $21 for and waited for years to be avaliable
Same is true of the D'Angelo Barksdale quote of "The King Stay The King", for some inexplicable reason it starts with a fade in clip of "My Life Extra".
These quibbles aside, as major wire freak, I am very happy with this set.