Audio CD review:
Gustavo Santaolalla - 21 Grams

Gustavo Santaolalla - 21 Grams

Band: Gustavo Santaolalla Title: 21 Grams Rating: Release Date: 2003-12-09 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Do We Lose 21 Grams? 2: Can Things Be Better? 3: Did This Really Happen? 4: Cut Chemist Suite - Gustavo Santaolalla, Stewart, Charles 5: Should I Let Her Know? 6: Can Emptiness Be Filled? 7: Shake Rattle and Roll - Gustavo Santaolalla, Calhoun, Charles 8: Can I Be Forgiven? 9: Low Rider - Gustavo Santaolalla, Allen, Sylvester 10: Is There a Way to Help Her? 11: Does He Who Looks for the Truth, Deserve the Punishment for ... 12: You're Losing Me - Gustavo Santaolalla, Sexton, Ann 13: Can Dry Leaves Help Us? 14: Can We Mix the Unmixable? 15: Can Light Be Found in the Darkness? 16: When Our Wings Are Cut, Can We Still Fly?

21 Grams, 16 Tracks And the same applies to this magnificent soundtrack. This movie is not exactly average. Some of the tracks featured are very flawed. Tracks 4, 7, 9, and 12 aren't really necessary. 4,9, and 12 are songs by other artists that I guess must be in the movie, and 7 is a totally bizarre track of Benicio Del Torro just saying, "Wash your face and hands. Get in the kitchen. I'm hungry," and so forth. I don't know what exactly went on during the production of that, but it kind of sounds like a drunken rant. The other tracks however, are wonderful. The same theme is played in several, but the music is so atmospheric and charismatic that it doesn't get mundane. The tracks are filled with beautiful, and moody melodies that echo greatly the themes and meaning of the film itself. A great aspect of the soundtrack is that the tracks are extremely short. The longest (Del Torro's insane hypnotic track) clocks in at six minutes. Most are about 2 minutes. This makes them accessible, short and sweet. I especially love the second to last track "Can Light Be Found in the Darkness. " Rent the film, buy the soundtrack. . 3.5 Stars for 21 Grams Gustavo's score for 21 Grams is haunting, beautiful, and evocative. . unfortunately, too little of it appears on this album. Which is not really a fault of Varese Sarabande (this time), but mostly because there doesn't seem to be much more than 20-25 minutes of score in the movie, either. On the plus side, there is more score here than the terrible 15 minute treatment of Gustavo's Brokeback Mountain CD, but not much, and the additional songs are rather useless - Low Rider is a gooder, but completely out of place, Ann Sexton's is boring, the rap song is horrendous, and Shake Rattle and Roll is almost painful to listen to (6 minutes of Benicio Del Toro mutter an Elvis song is a lot to take). That having said, I should really be focusing more on what's here than what isn't. The score is understated, but beautiful, and captures the mood of the film perfectly. The two final tracks were worth my 11 bucks alone - they're mysterious, moving, and rather wonderful. Because of the impact of the music, one wishes more of it was here than 20-25 minutes (not exactly sure how much score exactly is here), but then, that might just be a creative choice for the film. . Not my style A severe disappointment. This was a gift intended to be of the Motorcycle Diaries genre. Very little music, a lot of deep voice mystical inference. A little too extreme (weird?) if you are expecting music. Great for nighttime They are appealing to me partly because of how different they are from the material he produces for others. Being one the most popular producers in Rock En Espanol, I've kept an eye on Gustavo Santaolalla's solo productions. Among the bands that have worked with him are Cafe Tacuba, Molotov and other acts that are do not precisely play "quiet" music. Yet, Santaolalla's music is not jumpy or upbeat, but rather calm, almost on an ambient note, incorporating instruments native to South America. In the score to "21 Grams", thanks to the extensive use of the bandoneon, there's a strong Argentinian flavor in the midst of the darkness that the music carries. The songs almost all have a voice of their own, which allows them to answer in musical terms the questions that the songtitles pose: "Do We Lose 21 Grams?", "Can I Be Forgiven?", "Can Light Be Found In The Darkness?". Complementing Santaolalla's tracks are a solid Ozomatli song, inviting eclectic tunes by War and Ann Sexton, a Ronroco-like song by Kronos Quartet and the most interesting rendition of "Shake Rattle and Roll" you will ever hear, sung (or rather recited in a dark tone) by Benicio Del Toro himself. Though I didn't find the album to be his best work to date (I still feel his first one, "Ronroco" and the OST to "Amores Perros", which he majestically produced, are his best and second best albums), still I recommend it as an incredible work, one that I particularly enjoy listening at night, while writing or reading. Beautiful I totally recommend it, it's deep, moving, and powerful. This is one of the best soundtracks I have ever come across. You can see a complete list of all Gustavo Santaolalla discography, or go back to the Gustavo Santaolalla tabs