A clear homage to the 1960’s spaghetti westerns, “Rome” is the film soundtrack without the film. The intentions of Danger Mouse (the man behind Gnarls Barkley, Broken Bells, and numerous other music projects) and collaborator Daniele Luppi (composer and arranger for the same projects) are clear down to the album cover: “Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi Present: Rome” followed by a black bleeding heart. At the bottom, “Starring Jack White and Norah Jones."
Granted, not all the listeners of the album would be familiar with the spaghetti westerns that “Rome” tips its hat to. Fortunately, Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi have an uncanny ability to make the music listenable. It’s still alternative rock. It’s not as painful as having to listen to an actual film soundtrack. That’s not to say the album doesn’t capture the nostalgia (perhaps melancholia is a better word) of the 1960’s. Hell, Daniele Luppi went so far as to hire the session muscians Ennio Morricone used in the 1960’s, many of these guys being in their late 70’s.
The sound is there. It’s composed brilliantly. The album starts out quiet. Track One: Theme of “Rome”. Drums come in, almost like war drums, then, suddenly, a stroke of a guitar. Silence. Another guitar stroke. And then above it all, a voice comes in. No lyrics, just voice (reminiscent of…well, let’s just say it’s the same choir that sang in “The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly”) And underneath to support it, strings come in. Nothing complicated though, just smooth strokes supporting the upper melody.
The music continues in a similar fashion. There is definite emphasis in simplicity. The song that’s most outwardly rock would be “Two Against One”, featuring Jack White (White Stripes), which could also be the album’s most popular song, assuming that the popularity of it in iTunes means anything.
A movie sound track without the movie. Great attention grabber. I get a strong sense of what this album sounds like from your review.
ReplyDeleteGood job, this makes me want to listen to a movie soundtrack for once.
ReplyDeleteThis is well-written, informative, simple and straight to the point. Well done.
ReplyDeleteWell written. I think the third paragraph is really where you start to talk about the music. if you wanted to expand, this would be where to do it. Also, clever ending. Answer: It doesn't.
ReplyDeleteI got a really clear picture of the album from this review. It seems like overall you're trying to praise it, but you probably shouldn't use phrases like "listenable" and "not as painful as" in a positive review. Still, I love Spaghetti Westerns, and I really want to hear this album now.
ReplyDeleteI like how u describe on the background of this album and what kind of moives the music was for.
ReplyDeleteThe details you used such as the fact that he used some of the original musicians makes your review even stronger. Good job.
ReplyDeleteReally liked the review, it was just straight forward and informative and I enjoyed the descriptions and imagery, 'almost like war drums, then, suddenly a stroke of guitar.'
ReplyDeletevery descriptive review!! i felt like i could hear the music while i was reading it, and each sentence added to the music in my head. really liked the use of words like "nostalgia" and "melancholia". i think this review would be effective with readers of all musical inclinations.
ReplyDeleteGreat use of imagery to describe the sound? (I don't think my review makes sense). It is a little jumpy but I think it works well with the album in which you are reviewing.
ReplyDeletenice job. brief and straight to the point. nice descriptions.
ReplyDeletevery nice description of the soundtrack. Informative, but simple review.
ReplyDelete