![]() ![]() ![]() Particularly the tracks from the ‘All Gold Canyon’ story, which sees Tom Waits’ character work hard and methodically to find a pocket of gold. ‘Canyon Awake’, ‘How Deep’ and others have a romantic quality to them. It’s still probably one of the weakest tracks though. It starts off a little too softly to make much of an impact, but again has that dark, brooding build towards the end. ‘Our Revels’ follows with another gentle track. It’s one of the lower key tracks which maintains a quiet sense of sadness, though it has a slight build towards the end similar to a lot of the tracks here. ‘The Wingless Thrush’ is a particularly poignant number to match the ‘Meal Ticket’ story it goes along with. ‘Near Algodones’ is a particularly dark, electric slide guitar number that shivers with tension, bringing in timpani towards the end to accentuate this. ‘Carefree Drifter’ (performed by David Rawlings & Gillian Welch) is another very short harmonica-led cue that may not last long but plays its part. There are a few short little asides on the soundtrack that all have their charm, like the fun honky-tonk piano of ‘Randall Collins’. It’s one of the most enjoyable moments of the film and works well in audio form too. ‘Little Joe the Wrangler (Surly Joe)’ is a fun and catchy song with plenty of dark humour (“Where the heck his face has got to, we don’t know”). Like most of the songs on the album, it verges on parody but is done with enough respect for the genre/style and subtly clever writing that it’s actually rather effective as a ballad in its own right. ‘When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings’ (with Willie Watson joining Nelson) is a sweet sentimental number with a hint of tongue-in-cheek in its lyrics. The other Nelson songs are spread throughout the album, which otherwise plays out the tracks in chronological order. It’s got a catchy tune and a quirky backing with some warped whistles (or possibly saw?) providing a counterpoint to the melody. ![]() It’s a lightly comic song, like Nelson’s other contributions here. ‘Cool Water’ is the first of the Tim Blake Nelson tracks, from the ‘Ballad of Buster Scruggs’ segment of the anthology film. As with a lot of Burwell’s work with the Coens, there’s a dark edge to most of the tracks, but there’s also a sweetness and warmth coming out on numerous occasions. This and others mix a traditional western style sound with Burwell’s typical brooding and subtly grand feel heard in soundtracks like those for Miller’s Crossing and Fargo. Things get off to a gentle start with ‘The Book’, which slowly unfolds from a simple guitar line to a lush orchestral bloom. I loved the film (it made my top ten of the year), so did the soundtrack match up to it? For once I made sure to watch the film beforehand, hence the delayed write-up. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs saw the brothers venture back into the western genre after True Grit and once again Burwell was there with them to provide the score, of which I received a CD to review. The work Burwell produces for them is almost always great too, so I don’t blame the Coens for very rarely letting anyone else give it a go. The Coen Brothers have had a long working relationship with Carter Burwell all the way back to their debut, Blood Simple. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |