Thomas Newman - American Beauty: Music From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

What's the soundtrack for suburbia gone awry? Perhaps it's American Beauty--the music for the dark Sam Mendes-directed flick starring Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening. With its mix of classic and indie rock, the disc seems to reflect something for everyone (or at least those found in middle America). Bobby Darin's "Don't Rain on My Parade" is the epitome of unhip, Free's "All Right Now" is a classic rock anthem we've heard way too many times, and Peggy Lee's "Bali Ha'i" is vintage exotica at its best. But then there are some surprises: Elliott Smith's harmonizing "Because" is pure Brian Wilson, Folk Implosion's "Free to Go" is one of the group's best tracks, and Eels' "Cancer for the Cure" is a gritty but infectious taste of alt-rock. Thomas Newman's percussive "Dead Already" creates a tense mood to start things off. --Jason Verlinde Amazon.com

Disappointed

I agree with most of the other people...I purchased this CD solely for the Annie Lennox song "Don't let it bring you down" and it isn't even on there. I can only give this CD a 2..and yes the other songs missing by The Guess Who "American Woman" especially are a huge disappointment. November 14, 2007

Listen Closer.

Don't let "The Two Rules Of Soundtracks" be the complete basis of your decision to buy this soundtrack. True, some of the major players (i.e. "American Woman", "Watchtower", and "Don't Let It Bring You Down") aren't on the disc, and are sorely missed, but I must bring to light a fault on the second point.

I'm a soundtrack nerd, and the notion of additional tracks that aren't featured on the movie is an annoyance... but that is not true of this soundtrack. For my own pleasure, I recently put the score and the soundtrack together and in order. Out of both, with help from my DVD, I was only unable to place one of the tracks featured here; not three or four as previously stated. The reason that they were missed was probably due to the fact that they weren't in the forefront. Examples: the music video Angela and Jane were watching ("Cancer For The Cure"), the songs playing in Angela's car ("Use Me") and Jane's room ("We Haven't Turned Around")...

Just because they weren't prominently featured doesn't mean they weren't there. This is still a well put together soundtrack, the only reason it's getting three stars from me is because of the missing tracks. September 26, 2005

Baba O'Reilly

This soundtrack is deceptive. I agree with those who suggested soundbytes and including the proper tracks. Buy the other soundtrack. All Newman, all the time. Fabulous, haunting stuff. The real name of 'Teenage Wasteland' by the way, is Baba O'Reilly. I once won Who tickets because I knew the proper title for this song, so it stuck. July 14, 2005

Not up to par with the amazing film

I love American Beauty, and I thought the score, and music were fantastic, but the soundtrack lacks. Many of the songs were not in the movie at all.

It failed to include two very important songs:
"All Along the Watchtower" Bob Dylan
and the Annie Lennox song played by Angela before Lester seduces her.

The songs also are in a completely different order than they were in the film, with "All Right Now" as track number 3, when it didn't appear until the last 20 minutes of the film.

Good Film. Bad Soundtrack. September 2, 2004

To "A Music Fan from Indiana"

The song you're looking for is "Teenaged Wasteland" by The Who! GREAT SONG! April 28, 2004

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