CD Review: 105 Movie Themes/ 105 Singer-Songwriters

Remember the days when Dolly Parton’s Jolene and Elvis Presley’s Hound Dog were always played on radio? If your answer is yes, you’re in for a treat! Sony Music Singapore has released two heavily-packed albums, 105 Movie Themes and 105 Singer-Songwriters.  Yes, 105 all-time favourite tracks in each album which consists of 6 CDs each. That’s more than 6 hours of nostalgic tracks from critically acclaimed movies such as Wonder Boys, Forrest Gump, A Walk To Remember, Pretty Woman and talented singer-songwriters such as Cyndi Lauper, Barry Manilow, Johnny Cash, Michael Bolton and many more. What more can you ask for?

These albums should be more than enough to satisfy your need for good old music. Although they are obviously targeted at the older crowd, there are some pretty recent tracks such as The Show by Australian Singer-Songwriter Lenka which was featured in the British film ‘Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging’ in 2008 and the ever so popular How To Save A Life by the American piano rock band The Fray.

Although majority of the tracks were new to me, some tracks such as I Try by Grammy Award-winning R&B singer-songwriter Macy Gray and The Way You Look Tonight by the talented Tony Bennet, who recently collaborated with Lady Gaga and the late Amy Winehouse, resonated with me.

It was definitely a good and much needed break from all the electronic music that has taken over the music industry although it did get quite dull after awhile.

Personally, I think this album would both sound and feel much better while traveling. Commuting with the haunting yet beautiful voice of Bob Dylan would just trigger huge waves of nostalgia. At least it did for me.

My only qualm – 105 tracks on each album was a little too excessive for me. I find it very difficult to remember the tracks that I actually enjoy and find myself skipping tracks here and there as there were just too many to go through. The lo-fi sounding tracks also got too repetitive for me and I just got bored with the album.

(Nigel)