Love, Actually (Soundtrack)

...all the different kinds of love, from the idealic to the realistic.

Compliation albums are always a bit of a strange mix, there is going to be the old and new, good and bad, sometimes vaguely strung together and mismatched. This album is beautifully put together. The only let down to me is the featuring of three Christmas songs; Christmas Is All Around, White Christmas and All I Want For Christmas. I feel, after watching the film, ...
...it is that stage of love, almost obsession, when to you, that person becomes the centre of your universe and nothing else around you seems important.

Too Lost In You is a lot more of a soulful, easy listening song then what the Sugababes are renowned for. There is a chanting drum beat to the song that almost gets you into the hypnosis of the love obsession described in the song.

“I can't see anything Cos this love's ... more

I was lucky enough to be bought this soundtrack, for no reason other than for being Me! I got it before I actually watched the film so a few songs confused me, such as Billy Mack’s version of Christmas Is All Around, however after watching the film it has all made sense and come together beautifully.

I think it is impossible to speak about this soundtrack without some references to the film, as this is the soundtrack to a film so all the emotions and highs and lows of the fim are conveyed in its' music.

The music from Love Actually truly makes the film and feeds off your emotions experienced while watching it. It covers all the different kinds of love, from the idealic to the realistic.

Compliation albums are always a bit of a strange mix, there is going to be the old and new, good and bad, sometimes vaguely strung together and mismatched. This album is beautifully put together. The only let down to me is the featuring of three Christmas songs; Christmas Is All Around, White Christmas and All I Want For Christmas. I feel, after watching the film, that Christmas Is All Around fits in beautiful and lightens the mood, however I could have done without the other two songs, but then you can always skip them if you don’t have to listen to them until next christmas!

For all of you who have watched the film you will be delighted to know the soundtrack cover has 10 of the main characters on it. So when you're trying to describe the film to someone you can point out the Pm, the writer, the bride etc and try and remember how they are connected together! The booklet inside not only lists the writers, singers and details of the songs but some pictures from the film and a short note from Richard Curtis.

Twenty songs and scores from the film are included in this soundtrack. I found it unusual that after watching the film, I was able to place the songs in it. Usual I find a few songs sqeezed in that don't quite make any sense.Very happily for me they do not include the song, Bye bye baby, played at the funeral. I would be crying all the way through the album knowing it was coming up!

*01 Jump (For My Love), Girls Aloud

From the Girl band created by Pop Idols The Rivals. Previous hits include Sounds of the Underground and No Good Advice.

A real feel good song, one to get you to hunt out those legwarmers and go running around your bedroom with your hair brush microphone.
It is a very inspiring, Get up and go for it song. Basically telling you that if you fancy someone and the feeling is mutual then go for it – Jump right in!

For those who have watched the film this will conjure up the memories of Hugh Grant, playing the British Prime Minister, dancing around No10 Downing Street. This had me in absolute stitches and really bought the song to live.

“Your eyes, tell me how you want me. I can feel it in your heart beat. I know you like what you see. Hold me; I'll give you all that you need.”

*02 Too Lost In You, Sugababes

From the young girl band who have had recent successes with the songs Stronger and Hole In The Head.

This is a love song which I find beautiful and very realistic to how you can feel when you are deep in love with someone. It is all about losing your identity and getting so lost in someone else that you feel you have lost your own being. To me it is that stage of love, almost obsession, when to you, that person becomes the centre of your universe and nothing else around you seems important.

Too Lost In You is a lot more of a soulful, easy listening song then what the Sugababes are renowned for. There is a chanting drum beat to the song that almost gets you into the hypnosis of the love obsession described in the song.

“I can't see anything Cos this love's got me blind. I can't help myself. I can't break the spell, I can't even try”

*03 The Trouble With Love Is, Kelly Clarkson

Kelly Clarkson is a new girl in the music scene; she has had recent successes with Miss Independent and A moment Like This. She has a very emotional, passionate voice similar in style to Mariah Carey.

This is a very realistic love song about how powerful love is and how it can take over your whole life without you having a say in it at all. No matter how many times you have been stung by love when it calls your name you will go running.
This song for me is sad because it is basically saying that love always ends the same, you get hurt and dust yourself off, and then head for another fall.

“The trouble with love is It can tear you up inside; Make your heart believe a lie. It's stronger than your pride.”

*04 Here With Me, Dido

This is a classic song from Dido’s first album. Her recent songs include Life for Rent and White Flag.

Ok, this is another sad one on the album, but please don’t let that put you off! This is about the huge power that love has over you and how empty it can leave you when that love is no longer there. It can leave you numb and life less wondering how life can go on.

“I won't go I won't sleep I can't breathe until you're resting here with me”

*05 Christmas Is All Around, Billy Mack.

My God, where do I start describing this song? As I got this album before I saw the film it made no sense to me at all and I thought it was bliming awful and couldn’t see how it got on the album. So let me feel you in on the background.

“Wouldn’t it be great if (Christmas) No1 wasn’t some smug teenager but an old ex heroine addict searching for a comeback at any price.”

Billy Mack is an aging ex rock star who is trying to make a comeback and so is recording a song for Christmas which he thinks is rubbish in the hope that it will give him a hit. He is a truly loveable rogue, a lot like Johnny Rotten ex Sex Pistols.

Remember the song Love is All Around, by Wet Wet Wet well this song is to that tune with a few words changed and some bells to give it a Christmas theme. The ultimate in Cheese and a fabulous laugh, especially with the extra syllable squeezed in!

“So if you really Love Christmas, come on and let it Snow.”

*06 Turn Me On, Norah Jones

Norah Jones is becoming a huge star with a truly unique, enchanting voice. Her recent hits include Come Away With Me.

Turn Me On is an extremely sensual, passionate song. It is about someone waiting for their lover to come on home to turn them on. It is about all the excitement of waiting for someone to come home and the emptiness without them around. A truly beautiful song and a had a nice long smooch and dance to this one.

“Like the desert waiting for the rain; Like a school kid waiting for the spring. I’m just sitting here waiting for you to come on home and turn me on.”

*07 Songbird, Eva Cassidy

This is a truly beautiful, emotional song. It is about a lady who has lost the person she truly loves but how life goes on even though your World has fallen apart. The birds keep singing not knowing the pain she is going through.

This song was used in the movie for the love affair, or lack off, between Sarah and Karl. These are two people who really like each other and want to be together but due to Sarah’s circumstances they can not be together. I don’t want to go into too much detail as it will spoil the film for those who have not yet seen it.

“And the the songbirds keep singing like they know the score.”

*08 Sweetest Goodbye, Maroon 5

This is a song about everything that someone is willing to give for love and everything they get from it themselves. All the physical emotions they feel and how you want your lover to be right next to you all the time. This song has got a catchy beat but I find little meaning in it for me personally and I find the words a little forced and randomly put together.

“I'll never leave you behind Or treat you unkind”

*09 Wherever You Will Go, The Calling

This is one of my favourite songs on this album. It is about following love whether it will take you, through the rough and the smooth. It is very optimistic, feel good song. It has a rock feel to it and excellent acoustics throughout. This is how I feel about love; you will follow your lover through whatever life throws at you. It reminds you of the strength and comfort you can get just through having your loved one standing beside you.

“If I could, then I would I’ll go whether you will go. Way up high, or down low, I’ll go wherever you will go.”

*10 I’ll See It Through, Texas

Texas are a popular Scottish band whose recent hits include Halo and Once in a Lifetime.

This is song about how a woman has found the love of her life time and all the emotions that that person makes them feel. She is shown so many things that she never thought she would see or feel and they have both been hurt in the past so they have to take it easy, but stick with it. This song has a real Roxette feel to it for me.

The mood of the song is fairly down beat though and quite slow in tempo making it not quite as happy as the words convey, a good song however a certainly worth a listen.

“You're all I've ever wanted, loving you's the right thing to do And I'll see it through”

*11 Both Sides Now, Joni Mitchell

This is an absolutely beautiful song about the two sides of falling in and out of love. For those of you who have seen the film this is the song for Emma Thompson’s character. She plays a happily married woman who discovers that her husband is having an affair. It completely destroys her life and the way she feels for her husband. It is about how people change and how you have to see the good and bad in everything and learn from it. The music is very calm and soothing which gives the words more power through their celerity.

“I’ve looked at Love from both sides now…..I really don’t know love at all.”

*12 White Christmas, Otis Reading.

A true classic Christmas song, by a very soulful artist.

This song is about the excitement and hopefulness of Christmas. Everyone wants a white Christmas because of all the hope and joy it brings with it, a fresh clean start for the New Year.

“I’m dreaming of a White Christmas…May your days be merry and bright.”

*13 Take Me As I Am, Wyclef Jean featuring Sharissa

This is a brilliant feel good song about how when you love someone you take them as they are, no matter what. This is not a classic duet, it has a reggae feel to it and is almost like a conversation going on between them.

No matter how much they can annoy each other and no one understands why they are together they know they are in love and make the commitment to each other.

“You take me as I am, girl I'm a take you as you are. Even though my fam don't understand. My people on the block, they don't understand, no, no Why I put that rock up on your hand, Cause I take you as you are, you're a star.”

*14 All I Want For Christmas Is You, Olivia Olson

This version is a lot faster than Mariah Carey’s version and I feel it spoils this song a little. I am sure you will all know this song; it’s a classic of our time. It’s about how exciting Christmas is for everyone but how it can all mean nothing without your loved ones around you.

“Make my wish come true, All I want for Christmas is You.”

*15 God Only Knows, The Beach Boys

Another true classic love song. This song is an all time favourite of mine. It about how your soul mate can make you everything you are, the bring out the best in you. Nothing is the same without them in your life and nothing makes sense.

“God only knows what I’ld be without you.”

*16 All You Need Is Love, Lynden David Hall

One of the most beautiful songs ever written by the awe inspiring John Lennon and Paul McCartney. After watching the film though I really miss the trumpets from the instrumentals, you feel it needs that extra feel good push from the movie. All you need in life is love; everything else falls into place when you have found it. They have put a gospel theme on this song which is beautiful but is would sound better with a stronger instrumental background and backing singers.

“Love is All you Need.”

*17 Sometimes, Gabrielle.

Gabrielle has a beautiful, soothing, emotional voice and theme to her music; other hits include Out of Reach and Sunshine.

This song is about all the motions conjured up when you are in love. It is such a realistic song about the highs and lows but how you can face them when you together. No matter what happens you want the one you love to be around and by your side.

“Sometimes I love you. Sometimes I don’t. But I never ever want to let you go. The roads not easy, but the feelings strong.”

*18 Glasgow Love Theme, Craig Armstrong

Craig Armstrong was the composer for the instrumentals in Moulin Rouge and The Quiet American.

This instrumental is a tense and some what sad composition which ends quiet hopefully and speeds up from a slow tempo to a faster, more excited, almost urgent pace. Instrumentals are a very important part of movies because music is used to convey your emotions with no words; you create the words through your own feelings. It is so clever to conjure up emotions through music alone and I feel like these instrumentals are a major part of both the movie and the soundtrack.

*19 Pm’s Love Theme, Craig Armstrong

As you would expect, being a Prime Minister’s love them this music has a rapid pace and urgency to it. It is full of emotion with a some what swirling, hectic organisation to it. It is a happy, excited composition with a someone peaceful, almost airy ending to it.

*20 Portugese Love Theme, Craig Armstrong

“Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the World, I think about the Arrivals Gate at Heathrow Airport….General Opinion’s starting to make out that we live in a World full of hatred and greed….But I don’t see that, seems to me that love is everywhere”.

These are the words that start the film, and this is what I think when I listen to this score. It is beautiful, very peaceful and content, not wanting to alarm or shock, just comfort you in the love that is all around, if you search hard enough.

This Cd was bought for £9.79 from Sainsbury's but can be found on CdWow for £8.99.

Bit of a strange title for my review you may think but it all makes sense, my fiance wrote it in the album cover:-
E very
M omemt
I
L ove
Y ou - soppy thing isn't he!!

I would definately recommend it as a Valantines Day present or for anyone who enjoyed the film. This is definately one of the best complication albums I have. Everyone's music tastes are different so it is likely that you may find one or two songs that are not your taste, but excusing the christmas songs this is an excellent collection of love songs.

I have found with recent Cd's I have purchased I have not been able to play them on my computer as they are protected but this Cd is not so you are able to play it while reading all my lovely reviews - hee hee!

Well I am off to rest my poor fingers!
Am grateful for all rating and feedback.
Thanks for reading
Em X 

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