I love the film "Save the Last Dance" which stars Julia Stiles and Sean Patrick Thomas as star crossed lovers trying to have a multi-cultural relationship much to the disgust of their peers. Their relationship begins through a mutual love of dance, although their ideas of what constitutes good dancing are entirely different. In the film, Thomas's character teaches Julia's how to appreciate and move to r & b and hip-hop music and the soundtrack of the film reflects this. Which is one of the reasons why it is one of the few soundtracks I actually own and love.
THE GREAT TUNES
The album opens with "Shining Through", the theme-tune to the film. This features rapper Fredro Starr and soul singer Jill Scott and samples the Cyndi Lauper hit from the eighties with the same name, combining this with Starr's rap which is relevant to the theme of the film. He is basically saying that colour doesn't matter - "we're all the same colour when we turn out the light" - which, considering he played the most racist character in the show is somewhat ironic. It has a good message though, if slightly unrealistic, and is extremely catchy, although not a great tune to try to boogy along
to.
The album immediately picks up and ventures into a more dance-able territory with the next selection of songs. "You" sticks to typical laid back and funky Lucy Pearl territory and features hip hop accompaniment from Snoop Dog and Q-Tip - a real grower of a song that oozes sunshine and happiness. Meanwhile, "Bonafide" will have you wanting to shake your ass on the dancefloor within about five seconds - sexy and with a great beat, it boasts a fantastically catchy chorus.
Around the time of release of the soundtrack, the most famous tunes were probably tracks five and six - the Pink hit "You Make Me Sick" and Donell Jone's fabulous "U Know What's Up." You'll be singing along with both these fantastically infectious tracks - the only disadvantage being that the Jones' track is the version WITHOUT the late Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes' rapping cameo. It seems that a more hiphop version of the tune would be more in place in this album, but it's a small bone of contention.
The inclusion of the Chaka Demus and Pliers tune "Murder She Wrote" aims a nod towards the old school and will appeal to all those who remember the reggae pop of the early nineties which spawned such tunes. This is followed up by the equally storming Ice Cube track "You can Do it" - one of the catchiest and accessible hip hop tunes around and one that, when it comes on in a club, you'll find me and my friends on the dancefloor trying to recreate the moves from the film. (I nearly fell over once, unsurprisingly enough!)
The final truly fabulous song on the album is Athena Cage's "All Or Nothing", the song which Julia Stiles performs her character's contemporary dance audition to. This is a great, dramatic tune, almost epic at times - the music sounds almost classical in style and the lyrics are inspirational (if a little corny). It might not be the easiest track to dance to (unless you want to try to copy Stiles' dance from the film - which I haven't!) but this is one you can sing along with dramatically and empower yourself.
OTHER NOTABLE MENTIONS
Understand that there are no bad tunes on this album, simply ones I don't like quite as much as the aforementioned tunes. For example, I find the K-Ci & Jo Jo classic "Crazy" sweet but a little bland, an out-of-place ballad sandwiched between two upbeat r & b tunes. Soulbone's "My Window" is a song I really like, sounding a little like a tribal song in some places, but it is a little depressing and one of the main reasons I like this album is because it is really uplifting generally. I also enjoy the sexy "Get It on Tonite" by Montell Jordan but compared to other equivalent tunes like "Bonafide" it's nowhere near as captivating and infectious.
TRACK LISTING
1. Shining Through - Fredo Starr & Jill Scott 2. You - Lucy Pearl feat Snoop Dogg & Q-Tip 3. Bonafide - X-2-C 4. Crazy - K-Ci & Jo Jo 5. You Make Me Sick - Pink 6. U Know What's Up - Donell Jones 7. Move It Slow - Kevin Edmonds 8. Murder She Wrote - Chaka Demus & Pliers 9. You Can Do It - Ice Cube Feat Mack 10 & Ms Toi 10. My Window - Soulbone 11. Only You - 112 Feat Notorious B.I.G 12. Get On It Tonite - Montell Jordan 13. All Or Nothing - Athena Cage 14. Shining Through - Fredo Starr & Jill Scott (Bonus Track)
GOOD AND BAD POINTS
I like the fact that this soundtrack has used a wide range of styles from the r & b and hiphop genre - ballads (even though I'm not a fan), standard r & b, rap, reggae, etc - it means it has a broader range of appeal. It's the exclusions, more than what has been included on the album, which annoys me. If you watch the film after listening to the soundtrack, you'll notice that quite a few of the tunes playing don't appear on the album. The most noticeable omission, of course, is Fatman Scoop's "Be Faithful".
There is actually a second soundtrack album, entitled "More Music from Save the Last Dance" available on import, which will probably include most of the songs you missed on the original soundtrack. But after a quick scan of the tracklist on amazon, it seems that Fatman is conspicuously absent on that one also. Strange, that.
SHOULD YOU BUY IT?
While I do not like this soundtrack as much as I like the "Bad Boys 2" soundtrack, I feel that the "Save the Last Dance" soundtrack is more accessible to people (the latter is more hip-hop oriented) and so will probably appeal more to people who aren't necessarily as fond of the r & b genre as I am.
Of course the simple answer is, if you've watched the film, and thought "I'm really feeling that music, man" (or words to that effect!) then this is the album you are looking for. You will find most of the most memorable tracks from the film on it, and you can spend some enjoyable time boogeying around your bedroom, singing along and trying to recreate the dance moves from the film. Hopefully without falling over.
THIS CD COSTS £9.99 FROM AMAZON.CO.UK OR £10.99 FROM PLAY.COM. YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION ON THE ADDITIONAL SOUNDTRACK "MORE MUSIC FROM SAVE THE LAST DANCE" FROM AMAZON.CO.UK.
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Jun 3rd, 2005
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