Storytime with Martin Scorsese

Various Artists- The Departed Soundtrack

Ahh, and now Euterpe makes the magical descent into the world of movie soundtracks, where Garden State and Pulp Fiction float around with the sad likes of…well…most other movie soundtracks. The art of a movie soundtrack is a complicated one. It’s never worth releasing if it’s just filled with the background music (unless of course it’s Requiem for a Dream and you want to give the listeners nightmares every time they put the CD on), but it’s also hard not to make it sound like a mix tape of the directors favorite tunes. Like any good album the tracks have to relate to tell a story.

Sadly, I do not know the story of The Departed as I haven’t seen the movie yet. Being in college with the closest movie theater a car ride away has gotten the best of me once again. But from what I gather it’s a dark tale involving the Irish mafia, the Boston police, and a lot of hidden identity. And what better to open up a soundtrack to a dark movie with “Comfortably Numb”? Covered by Roger Waters, Van Morrison and the Band, the song manages to be longer than the original but sound exactly the same. That’s good if you want to cast a creepy shadow, but if they’re not going to do anything new with the song Scorsese might as well have shelled out the extra bucks for the original, especially if he already has Roger Waters.

The disc continues with an oddly tenor Beach Boys number, the Rolling Stones, and a live version of “One Way Out” by the Allman Brothers Band. So ok, we’ve got dark and creepy, and now bluesy undertones. Sounds like at this point in the film we’ve got the main characters riding along in a car, possibly on a job or something else exciting. Good story so far. And of course, no Boston story is complete without Dropkick Murphys. “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” has Irish flute, angry gravely vocals and a story about a sailor losing his leg. Maybe now we’ve got the characters in a crisis with the Irish mafia, being tracked down or confronted with a dilemma and wrestling with their morals.

Then the soundtrack takes an oddly upbeat twist with “Nobody But Me” covered by The Human Beinz. What happened to the darkness? Is Matt Damon experiencing some sort of existential crisis like “Good Vibrations”-a-la-Vanilla Sky? Oh god and it’s continuing with an old time swing number! What is going on?! AND NOW PATSY CLINE!! But wait, why is this working with the story? Scorsese pulls one over on us, peaking with the danceable “Nobody But Me” then slowly easing up on but still continuing with the joy with Ms. Cline, until finally resting on two Spanish-style guitar numbers courtesy of Howard Shore. Without even seeing the film, we get an introduction, a buildup, a climax, plateau and cool down. Who cares about the characters? We have a story right here. I can’t tell if it ends happy or sad, but that tends to be the case with most Scorsese movies. And to be honest, I’m enjoying the in between.

Hop on the circus wagon

HUMANWINE/Reverend Glasseye @ Dragon's Den, New Orleans

HUMANWINE is not for everyone. Standing on a balcony of a tiny club built above a coffee shop, surrounded by people with dreadlocks and piercings dressed like thieves and vagabonds, I knew I was going to be in for an interesting show. HUMANWINE is a musical performance gang from Boston (though none of them are actually from Boston) who major in circus waltzes and storytelling. Armed with a bowed stand-up bass and Holly's ridiculously soothing but powerful pipes (thing Evanescence but sweeter and with a wider range) they stomp through songs about anarchist couples with drug problems and brainwashing governments. These Dresden dolls contemporaries know how to make a crowd grunt like an ogre and sway to a drinking song beat, and have definitely made a dedicated following.

About five minutes after their set HUMANWINE was “resurrected” as Reverend Glasseye, another quintet with the lead singer and pianist switching places. New singer Adam Glasseye adds a Boston Irish feel to the triple beat (whether or not he is Boston Irish I’m not sure), and makes the music a bit easier to listen to with a familiar folk rock guitar fronting the sideshow madness. Nonetheless they attract the sideshow crowd, and their set wasn’t complete without a fire-dart performance on the street outside the club.

Though performance art could definitely turn a lot of people off, once both bands got playing their sounds were surprisingly appealing. Not to say that circus music isn’t awesome, but let’s face it, not everyone is going to want to listen to anachronistic folk-metal. But both Holly’s operatic grace and Glasseye’s gravelly roar focus the sound, so all you have to do is sway and stomp with the rest of the crowd. Their looks may frighten, but if you want to it’s not hard at all to get into either band.