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January 2003 Soundtracks

Written by Joe Hartlaub

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6.0

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Artist: Bryan Adams
Title: Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (OST)
Label: Atlantic Records

There has been a bit of news recently in the music press about Bryan Adams, the alt-country Wunderkind, throwing a bit of a snit when in the middle of his concert someone yells out a request for a Bryan Adams' song. Ryan will be in-between numbers and some wit will churlishly shout out "Run To You" or "Summer of '69" and ol' Ryan goes bananas, calling for the house lights to go up so that the offending party can be located and banished from the premises. This, of course, has the same effect that it did lo some 30 years ago, when Joni Mitchell would go bonkers whenever someone would bellow out a request for the Allman Brothers southern-rock opus "Whipping Post": it becomes something that someone must do everytime the overly sensitive singer-songwriter performs.

I have never been to a Bryan Adams concert, but I kinda doubt that he would react to such similar ribbing with bad grace. Bryan, methinks, when confronted with a boor shouting out a request for "New York, New York," would probably smile gamely and play a few halfhearted bars to a chorus of cheers before going on to his next number. And while his name isn't likely to grace the list of those encased in The Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, he has had enough success penning guilty pleasures such as "(Everything I Do) I Do For You" that he can pretty much do what he wants now, such as running a beautiful, state of the art studio in Vancouver (which has attracted rave reviews from everyone who has stepped into it) and recording movie soundtracks.

SPIRIT: STALLION OF THE CIMARRON is an old-fashioned soundtrack. The music actually hangs together thematically, and is about the movie. This is also a soundtrack for an animated movie for children, which means that it's got to keep the kids interested without boring the Disneyland dad who accompanied them to tears (or tipping dad over the edge, in the case of the father who is already 40 per cent light on his paycheck to child support to the ex, and is dropping another $30.00 on movie tickets and Rasinetts on the already overextended Mastercard). You accordingly don't want to put Eminem or Guns 'n' Roses on there. And, based on that test, Adams makes it work, and work quite well. He is much like Paul McCartney in his ability to craft tunes that sound instantly familiar yet original. It's not the kind of thing you're gonna listen to on a regular basis, but my 14 year old and 5 year old daughters both love it, and for different reasons. Adams accordingly, has done his job.

So, the music. It doesn't rock out; most of the tracks are ballads, heavily orchestrated, with Adams' voice soaring out over the arrangements in songs full of hope and optimism. Near the end there are five syrupy instrumentals, for which a gent named Hans Zimmer may be held responsible but it gives Mom or Dad the opportunity to go make dinner or throw the clothes in the dryer and the kids to go dig up their wartoys. But you'll be learning these songs, as you'll either hear 'em on the soundtrack CD or on the DVD format of the movie that the three-foot tall antichrist you share your home with will browbeat you into buying. And best of all, you won't have to worry about your children getting so wired by it that they'll start thinking about murdering you in your sleep just because you turned down that request for a new Betty Spaghetti doll.

Yeah, Bryan Adams may not be the king of alt-country, or the king of anything, really, but I have the feeling that 20 years from now he'll still be making music and be happy at successful at what he's doing, which is more than you can say for 90% of this month's next big things. When you but that new Rob Zombie CD, buy SPIRIT for your daughter. It might save her from getting her tongue pierced in five years.

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