Various Artists
Narada Productions
[414] 961-8350
I've never heard of the movie Twice Upon A Yesterday, but then again, I've never seen Forrest Gump, E.T., or Saturday Night Fever. A lot of movie soundtracks seem to toss out a disparate collection of songs that cover way too many genres and don't appeal to anyone in particular. Twice Upon A Yesterday grounds us with a nice world beat flavor including lots of reggae, and good reggae at that.
Most of Narada's compilation albums seem to be an introduction of sorts, so that the rich ladies in the suburbs can learn a bit about music of the world without diving too deep into the culture itself. Many of these efforts, however, are stunning. This one seems to be made more for folks who are "into" the scene. It doesn't spoon feed anyone; it seems to expect you know your way around already.
The success of a compilation album is basically whether you like most of the songs or you don't. I like all but a couple. One I don't is a Lenny Kravitz number (from 1991!!) called "All I Ever Wanted." Stylistically it doesn't fit with anything else on the album, he screams too much, and, well, I hate it.
On the other hand, artists such as Papa Wemba, Alpha Blondy, and Salif Keita add a good beat to the reggae/world feel of this CD; two songs by Zap Mama are strange, but I think her style can grow on you after a bit. The prize on the album is by the movie's writer, Rafa Russo. "Friends Are Friends" for some reason reminds me of Stevie Nicks' "Races Are Run" from the very out of print Buckingham-Nicks album of o-so-many years ago. Simple, emotional, and evocative, the lyrics seem significant, but you can't figure out how. Russo uses a simple arrangement mainly of guitar and keyboards to make his point.
The movie itself deals with a guy who leaves one girlfriend for another, then regrets it later on. Now there's a story that's never been done before!
Hopefully he does a good job of it. Here in St. Louis, it'll probably show up in a repertory house for six days over Christmas. I used to go a lot when I was younger - then they started checking validation stickers on my student ID.
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