FDF Volume 2 Issue 117 : Singles - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

By: March

Album - Singles - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Artist - Various
Key Players - Various
Produced By - Each track had their own producer, but the final was produced by Danny Bramsona and Cameron Crowe

Release Date - June 30, 1992

What caused me to blow off the dust? - Was actually organizing cds and this one was out of place. Realized it had been quite some time since this was played.

Overview - Fans might be surprised to know that the movie and soundtrack were actually about year before the grunge movement really took off. With images from the film, and the music it is said to have formed the "Seattle Scene". The sound track was released in June while the movie was released in September. The film did okay, but the sound track did really well.

FDF Comments (aka the songs) - Due to it being various artists we can break it out track by track.

Deep bass guitar brings up "Would?" by Alice in Chains. A guitar and percussive instruments swell up before singer Layne Staley's haunting, yet powerful vocals, rise over everything. The chorus contains the vocal hook with the instruments holding there own before Jerry Cantrell solos. The song concludes with Staley forcing "If..I Could..Would..You? and the band accenting each word. Pearl Jam doing "Breath" is next. The bass is high in the mix on the track. Overall, it holds very true to the formula that has worked for so many years for Pearl Jam. The great vocals and strong instrumental fills. Soundgarden front man Chris Cornell shines in a solo track "Seasons". Keep in mind, this was Cornell before the band really exploded with the Superunknown album. The acoustic guitar was played by Cornell and his voice is just as strong in an intimate setting as it is when he is fully in the rock star mode. The man has a an incredible set of pipes. Paul Westerberg was busy on this sound track. His first track is "Dyslexic Heart" which starts off on a relatively quiet manner before the drum brings every one up. The "Nah Nah Nah" sing along into the first verse are instantly recognizable. Westerberg also wrote the musical score for the film. Members of the band Heart are in the group The Lovemongers who appear next doing a cover of the Led Zeppelin track "The Battle of Evermore". Ann and Nancy Wilson sounds terrific vocally on this track (it is actually a live version). It may not be Zeppelin, but they do very strong and credible version. A solo piano starts off "Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns" by Mother Love Bone. Singer Andrew Wood is the focal point along with the piano before the drums come in lightly at almost the two minute mark. There are some quiet guitar fills and Wood sings another verse where it remains calm to about four minutes before the band comes in full. It is a quick burst before they retreat once more, but they are not in full retreat mode, as they come back up a minute later. There are some good instrumental moments, where the band calms before opening up once more. The final minute and a half the band is really rolling. It is heavy, but within the context of the song, they really do not over do things. "Birth Ritual" by Soundgarden begins with a delayed and distorted guitar that fads from speaker to speaker for the first forty five seconds then the band comes in hard. It is easy to hear the band was influenced from other Seattle natives "Tad" on this track. It sounds like something they'd have done. Its a heavy track with Cornell really getting the spotlight for his banshee screams. Kym Thayil ha a great guitar solo and Ben Shepherd and Matt Cameron keep everything together nicely. The Pearl Jam track "State of Love and Trust" is next. To this day the band still plays this song in a live setting on a pretty regular basis. One of the bands that never got there real shake with the "grunge" movement was Mudhoney who contributed "Overblown". It would be wrong to pigeonhole them as a grunge like Ramones..but the track is a straight up, in your face rock track. Pounding drums and in your face guitars make this one of the shortest, and most effective tracks on the sound track. A second Paul Westerberg track "Waiting For Somebody" follows. Again, Paul shows his pop sensibility with a catchy "ooh/ahh" sing along. As a nod to a person that has everyone on the sound track admires "May This Be Love" by Jimi Hendrix is next. For the ferocity at which Jimi could play it was always odd to hear him sing in a hushed manner and play the guitar like a guitar and not like something he wanted to destroy (of which he seemed to manage just fine to do both depending on the setting). A very pretty song none the less. If your headphones, or stereo was up after this track, be careful as "Nearly Lost You" by the Screaming Trees will shake your foundation with the intro. Gary Lee and Van Conner are the bassist and guitarist and with the pounding drums and singer Mark Lanegans horribly under-rated rock vocals soaring over it all. Why this band was never way bigger remains a mystery to me. The album closes with the 8+ minute "Drown" by The Smashing Pumpkins. The track was written around the time of the Gish album, and before the band would go on to release the record "Siamese Dream" that would make them more household names. This was (and still is Billy) the best time of Pumpkins music. The track concludes with an extended feedback solo which was cut back on the bands best of collection released years later. The band really gets rolling about two minutes in with Corgan doing what he does best..not singing and soloing like a mother effer. If the band could ever capture moments like this I'd be all ears. We mellow again at about the three minute mark for about 45 seconds before the band fires off once more and then the long feedback solo begins and runs for the next 4 or so minutes to close the record.

Where are they now? - Check the links for most up to date info. Many of the bands are still recording and they are still finding Jimi Hendrix demos to release to this day.

FDF Personal Comments (aka the Live experience) - In reading, I actually have been lucky enough to see Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Paul Westerberg (when he was in the Replacements), Screaming Trees and the Smashing Pumpkins..heck I think the only person I haven't seen on this list is Jimi Hendrix.

FDF Overall Take - To me personally, this era of music had a profound effect. It might be cliche, but this was one time I really remember being excited about music, and where it was in the world of pop culture as well. A lot of crap followed for sure as the industry over did it, but we were also left with some gems.

In scanning the archives, three of the artists on this sound track have had their own records featured on this site. They were:
Mother Love Bone, Screaming Trees, and, Pearl Jam. I am sure there is more to come.

Links -
The movie on IMDB

Alice in Chains official
Pearl Jam official
Chris Cornell official
Heart (the lovemongers) official
Mother Love Bone on Wiki
Soundgarden on Wiki
Mudhoney on myspace
Paul Westerberg
Jimi Hendrix official
Screaming Trees on myspace
Smashing Pumpkins

Curious? Check out some MUSIC!

the mp3s have been taken down.

May This Be Love by Jimi Hendrix
Nearly Lost You by the Screaming Trees
Dyslexic Heart by Paul Westerberg

Songs were taken from the soundtrack which you can buy here.

Disclaimer - For the most part songs listed you can find on iTunes or your local cd shop. The idea is to give you a little taste of the music. Please support the artist buy purchasing some of their work. Songs are posted for about 1 week but can and will be removed at the request of the artist, band, band management etc. If you are one of those persons contact me via the email link in the profile and they will be removed as soon as we are made aware of the request.