Martin Scorsese's sprawling meditation on the rise of street gangs in 19th-century New York (the roots of the modern mafia) also became another soundtrack buff's "What If?" after the director scrapped the original orchestr... more »al underscore of modern collaborator (Cape Fear, The Age of Innocence, Bringing Out the Dead)/veteran scoring legend Elmer Bernstein and replaced it with this typically rich, Robbie Robertson-supervised collection of eclectic pop, folk, and neo-classical tracks. The latter come courtesy of three brooding excerpts from film composer Howard Shore's previously unpremiered concert piece Brooklyn Heights, tracks that help emphasize the film's darker emotional gravitas. Much of the other catalog choices by Robertson and Scorsese lean on an evocative slate of Celtic and folk-tinged selections that range from hammered dulcimers, fiddles, and tin whistles to the spare, emotive balladry of Linda Thompson and Shu-De; even U2's main theme, "The Hands That Built America," is cast in a similar mold. But that Irish musical stew gets leavened by everything from the postmodern dirges of Peter Gabriel and Jocelyn Pook to a black field hand recording by legendary musicologist Alan Lomax and even the Chinese flavors of "Beijing Opera Suite." It's an imaginative, compelling mix, one that gratifyingly pushes the usually staid boundaries of what film scores can truly encompass. --Jerry McCulley« less
Martin Scorsese's sprawling meditation on the rise of street gangs in 19th-century New York (the roots of the modern mafia) also became another soundtrack buff's "What If?" after the director scrapped the original orchestral underscore of modern collaborator (Cape Fear, The Age of Innocence, Bringing Out the Dead)/veteran scoring legend Elmer Bernstein and replaced it with this typically rich, Robbie Robertson-supervised collection of eclectic pop, folk, and neo-classical tracks. The latter come courtesy of three brooding excerpts from film composer Howard Shore's previously unpremiered concert piece Brooklyn Heights, tracks that help emphasize the film's darker emotional gravitas. Much of the other catalog choices by Robertson and Scorsese lean on an evocative slate of Celtic and folk-tinged selections that range from hammered dulcimers, fiddles, and tin whistles to the spare, emotive balladry of Linda Thompson and Shu-De; even U2's main theme, "The Hands That Built America," is cast in a similar mold. But that Irish musical stew gets leavened by everything from the postmodern dirges of Peter Gabriel and Jocelyn Pook to a black field hand recording by legendary musicologist Alan Lomax and even the Chinese flavors of "Beijing Opera Suite." It's an imaginative, compelling mix, one that gratifyingly pushes the usually staid boundaries of what film scores can truly encompass. --Jerry McCulley
"I purchased the soundtrack right after seeing the movie. To my delight, the drum track that occurs in the opening scene is on the soundtrack as song #5. Just this alone was worth the price of the CD. If you see the movie you will understand! The other tracks are pretty good. However, there were some Americana fife & drum songs that should have been included from the movie. All in all, if you liked the movie, you will enjoy the soundtrack."
Great music for a great movie!
Manny Hernandez | Bay Area, CA | 12/21/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Howard Shore ("Lord of the Rings") provides an excellent Celtic-like score that serves as a very good background for Martin Scorcese's latest movie. Complementing his work, the two biggest highlights are the first track of the movie (during the first battle), which is an instrumental version of the song "Signal to Noise" taken from Peter Gabriel's most recent production, 'UP'; and "The Hands That Built America" by U2, which plays along the final credits."
Beautiful Irish-American folk music
Za'chary Westbrook | Salem, OR | 01/29/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"When the American west opened up hundreds of immigrants, from Germany, Ireland, and Italy (chiefly). This fresh infusion of American citizens sparked a boom economy where men went from boot-black to big business man. But, as this changing of the ecomonic guard continued, the immigrants that made their fortunes in a matter of years began to worry about the growing number of new immigrants, this sparked a brand new wave of anti-immigrant sentiment. This is a period of American history you don't get from High school text books. The riots, the fears that a second civil war might come about, are all things we like to forget, and at the same time we forget an entire ethnicity's culture. The Irish-Americans that made up the majority of the New York workforce for the latter part of the 19th century and the early 20th century produced poets, musicians, actors, their own celebrities the same way the african-American community has in recent decades, but without the wide-spread fame. This CD explores the beauty of Traditional Celtic music as it evolved on American soil. These pieces like 'New York Girls' (a really fun jig dance piece), 'Paddy's Lamentation' (a ballad concerning the renegade drafting of immigrants for the civil war), and 'Unconstant Lover' (a very traditional Irish song) are perfect glimpses of the life of this forgotten sub-culture. Other songs like 'Dark moon, high tide', 'Shimmy she wobble', and 'Dionysus' are contemporary pieces that recall the period by some of the best names in this genre. The scoring by Howard Shore ('The Fellowship of the Ring') is undeniably beautiful, and the pop pieces by U2 and Peter Gabriel bring the music full circle as the generation that was secured by these early immigrants pays their respect. It's a must-have CD for anyone interested in musical history or Celtic music."
Almost perfect
Kram Sacul | Los Angeles, CA US | 12/30/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"An awesome mix of songs and score that capture the film to it's very soul. If it wasn't for the ommision of the beautiful track that plays when DiCaprio reluctently dances with Diaz this soundtrack would've felt complete. Hopefully a sequel album will be released so we can enjoy more of the astounding 86 music pieces used in the movie."