ALBUM REVIEWS : VARIOUS ARTISTS - GREENBERG

Somewhere I'm not keen on soundtracks. Or it's the music I'm not interested in or it is just some sort of compilationcd you can nothing do with.
But this soundtrack from the latest Ben Stiller-movie is diffferent though, as the music here is composed by James Murphy, frontman of LCD Soundsystem.
In fact this album gives James the perfect opportunity to show what sort of musical chameleon he is.
On a track like "People" he creates some sort of lo-fi soul which is based on that famous riff by Timmy Thomas' "Why can't we live we together?" and as soon as the song fades out you know you heard a new classic.
On a track like "Gente" he shows his respect for flamenco whereas on fragile songs like "Photographs", the ghost from Elliot Smith comes around the corner.
Murphy wanted to compose music which went hand in hand with the well known popsongs that are featured on this soundtrack as well.
Just a pity it are all well known songs which automatically means that you probably will have them already.
It goes from Duran Duran (The Chauffeur), to The Sonics (Shot Down), Galaxie 500 (Strange) to crooners like "It never rains in South California" by Albert Hammond.
Somewhere it's a bit of a letdown that these known songs are featured on here too(not that they're bad but there's that danger of an useless compilation), having said that : for the Murphy-compositions alone this album is worth checking out!