Forty Shades Of Blue – Original CD Soundtrack

 

Sound: B     Music: B-

 

 

Hearing soundtracks without seeing the film (or seeing the film for a very long time) is always a strange experience.  Ira Sachs’ Forty Shades Of Blue is a new independent release that just won the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.  Aside from having the great Rip Torn as its male lead, it has the kind of throwback soundtrack with covers of classic blues records that seems to be positioning it as potentially riding the O Brother, Where Art Thou? wave.

 

The tracks are as follows:

 

1)     A Little Bit Of Soap

2)     Jelly Roll Boogie

3)     Annie Mae

4)     Laura

5)     Quicksand

6)     The Dark End Of The Street

7)     The Message

8)     No Room For A Tramp

9)     What Do I Do?

10)  The Proposal

11)  Snowed In

12)  I’m Broken Hearted

13)  Forty Shades Of Blue

 

The instrumental tracks are the highlight; good pieces that make one want to see the film.  As for the remakes, they sound too forward and even forced at times, seeming more like a concert performance than music recordings made with a film in mind.  They might work better in context to the film, but that remains unseen.  We look forward to seeing the film, but if you like Blues, Forty Shades Of Blue will be a CD you will want to hear.

 

The PCM 16Bit/44.1kHz 2.0 Stereo is good, solid and all sounds newly recorded.  While the film likely has a 5.1 or even 4.1 SR (Pro Logic-like) surround mix, the sound is rich and thick enough.  There is no trouble sonically here.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo