Published on Apr 2, 2001
One of the biggest complaints I can have with a soundtrack is
that the musical selections drag on for long past the point where
they’re welcomed. Maybe the selections also aren’t that
interesting, or they take a particular musical theme and bludgeon
it to death by repeating it ad nauseam.
In the case of Alan Silvestri’s score for
The Mexican – yet another movie I have not seen – I don’t
have this complaint. If anything, I’m complaining that the
selections are far too short.
This might sound like a weird thing to say, but Silvestri’s
compositions have enough charm on their own, but with most clocking
in at around the one to two-minute range, it often feels like an
idea is being stifled before it really had time to mature into
something special. It’s not that these short snippets are bad; it’s
just that I wanted to hear more.
At times, Silvestri paints a picture of a film that could well
have been a classic Western movie (“Blame Shifting,” “10% Clint”),
yet he keeps the flavor of the movie’s theme (“Oye,” “Oye, Oye,”
Esquivel’s “El Cable”). The flow of these tracks and musical themes
is as natural as a running stream, and Silvestri is able to tie
these together well with even some more modern-sounding selections
(“Frank’s Dead,” “The Mexican,” “Airport”).
Here’s where not seeing the movie hurts my judgment of the
soundtrack. With all of these wonderful mood-setting pieces, what
is the purpose of including songs which, on the surface, don’t feel
like they belong? Maybe I need to see the film in order to
understand how Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’,”
War’s “Why Can’t We Be Friends,” Men Without Hats’s “The Safety
Dance” and Dean Martin’s “You’re Nobody ‘Til Somebody Loves You”
fit into the grand scheme of things. That all said, it’s nice to
hear some of these tracks again (namely War and Men Without
Hats).
One quick side note: My vote for “Best Song Title Of The Year” –
“A Good F’ing Reason”. ‘Nuff said.
If
The Mexican is missing anything, I do wish some more of a
vocal presence, as on “Oye” and “Oye, Oye,” was included in this
music. It might have distracted from the action on the screen, but
sometimes, it feels like the music is calling for this one little
addition to the mix.
Silvestri does succeed with
The Mexican, even if I don’t understand some song placement
and I find myself wishing that he had stretched out many of these
selections into some grandiose pieces. But this disc proves to be
quite the entertaining listen, and is well worth your time.