ROLLING STONE REVIEWS THE ‘NEW MOON’ SOUNDTRACK
The New Moon soundtrack officially hit shelves a week ago, and since then we’ve seen a great review from Entertainment Weekly, mixed reviews from fans, and today we get a very positive review from the people over at Rolling Stone. In their review, they compare New Moon to John Hughes’ Pretty in Pink and even go so far as to say that Bram Stoker would be proud. Read their review below, in which they gave the New Moon original soundtrack 4.5 stars:
The genius of the Twilight saga is the way it celebrates the passion of the all-American fang hag, with Robert Pattinson as the perfect plasma-slurping pinup boy: He’s hot, he’s sexy, and he’s undead. So New Moon is a movie soundtrack, but it’s also a concept album about the bond between teenage girls and their imaginary bloodsucker boyfriends.As a movie, New Moon isn’t too far from Pretty in Pink โ except now Duckie’s a werewolf. So it’s fitting that the soundtrack is up to that same standard of excellence, piling on the New Wave melodrama. Where the original Twilight soundtrack went for rock bombast, as in Paramore’s hit “Decode,” this year’s model is hushed and atmospheric. New Moon rounds up a crew of indie-rock heavyweights โ Thom Yorke, Death Cab for Cutie, Grizzly Bear, Bon Iver โ and you can bet your Team Jacob T-shirt they all rise to the occasion. Death Cab set the pace with their excellent “Meet Me on the Equinox,” an Edward-and-Bella makeout song where Ben Gibbard broods, “Let our bodies intertwine/ But always understand that everything ends.” Nosferatu-tastic!
It all flows together, since most of the music follows the same basic emplate โ acoustic guitar, ravish-me-by-moonlight vocals and ominous synth strings. Practically every singer on the album tries to sound English and tremble-lipped, whether they’re from L.A. (Sea Wolf), Vegas (the Killers) or Stockholm (Lykke Li). Maybe they were partly inspired by the knowledge that this would be a blockbuster โ but it sure sounds like they were also inspired by the chance to sing about vampire lust, exposing their sappy sides more nakedly than they’d dare on their own albums.
Either way, the highlights keep coming: Lykke Li’s piano-based “Possibility,” Anya Marina’s stark “Satellite Heart,” the Killers’ over-the-tippity-top “A White Demon Love Song.” Yorke’s “Hearing Damage” is the unquestionable standout. It’s a bang-up electronic ballad that doesn’t much resemble his previous solo work but expands on the style of In Rainbows โ over droning synths, Yorke moans, “You can do no wrong in my eyes.”
Every era gets its own vampire fantasies. The Sixties had the Swinging London mod vampires of Hammer flicks like Dracula: Prince of Darkness. The Eighties had The Lost Boys, with Kiefer Sutherland’s undead biker gang. In our time, we get everything from True Blood to Let the Right One In. But the Twilight saga tops them all by being so everyday: All these ghouls are battling it out over a totally ordinary girl in a drab Pacific Northwest town. The music on New Moon lives up to the story because it captures the day-to-day bleakness, along with the sexual obsessions seething under the surface. John Hughes would be proud โ and so would Bram Stoker.
Read the complete review here.
Now that (most of) you have had a week to let the soundtrack sink in, what do you think of it overall? Which song is a standout to you?
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At first, i really couldn’t stand the soundtrack, to be honest. I didn’t like the sound of it. I liked Meet me on the Equinox because i do like DC4C. But, since it’s Twilight related, i listened to it over and over for 2 days, and found that I really liked it! Even Roslyn, which was my least favorite song, has grown on me a bit. I was fortunate enough to get the Itunes soundtrack which came with a few bonus tracks & i found that my favorite was one of the bonus tracks. “All I Believe in” is absolutely breathtaking. The emotion that comes through in that song, with the deep bass is just unbelievable. I’ve blasted that song in my car more times than I can count! My husband’s favorite is Solar Midnite by Lupe Fiasco (another bonus track) ’cause he’s not a fan of the melodramatic slow stuff.
But overall, I believe it fits the mood and tone of the movie, which btw, like all of us, i cannot wait to see!
I’m shocked that Rolling Stone gave the soundtrack such a good review since they gave the Twilight Movie not so great. The jury’s still out about whether or not I like it. Its defently different. I’ll wait until the movie comes out to decide. I’ll have to wait and see where the songs are placed.
Because of the too much hype on New Moon, I wasn’t really keen on getting a copy of the OST (for reason that it might be a sellout). But I looked at the playlist and a lot of my fave artists are in it, so I gave it a go and pretty much have it on repeat now. I like it better than the first to be honest, even rate it 4 out of 5. Now I can’t help but expect NM movie to be better than Twilight *crossing fingers*
Amazing soundtrack!! Totally fits the book and the evolving anguish of the characters as they try to cope with the seperation. These artists are great and I can’t believe the luck of getting them to contribute. One of the themes of the books is how the love between the two main characters is maturing and deepening. It even takes an obsessive bent. And then there is the hopeful longing of Jacob as he tries to heal Bella and bring her to love and trust him. Of course we know that his efforts end painfully. I believe that this soundtrack reflects the emotional depth and maturity that is needed for this book. BRAVO!!!
Love this Soundtrack!! Represents the book faithfully and is an amazing collection of gifted artists. I can defintely feel the anguish of all 3 main characters and the developing maturity of their emotions. New Moon is dark and this CD fits that perfectly.