SOUNDTRACK

GRAVESEND

  1/  Not Another Saturday Night                 (film excerpt)                0.04
  2/  Saturday Night Fever (Live, Part II)       (AM,MM,Westerman)             3.16
        Lordz of Brooklyn
  3/  Joe Joe's Place                            (film excerpt)                0.27
  4/  Ninth Symphony                             (LM,Freese,Ricks,AC)          3.45
        Call 'O Da Wild featuring Cypress Hill
  5/  And a Thumb                                (film excerpt)                0.17
  6/  Gravesend (Lake of Fire)                   (CK,AM,MM,SW,EL)              4.34
        Lordz of Brooklyn
  7/  And Three Thumbs                           (film excerpt)                0.17
  8/  Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas     (Traditional)                 2.33
        Local H
  9/  Stupid                                     (film excerpt)                0.15
  10/ Kingdom Come                               (AM,MM,Westerman,PN,Babalu)   4.23
        Lordz of Brooklyn
  11/ Pussy                                      (film excerpt)                0.26
  12/ Some Nights (Are Better Than Others)       (Everlast)                    2.49
        Everlast
  13/ Mary (The Slut)                            (film excerpt)                0.56
  14/ Tag-Along                                  (Local H)                     2.49
         Local H
  15/ Mother                                     (film excerpt)                0.22
  16/ Multiply the Heartaches                    (Dee)                         2.47
         Cake
  17/ Brooklyn Lullaby                           (AM,MM,Westerman)             4.51
         Lordz of Brooklyn
  18/ Heaven                                     (Montague)                    4.13
         Jake
  19/ The Abyss                                  (Laswell)                     1.31
         Bill Laswell
  20/ Gravesend Theme                            (Laswell)                     2.09
         Bill Laswell
  21/ Sleepless Nights                           (Laswell)                     1.43
         Bill Laswell
  22/ El Mariachi Loco                           (Laswell)                     1.53
         Bill Laswell
  23/ Gravesend Prelude                          (Laswell)                     1.09
         Bill Laswell
  24/ Gravesend Symphony                         (Laswell)                     0.46
         Bill Laswell
  25/ Arch Angels                                (Laswell)                     1.53
         Bill Laswell
  26/ Gravesend Theme                            (Laswell)                     3.26
         Bill Laswell

          Tracks 19-26 recorded at Greenpoint Studio, Brooklyn, New York
          Tracks 19-26 produced by Bill Laswell
          Executive Producers: Chris Blackwell, Budd Carr and Sal Stabile
          Music supervisor: Peter Coquillard
          Music coordinator: Tami Lester
          Mastered by Andy VanDette at Masterdisk
Bill Laswell: sounds; Fousseny Kouyate (20,26): gony; Aiyb Dieng (20,26): percussion.

          1997 - Island (USA), 314-524 432-2 (CD)

REVIEWS :

A mixture of rap-metal, hip-hop, alternative rock, and Bill Laswell's original score, the soundtrack to Gravesend captures the feeling of dread and violence at the heart of the film (right down to including brief, though sufficiently intriguing, snippets of the film's dialogue). Lordz of Brooklyn's title cut makes the point clearly, even going so far as to sample the Meat Puppets' "Lake of Fire" for an added touch of spookiness. Though Local H's Christmas song seems to be here purely because it appears in the film, their other original fits in well. The brutality of Cypress Hill's cut and the murky, unnerving Everlast song also works effectively. By contrast, the other Lordz of Brooklyn songs rely too much on rap-metal theatrics to really be as powerful. Similarly, Cake's country parody "Multiply the Heartaches" sounds woefully out of place amidst all the darkness. The real heart of the soundtrack, though, is Bill Laswell's original score, which is as impressive as much of the work he's done for his groups Material and Praxis. By incorporating the Indian, Arabic, and hip-hop influences he's most famous for, Laswell delivers a score that not only complements the film, but stands up as listenable in its own right. What's more, it also fits in well with the mood established by the previous tracks (which is all the more surprising considering he had little or nothing to do with selecting them). Apart from some clinkers, Gravesend is a surprisingly cohesive soundtrack, and fans of the artists' previous works, especially Bill Laswell's, should especially check it out. Victor W. Valdivia (courtesy of the All Music Guide website)