Baz Lahman. “Moulin Rouge” was OK as overactive extended music videos but “Rome And Juliet”? Mess with the classics as much as you want, just don’t include Leonardo Di Caprio. Leo is high on my list of most overestimated actors after his shallow portrayal of Howard Hughs in “The Aviator”. George Peppard was much better in “The Carpetbaggers”.
The other problem, and it is stamped all over the soundtrack to The Great Gatsby, is suspended disbelief. WHat does hip hop have to do wth the 1920s? What did grubge have to do with Romeo and Juliet. Conceptually, it is a cabaret shoot. A joke. The point is nothing but spectacle and while I’ll give into spectacle every day of the week, I’ll give in as crass pop entertainment not pop art. Which is what Jay-Z and Baz and company want to do. They want not just your cash and your chuckles but your admiration.
Of course, they aren’t gonna get it. They can’t get it. It is a terrible idea of voyeuristic materialistic consumption. It isn’t art, why should it be?
The album itself gets a little much, everything is warmed over twice and as a defined unit it accumalates into one long headache, but if you break it down by track -well, the quality of individual songs is consistently high, I’m impressed.
1. 100$ Cash – Jay-Z – This is the second time Hov has worked on a soundtrack and come up with a killer. The drumming here is unreal, behind dialog from the movie, and Jay-Z sets up the past 90 years with smart as hell lyric – A-
2. Back To Black – Beyonce and Andre 3000 – Beyonces vocal is flawless, a perfect jewel and the cello keeping down the beat is wonderful. They added Andre for buzz (or maybe plot reasons),but he gets in the way. Perfect use of the indelible “Atomic” lick – A-
3. Young And Beautiful – Lana Del Rey – Typical overblown ballad. In other words, great – A_
4. Love Is Blind – Jack White – Minor White jazz blues ballad with a great guitar sol, blown out of all proportions, even for a U2 cover – B
5. Crazy In Love – Emili Sande – Ooooh, finally flapper time on Beyonces big big hit – B
6. Bang Bang – Will I Am – Starts with the Charleston and then Willy raps over it – B
7. A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (One Night) – Q Tip, Goonsquad and Fergie – The 1920s go 1990s go EDM – B+
8. Love Is The Drug – The Bryan Ferry Orchestra – Right up his 2013 alley given his last album – B
9. Hearts A Mess – Gotye – Sounds like Sting meets Daniel Lanois – C+
10.No Church In The Wilderness – Jay Z and The-Dream and Frank Ocean – Yeah yeah, what’s a God to a nonbeliever, we got it – C-
11. Over The Love – Florence Welch – Songs a little iffy, she is better when she is poppoer – B-
12. Together – The xx – Doesn’t add much to the xx story but that finger picked solo is a thing of wonder – B
13. Into The Past – Nero – Heavy breathing electronica, soars and soars – A-
14. Kill And Run – Sia – How many chick lead singers does the story of Gatsby need? One more – B+
15. Over The Love Of You – Florence + The Machine and SBTRKT – This is more like it – B+
16. Young And Beautiful – Lana Del Rel and the DH Orchestra – Apparently bigger is in fact better – A
Overall Grade: B