Chemical Brothers, “Hanna: The Original Soundtrack” (Back Lot)
When the teenage killing machine played so marvelously by Saoirse Ronan in Joe Wright’s stylish action movie “Hanna” asks her rogue CIA agent father what music is — you see, she has been raised in the forests of northern Finland and doesn’t know a reindeer from a Bieber — he consults the dictionary and tells her that “it’s a combination of sounds with a view to beauty of form and expression of emotion.”
That snowshoe fits the British electronic duo the Chemical Brothers as well as anyone, I suppose. And in what is surprisingly their first foray into film scoring, veteran cinematic soundscapists Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands do particularly well on the beauty-of-form front, whether mixing car-alarm intensity with let’s-go-to-the-circus playfulness in “Devil Is in the Beats” or showing off their subtle keyboard and chorus moves on the delicate “Hanna’s Theme.”
And while the music works much better in the movie than, say, Cate Blanchett’s strangely cartoonish performance, the “Hanna” score also functions quite effectively without the visuals, particularly if you imagine yourself as a teenage assassin as you make your way through the world with the Chemical Brothers in your earbuds. Dan DeLuca, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Ray Davies,”See My Friends” (Decca)
A decade ago, a traditional Kinks tribute album came out with bands such as Fountains of Wayne and Yo La Tengo performing the songs of the seminal British band.
“See My Friends” takes the converse approach, with King Kink Ray Davies reinterpreting his songs with the help of artists from Metallica to Lucinda Williams. The result is an uneven but often inspired collection.
The first song recorded for this project was “Till the End of the Day,” with Davies collaborating with a notably enthusiastic Alex Chilton. The track was made in 2009, eight months before Chilton’s death.
The album leads off with Bruce Springsteen dueting with Davies on “Better Things.” The arrangement has a nice E Street jangle to it, but neither singer seems to have been in good voice for this session.
Ironically, the least showy efforts stand out, for instance Black Francis on “This Is Where I Belong” and Jackson Browne on “Waterloo Sunset.”
The most transformative track here is Mumford & Sons’ sweet mashup of “Days” and “This Time Tomorrow.”
They make these Kinks classics their own.
David Hiltbrand, The Philadelphia Inquirer
