Tuesday, July 6, 2010

My Review of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse Soundtrack

So now that I've seen Eclipse twice and listened to the soundtrack over and over again for a few weeks, I'm ready to review the movie soundtrack.

Overall, this soundtrack offers a nice mix of lighter, more upbeat songs and heavy, angsty, melancholy (and sometimes spooky) love songs. The song choices fit in nicely with the theme of Eclipse.

Here are my current thoughts on each track, in order:

Eclipse (All Yours) by Metric is an upbeat pop theme song, perfect for the end credits.

The passionate teen anthem, Neutron Star Collision (Love is Forever) by Muse, is very catchy and easy to listen to. I really like where this song was played in the movie.

Ours by The Bravery is a bit teen angsty but has a great beat. It reminds me of I Melt With You by Modern English. Another great song for the end credits.

Heavy in Your Arms by Florence & The Machine is a powerful (and spooky) rock ballad with amazing vocals, lyrics, and instrumentation. Too bad this song was played during the end credits of the movie, after most of the audience had left! This song really rocks.

As I mentioned in another post, my favorite song, My Love by Sia, was used in my very favorite scene of the movie. Haunting and romantic, with gorgeous vocals. (I'm a sucker for ethereal strings and piano. It almost makes me cry.)

Atlas
by Fanfarlo is quirky, with clapping and banjos(?) I kind of like the vocal harmonies.

Chop and Change by the Black Keys, is a groovy, dark, retro, bad-girl kind of song that makes me think of Victoria and the newborns. This song was used exactly where I thought it belonged in the movie. Cool.

Rolling In On A Burning Tire
by The Dead Weather is also very cool and creepy. I love the heavy guitar riffs.

Let's Get Lost by Beck & Bat For Lashes, Jonathon Low by Vampire Weekend, With You in My Head by UNKLE Featuring the Black Angels, and A Million Miles An Hour by Eastern Conference, all have a light and airy (and sometimes psychedelic) feel to them. Nice atmospheric songs.

I like the acoustic guitar and vocal harmonies in Life On Earth by Band of Horses. A free and easy sound, a bit like Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

What Part Of Forever
by Cee Lo Green, is pop-y, with a Calypso edge to it. Very catchy and upbeat.

Jacob's Theme
by Howard Shore, is another gorgeous, bittersweet piano piece. Like The Meadow in New Moon, I felt that this song was the heart of the movie.

(Aside: I love Jacob's Theme so much that I figured out the piano music for it and started playing along with it on the piano while listening to it on my iPod. It's actually not a difficult song to learn if you play the piano.)

Bonus Tracks
The Line by the Battles and How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep by the Bombay Bicycle Club, are two additional tracks that provide more of the same driving, atmospheric music. Both songs are okay, but don't stand out in this amazing collection of songs.

(Confession: I listen to Jacob's Theme so much that I tend not to listen to the extra two tracks afterwards. I'm sure that affects my opinion of these tracks.)

Summary: I really like this album. If you own the other two Twilight Saga soundtracks, you'll probably like this one, too. It might even be the best of the soundtracks so far.

I bought this soundtrack, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Deluxe Edition) with two extra tracks, from amazon.com for $15.56. It comes in a cardboard CD case, and includes a small fold-out poster of Bella from Eclipse.

List of tracks:

1. Eclipse (All Yours) - Metric (3:45)
2. Neutron Star Collision (Love is Forever) - Muse (3:50)
3. Ours - The Bravery (3:48)
4. Heavy In Your Arms - Florence + The Machine (4:44)
5. My Love - Sia (5:11)
6. Atlas - Fanfarlo (3:27)
7. Chop And Change - The Black Keys (2:25)
8. Rolling In On A Burning Tire - The Dead Weather (3:53)
9. Let's Get Lost - Beck and Bat For Lashes (4:10)
10. Jonathan Low - Vampire Weekend (3:32)
11. With You In My Head - UNKLE (Feat. The Black Angels) (4:43)
12. A Million Miles An Hour - Eastern Conference Champions (4:07)
13. Life On Earth - Band Of Horses (5:30)
14. What Part Of Forever - Cee Lo Green (3:57)
15. Jacob's Theme - Howard Shore (2:27)

Bonus Tracks:

16. The Line - Battles
17. How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep - Bombay Bicycle Club

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