Search - David Baerwald, Steve Lindsey :: Hurlyburly: Soundtrack From The Motion Picture

David Baerwald, formerly of late-'80s one-album wonders David & David, a principal contributor to Sheryl Crow's smash debut, and author of a pair of darkly brilliant, musically adventurous solo albums (Bedtime Stories, Triage), approaches his first major film-scoring gig with every ounce of his iconoclastic verve intact. Baerwald and the Palindrome Floating Band (a gathering that includes Mark Isham, Charlie Sexton, and David Torn) produce an underscore for director Anthony Drazan's adaptation of David Rabe's play--a cutting portrait of a group of Hollywood players flailing in a cesspool of narcissism, misogyny, and addiction--that segues slyly from cool, modern takes on traditional jazz-quartet variations into a landscape of boozy R&B vocals and even skewed country flavors. Much to his credit, Baerwald doesn't let his oft-sardonic muse (sample titles: "Oedipal Blues," "Mambo Phallistico") mug his smart musical taste; it's all bookended by a Morricone-esque wordless women's choral "theme" that's as thematically ironic as it is melodically irresistible. --Jerry McCulley