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Graham Clark
Music Features Writer
@Maxximum23Clark
9:45 AM 14th January 2017
arts

Review: La La Land - Original Soundtrack Album

 
The movie La La Land has already won a record breaking seven gongs at the Golden Globes and is tipped to win a lot of awards at the Oscars next month.

The story is about a jazz pianist played by Ryan Gosling who meets an aspiring actress Mia played by Emma Stone in Los Angeles who then fall in love.

The film is in the tradition of the golden age of Hollywood musicals and will probably brighten up these gloomy January days for everyone who sees the film or listens to the album.

Naturally it is a very jazzy album. Most of the songs sound like they come out of a musical, though you could imagine Michael Buble singing some of these tracks, such as the ballad A Lovely Night.

Probably in 5 years time there will be a touring production of the film like Chicago or Legally Blond, which will be appearing at the Bradford Alhambra or York Grand Theatre.

The songs are all composed by Justin Hurwitz who wrote the soundtrack to the film Whiplash. Hurwitz plays the instrumental tracks on the album with the piano based Herman's Habit standing up in its own right. It's probably a track that appeals to a niche market, unlike the vocal driven songs on the album, which tend to feature Gosling and Stone.

The album opens with the cast of the movie singing Another Day of Sun, a brash, uplifting track that sounds like an updated version of a song out of West Side Story. You can literally imagine the huge dance sequence they would perform to the song. Somewhere In The Crowd is commercial, overblown yet utterly pleasing. At just over 2 minutes it leaves you wanting more.

Surprisingly John Legend turns up on the album singing Start A Fire. It is classic John Legend and a superb song, but sits uncomfortably with the rest of the songs on the album. Although Legend is an accomplished pianist, you get the feeling he is on there because they needed one big artist to put on the front of the the album, but really there is no need.





I haven't seen the film yet but listening to the album it makes me want to get those cinema tickets booked. I'm hooked.

3 out of 5.