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Wednesday, August 16, 2006

CD REVIEW - The Lake House


The Lake House
Music by Rachel Portman + songs by various artists
Lakeshore LKS 33873 (U.S.)
17 Tracks 49:20 mins

This soundtrack album to the romantic fantasy, best known for reuniting Speed co-stars Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, features 12 tracks of score by Rachel Portman, clocking in at 31 minutes, plus 5 songs by various artists, the most familiar to me being Paul McCartney and Carole King.
Fortunately the songs are all grouped together at the beginning of the album, leaving us Portman's score tracks to enjoy uninterrupted. And if you like the composer's music, you're sure to find this an enchanting addition to your collection, with something to enjoy in every cue, even the shorter ones that run only around a minute.
The title track is a very nice, piano and strings affair, in typical style and crops up a few times in subsequent tracks. "Sunsets" is an interesting cue - a mix of comedy and mysticism, which suddenly turns into a gently flowing guitar-lead theme. This track runs for nearly 5 minutes and is followed by "Alex's Father," which runs nearly 7 minutes. As one might expect these are the two most satisfying tracks on the disc, as they really have room for development. The latter is a pretty emotional affair, which reaches sunny heights and more bittersweet lows before reaching a glorious conclusion. The concluding tracks are similarly titled, with the intense "Wait for me" leading into the delicate then tender "You Waited," before the disc comes to a satisfying end with the unabashed romance of "I Waited."
Whatever the success or otherwise of the film, there's no denying the quality of Portman's accompaniment, even if some critics hint that you've heard it all before. If I were the composer, I would simply say: "this is my style - live with it!"

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