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The
Motorcycle Diaries
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
by Gustavo Santaolalla
label: Universal Classics/Edge Music
released: 09.14.04
our score: 4.5 out of 5.0
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Of all the
amazingly talented people in the world of rock en español,
there is only one who can be said to be a stone-cold genius. That
man's name is Gustavo Santaolalla, and he has produced about seventy
of the best albums you have never heard. Café Tacuba! Bersuit
Vergabarat! Julieta Venegas! I'd keep on listing them, but you
kind of need to look him up and find it out for yourself, and
then get everything he's ever produced. The space and texture
he gives his recordings are pretty rare, but the energy and the
drive of his work is even more important. O what a lovely man.
So I kind
of flipped when I found out he was doing the soundtrack for The
Motorcycle Diaries. He hasn't put out many records himself,
certainly not in the last ten years-he was pretty well-known in
that scene with his band before he became über-producer,
I'm told-so the chance to hear what he can do on his own is enough
for me.
But I'm also
really interested in the film. Gael Garcia as the young Che Guevara,
back when he was an idly privileged Argentine med student named
Ernesto de la Serna, zipping from Patagonia up to Venezuela on
a motorbike with his best friend? Kind of fascinating, to say
the least, especially with Gustavo S. doing the soundtrack.
Dude didn't
let me down. A lot of these tracks are touched by gentle ambient
drones, kind of like Mark Knopfler's soundtrack work for things
like Cal, but touched with Latin grooves you could drive
a 1939 Norton 500 through. "Sendero" just slides on
tension and momentum and hooks; "Zambita" sounds like
alt-country, overdriven guitar with electronics and vibes hovering
on the periphery; "Cabalgando" is flamenco crossed with
Celtic folk, except played in rocked-up style that keeps getting
hotter. I can't wait to see how this works with the movie.
You've also
got your wildcard tracks. "La Salida de Lima," as you
might imagine, aims to capture the crazy nightlife of Peru's big
city with huge power chords and echoing drums. "Partida del
Leprosario," on the other hand, is neurotically charged and
terrifying and sad, as you might imagine for the music that scores
a scene set in a leprosy clinic. Ooh, that tune gives me chills.
There are
only a few vocal tracks here, older songs mostly, and they go
down smoothly…until the very end. The last track, written
and performed by Jorge Drexler, does not fit here AT ALL. I say
that knowing full well that I'm being harsh, especially considering
it was recorded in my hometown of Madison, Wisconsin, in the fabled
Smart Studios, and with Ben and Leo Sidran on the track. But the
Sidrans bring their usual 1970s unadventurous smooth-jazz sheen,
Drexler's beautiful voice is in service of a sappy-ass song, and
it's all just wrong, really. So that's why I knocked off half
a star.
Other than
that, if you're into soundtracks or great cool understated Latin
music, this needs you as much as you need it.
30-Nov-2004
9:43 PM
If you
liked The Motorcycle Diaries...
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Tracklist:
1.
Apertura
2. Lago Frias
3. Chichina
4. Chipi Chipi (Maria Esther Zamora, "Polito" Gonzalez, Jorge Lobos, Cuti Aste, Roberto Lindl)
5. Montana
6. Sendero
7. Procesion
8. Jardin
9. La Partida
10. La Muerte De La Poderosa
11. Lima
12. La Salida De Lima
13. Zambita
14. Que Rico El Mambo (Damasco Perez Prado)
15. Circulo En El Rio
16. Amazonas
17. Cabalgando
18. Leyendo En El Hospital
19. El Cruce
20. Partida Del Leprosario
21. De Usuahia A La Quiaca
22. Revolucion Caliente
23. Al Otro Lado Del Rio (Jorge Drexler)
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