Review:

on 2011-03-29 CharlesMartel Said:

I was never a great fan of soundtrack albums. I have to say and this is the only one in my collection. I do have all the songs from the soundtrack album of "Pretty in Pink" but those are not all in one place as it were and were assembled through downloading them many years later. No, it would be true to say that this is the only genuine soundtrack album that I have. The question which may be asked is why - why only one? And why this one?

In the days before downloads if you wanted a particular song you pretty much had no choice but to buy the single. However, at the time I was living in Hong Kong and 7 inch singles were totally unheard of - there was nowhere I knew where you could buy them. Consequently the album was all that was left if you wanted a particular song. So, I had no choice - I went out and bought the album. While I lived in Hong Kong I did this several times and as a consequence have a few albums which I bought solely because of one track.

On this particular album, that song was, inevitably perhaps, "La Bamba". I kept hearing it all the time on the radio and in the end I had to have it and so I went out and bought the album. Sadly, once I had got the album, I found myself hardly ever listening to it as the rest of the album just seemed to have little in it of interest to me. And when, after a while, even the initial appeal of "La Bamba" wore off, the album returned to the shelf and quickly gathered dust.

Most of the tracks on here are old rock and roll classics redone by a variety of artists who featured in the film about the life of Ritchie Valens. Apart from the title track, by Los Lobos as are many of the tracks on here, there is precious little to interest the listener, let alone enthral. OK Brian Setzer makes a passable impression at trying to be Eddie Cochran and there is also the old Bo Diddley classic, "Road Runner", but other than those there is nothing else on here I like. Other artists pop up pretending to be figures as diverse as Jackie Wilson but really, the original versions were the best, with the possible exception of the title track itself.

As a result of all this I do not listen to the album any more. Thankfully I have downloaded the Los Lobos version of "La Bamba" and the other tracks mentioned and can hear that on my iPod whenever I want so there is really no need for the album any more. It is a real pity I had not been able to do that back in 1987 when the album came out because it would have saved me both money and time, but such is life. However, when it comes to keeping music I am a bit of a jackdaw so this stays in my collection as a memory of a time when I was a lot less discerning in what I would listen to and purchase. What a saddo!

The album rode the back of the popularity of the film. The film sparkled briefly but quickly faded from view and the idea that Lou Diamond Philips (who played Ritchie Valens) would be the next James Dean or something never really took off. But do you know what is perhaps the biggest joke of it all? I have never actually seen the film.
Rating: 5/10