Across The Universe [Deluxe Edition]

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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com
Given a track record littered by misfired oddities like the Bee Gees starring in the 1978 movie version of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, successfully transforming The Beatles' epochal oeuvre into film musicals has been an elusive alchemy. Yet director Julie Taymor's 1968-centered, socio-political romance is more than just a stunning visual achievement. Its soundtrack brings a crucially intimate, emotionally engaging sensibility to its rich catalog of Beatles source material. Using an approach she rightly dubbed "organic," Taymor never gets too ambitious with the original arrangements, balancing the plaintive, often stark performances of central young stars Jim Sturgess and Evan Rachel Wood with equally compelling turns by supporting players Carol Woods and Joe Anderson. The stars successfully evoke early Beatlemania via the energetic charms of Sturgess' "All My Loving" and Wood's "It Won't Be Long," then get straight to the canon's often melancholy heart on his take of "In My Life," and her gentle cover of "Blackbird." Taymor's use of star turns--the entire point of too many Beatles-rooted projects--is as sparing as it is deft. Eddie Izzard's effusive "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" is the product of several edited improvisations, while U2's Bono and Edge re-imagine "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" by way of Pink Floyd. Joe Cocker's swamp-dirge "Come Together" shows why he's long been one of the best interpreters of the Lennon-McCartney catalog, and Dana Fuchs alternately evokes the heavenly and hellish via her tender "Dear Prudence," as well as her manic, Joplin-channeling burn through "Helter Skelter." Elsewhere on the CD, Bono teams with Secret Machine for the straightforward "I Am the Walrus," while the Dallas indie rockers also take dream-pop turns on the instrumental "Flying" and George Harrison's haunting "Blue Jay Way." Remarkably, Taymor claims the bulk of the performances here were not lip-synced, but recorded live as the cameras rolled.--Jerry McCulley

Album Description
ACROSS THE UNIVERSE - MUSIC FROM THE MOTION PICTURE DELUXE - 2 DISC VERSION

A love story set in the 1960's amid the turbulent years of anti-war protest, mind exploration and rock `n roll. Jude (Jim Sturgess) and Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood), along with a small group of friends and musicians, are swept up into the emerging anti-war and counterculture movements with "Dr. Robert" (Bono) and "Mr. Kite" (Eddie Izzard) as their guides.

FEATURING SONGS FROM THE GREATEST SONGWRITERS OF ALL TIME, PERFORMED BY THE CAST INCLUDING EVAN RACHEL WOOD, JIM STURGESS, DANA FUCHS, MARTIN LUTHER McCOY, BONO, JOE COCKER AND EDDIE IZZARD

Package art will incorporate stills from pivotal scenes from the movie and a 16-page folder foldout poster with a strawberry image.

Customer Reviews: Read 212 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Excellent Beatles interpretations October 29, 2007
187 out of 190 found this review helpful

Interscope Records has released three variations of soundtrack albums from the film - a standard edition and two deluxe editions. The standard edition contains 16 tracks from the film soundtrack. The first version of the deluxe edition features 31 tracks - all of the vocal performances and one of the three instrumental tracks. This 31-track version is available solely at the Best Buy retail chain and in a digital version via iTunes. A second version of the deluxe edition is available at other retail outlets. The second version differs from the 31-track version in that it omits two tracks: "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" and "Why Don't We Do It In The Road?". The total time for these two missing tracks is 5 minutes.

If you can get the 31-track version without a lot of hassle, then do so, even though the singer of the 2 songs, Dana Fuchs, isn't considered a particularly good singer or actor and the two missing songs aren't highlights. I see no point in buying the 16-song single CD version when for $2 more you get more than 54 minutes of extra music.

The 29-track version is excellent and worth the money. Virtually every song is done in a manner very different from the original by the Beatles and yet it is very enjoyable and tasteful. Great, innovative cover versions, an amazing feat.

A final comment. Interscope Records is to be disdained for releasing 2 different Deluxe versions and causing both buyers and sellers a lot of needless decision making problems. Obviously Best Buys made some marketing arrangement with Interscope Records but it won't generate enough extra cash to compensate for all of the bad PR and angst that this will generate.

3 out of 5 stars

Great soundtrack, but... October 23, 2007
73 out of 88 found this review helpful

The original Deluxe Edition released to iTunes and Best Buy contained 31 tracks over 2 CDs. The Deluxe Edition sold here and now available at other retailers only includes 29 tracks over 2 CDs. "Why Don't We Do it in the Road?" and "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" are missing.

I don't know why this is, but take it into account before ordering. The soundtrack deserves 5 stars, but the unexplained removal of tracks cuts it to a 3.

4 out of 5 stars

Go to Best Buy and get the 31 song version October 25, 2007
62 out of 66 found this review helpful

This edition is 29 songs long. I found another version with 31 songs at Best Buy. The two missing songs here are: "Why Don't We Do it in the Road?" and "I Want You (She's So Heavy)"

Otherwise, this is a great album. The original cast voices Evan Rachel Woods, Jim Sturgess, etc. are excellent, plus we get guest shots from Joe Cocker (Come Together), Bono (I am the Walrus, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds) and Eddie Izzard (Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite).

Probably my top two of this collection is Joe Cocker's rough voice on "Come Together" and the excellent surprise of Martin Luther McCoy's voice on "While my Guitar Gently Weeps."

I strongly recommend the movie and this soundtrack is one of my favorites as well.

1 out of 5 stars

Disappointing November 26, 2007
13 out of 34 found this review helpful

I generally like tribute albums of this sort, and though this is technically not a tribute album I will lump it into that category. First of all, Bono of all people doesn't deserve to be singing Beatles music. His performances of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and I am the Walrus have a very sterile/pompous air about them. And I'm sorry, I doubt there is a human being alive that could do justice to the song Blackbird, other than Paul McCartney himself. The re-interpretations of these songs by the various performers are, in my opinion, definitely lacking with the exception of a few tracks, namely Joe Cocker's Come Together and Eddie Izzard on Mr. Kite. Most of these performers seem to have ignored or forgotten that the Beatles sang Rock & Roll. If I wanted to hear some downtempo Beatles music I would rather play one of their albums in reverse in search of some backmasking as opposed to listening to this drivel.

1 out of 5 stars

Dreadful October 24, 2007
10 out of 30 found this review helpful

This is like a 'Beatles-Lite' album. The soundtrack in the movie completely butchered some incredible songs. I was horribly disappointed being a huge Beatles fan and a fan of Julie Taymor.

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