Goal! (Official Sound Track)

TRACKLISTING:
1. Playground Superstar - Happy Mondays
2. Who Put The Weight Of The World On My Shoulders - Oasis
3. Leap Of Faith - UNKLE feat Joe Cadbury of South
4. Human Love - Dirty Vegas
5. Morning Glory (D Sardy Mix) - Oasis
6. This Is The Land - The Bees
7. Cast No Shadow (UNKLE Beachhead Mix) - Oasis
8. That's That - Graeme Revell
9. Club Foot - Kasabian
10. Look Up - Zero 7
11. Wet Wet Wet - Princess Superstar
12. Blackout - UNKLE
13. Will You Smile Again For Me - …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of the Dead
14. Premiership Medley - Graeme Revell


REVIEWS:
Manila Standard Today
Mondo Castro

IT’s an archetypal tale of a small town boy, in this case it’s Santiago Munez played by Kuno Becker, who goes through an ordeal of fire and ice to accomplish his dream. The movie successfully sets the stage for the next two films. Yes, boys and girls, this is meant to be the Star Wars of football (and an approximately six-hour moving billboard for Adidas). Fortunately, I am not a movie critic and my puerile attempts at film eloquence is atrocious and so let me switch to the lesser of two evils, let’s talk about the excellent music that gives verve to an equally excellent movie.

The soundtrack heralds an important event for British rock and, to a certain degree, for that exhilarating era in England called “Madchester”, after a 13-year absence the celebrated Happy Mondays returns with the smoldering “Playground Superstar.” It’s got a typical Mondays groove with the dance vibe taking a backseat to a dirty guitar riff reminiscent of fellow Madchester blokes Primal Scream. Front man Shaun Ryder’s recognizable drugged-out, sneer adorned vocals rises from the dead and it’s good to know that age has bloated that bluster. You can actually picture Ryder prowling the stage like a pissed off Ian Brown.

Now if that’s not enough for those unfamiliar with the influential Happy Mondays then contributions from the massive Oasis make this soundtrack reason enough to salivate over. “Who Put The Weight Of The World On My Shoulders” is exactly what people expect from Noel Gallagher. In the vein of “Sunday Morning Call”, this song is sadness embodied; it’s the song that you’d want to hear before you jump off that ledge. Brilliant remixes of popular tunes “Morning Glory,” by “Don’t Believe The Truth” co-producer Dave Sardy, and the re-recorded, U.N.K.L.E.-tweaked “Cast No Shadow,” that is actually much better than the original version, are incorporated. The b-side “Acquiesce,” found on the “Some Might Say” single and b-side compilation “The Masterplan,” also makes a cameo in the movie but is not included in the motion picture soundtrack CD.

While on the subject of Oasis, their drinking buddies Kasabian lend a hefty serving of swagger with the very apt “Club Foot.” The band, named after the driver of Charles Manson’s getaway car, released one of the best albums of 2004. Mad scientists who tinker with rock and dance music, these guys go for heavy doses of “Definitely Maybe” and “The Second Coming”: worthy followers to the Oasis and Stone Roses hierarchy.

The chain of command continues with U.N.K.L.E.’s “Blackout,” an excellent blend of funk, jazz, and ethereal string arrangement that the usual yuppie would brand as ‘chill-out’. Both “Blackout” and the Oasis mix unquestionably make the grade but it’s on “Leap Of Faith” where they burn the brightest. Featuring Joel Cadbury of Stone Roses “tribute band” South, the song is charged with an urgency fully enhanced by the driving drum programming and guitar work. The London Philmarmonic Orchestra and Cadbury’s hushed vocals temper the stampede that would otherwise push you to bob your head like crazy. An exceptional song that is almost at par with South’s “Paint The Silence” that, incidentally, makes an appearance in the film but was not taken into the soundtrack. While praiseworthy tracks from Dirty Vegas, Zero 7, and You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, The Bees, and the renowned Graeme Revell, who’s responsible for scoring the film, make this soundtrack an instant classic—the inclusion of Princess Superstar’s “Wet! Wet! Wet!” is suspect. An awful pop song that sounds like a Spice Girls b-side, imagine Liam Gallagher cavorting with Mariah Carey. Stupid, isn’t it?

Despite the wart on an otherwise impressive collection, it remains as that sort of soundtrack that you’ll always go back to. This is the “Pretty In Pink,” “Some Kind Of Wonderful,” “Empire Records,” and “Transformers: The Movie” of this generation. There are fist-pumping moments, stirring words of a world better than this, stabs of disquieting truthfulness, and good tunes aplenty. Revell and Sony should be staked and burned with petrol for this classic, but what an exquisite way to burn.