Like William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet before it,
Alfonso Cuaron's contemporary update of
Charles Dickens' Great Expectations was designed to win a new, younger audience, which means that the soundtrack is filled with alternative and post-alternative groups, since they would theoretically appeal to that audience. Artists like
the Verve Pipe,
Reef,
Poe,
Mono, and Fisher provide alt-rock that sits alongside the softer adult alternative of
Duncan Sheik and
Lauren Christy as well as a pair of oldies from
Iggy Pop ("Success") and
the Grateful Dead ("Uncle John's Band"). That leaves the four songs that make the record especially interesting: new cuts from
Tori Amos,
Chris Cornell,
Pulp, and
Scott Weiland.
Amos and
Pulp both collaborated with the film's composer,
Patrick Doyle, and while
Amos' "Siren" sounds a little like traditional film music,
Pulp's "Like a Friend" is a terrific, theatrical tour de force with a typically nuanced, vicious
Jarvis Cocker performance. "Sunshower" is
Cornell's first effort since
Soundgarden's breakup, and its layered guitars and subtle melody find him at his best. "Lady, Your Roof Brings Me Down" is
Weiland's first release since
the Stone Temple Pilots imploded, and its carnivalesque, ersatz
Tom Waits feel may take some fans by surprise, but it indicates that his forthcoming solo album could be full of delightful, left-of-center pop like this. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine