Great Soundtracks of our time...

So the Commission has been debating the best Soundtrack recently...

The current contenders are:

Purple Rain -- the seminal Prince and the Revolution companion to the movie of the same name. Some of the classic tracks include: Let's Go Crazy, Purple Rain, When Doves Cry.

There is no arguing that this is a great album, and that the movie was a game changer in the early 1980s. That said, the commission sat down to watch the movie the other night, as was staggered by the absolutely terrible acting and the telegraphed plot. Really, was there any real competition between Prince and Morris Day and the Time - Really?

Among the Commission's issues with Purple Rain is the inclusion of only Prince's music from the film -- the Time's Jungle Love and The Bird would have been great additions...

Once -- the soundtrack album to the film, with Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova as struggling musicians who work together for a brief while. Key Tracks include: Falling Slowly, If You Want Me, Lies, Gold.

This album and movie work together beautifully, telling what is fundamentally a story of unrequited love. Neither lead is an actor by training or profession, but the chemistry and the storyline of the movie make thee most of this fact.

The Commission has two basic issues with Once as a contender for Best Soundtrack. The first is that neither the movie nor the album are as widely known, despite the Academy Award for best song. The second is that that it is not Purple Rain...

Garden State -- the soundtrack to the Zach Braff film of the same name. Key Songs include: Don't Panic, Caring is Creepy, I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You.

This album is a wonderful counterpoint to the film, and each song brings out a piece of the movie. The combination of artists as diverse as Coldplay, Collin Hay (formerly of Men at Work), the Shins, and Simon & Garfunkel manages to convey moods and feelings that add to the film.

While at least one Commission member feels that this is perhaps the perfect album, the basic flaw is one that Mr. Braff himself describes when he discusses the album. "Essentially, I made a mix CD with all of the music that I felt was scoring my life at the time I was writing the screenplay." While the songs are evocative of the moods in the movie, they do not advance the plot the way the songs in Purple Rain and Once do.