Goodfellas: Music from the Motion Picture

Description

Ironic is probably the word for this soundtrack. For perhaps the most acclaimed film of his extraordinary career, director Martin (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull) Scorsese chose to accompany a shatteringly violent and foul-mouthed Mafia drama with the romantic, innocent, idealistic pop sounds of the 50s and 60s. The songs chronicle the years over which the story unfolds, with Tony Bennett's upbeat big-band "Rags To Riches" acting as a sardonic theme song for the gangsters, led by Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta and Joe Pesci, who will do anything to fulfil the American dream their way. A mixture of minor pop classics and better known titles like "Stardust" (in a relatively unfamiliar version by Billy Ward), Bobby Darin's "Beyond The Sea", and Cream's "Sunshine Of Your Love", serious Scorsese fans will link every on-screen moment to these optimistic tunes, while for general listening the disc makes an attractively nostalgic collection. Inevitably, the sound quality varies from song to song, but that only adds to the chronicle of passing years and changing pop styles. Scorsese took a similar musical approach to his Las Vegas gangster epic, Casino, resulting in a double-album soundtrack which really is a classic anthology of American popular music. --Gary S. Dalkin