The Wide Angle: A titan of a soundtrack doesn’t translate

Published 9:12 am Sunday, May 1, 2016

Let’s just face it. Some things shouldn’t even try to pace the passage of time.

Case in point: The mullet. No, it doesn’t matter how much you like hockey, the mullet is no longer cool.

That really has no bearing on this column, I just wanted to make a statement. But now that I have your attention …

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There are so many things that do hold true through that passage of time. Love, the written word and music.

And that’s why Tuesday was such a disheartening day.

My story, like so many things, began simply. I wanted to hear some songs off of the “Titan A.E.” soundtrack. For those of you not in the know, this was an animated film that came out in 2000. It was a Don Bluth film, so there’s that, but it was more than one brilliant animator.

Yes, it was gorgeously animated, and I think set the stage for animated films to come. A gateway of sorts to what films of that style could be and something Japan already knew with their anime.

It also featured actors Matt Damon, Drew Barrymore and several more of Hollywood’s heavy hitters. Plotwise, the sci-fi epic was a bit of a struggle to hold down, and without going into a whole bunch of detail, featured your typical evil race looking to rule the galaxy with good ultimately winning and then using a space ship to create another Earth.

The movie has generally received positive reviews, but what really stood the movie out for me was the soundtrack. Music and movies have always been a bonded pair where music alone can lift a movie if used right.

The soundtrack for “Titan A.E.” featured popular bands of the time including Lit and Powerman 5000 along with other lesser-known acts like Electrasy and Texas. Every song fit the movie perfectly and were used at just the right moment throughout the film. I played the CD to death.

For you kids out there, those are those round things that require a considerably more bulky player that you actually had to open to insert the CD. That’s not science fiction. Look it up.

Fast forward to Tuesday and for whatever reason the urge returned to listen to soundtrack again. It welled up in me I think after hearing another one of Lit’s songs in the car.

I was excited to listen to it again, so to YouTube I went and started to play track one. All of my giddiness to hear those old songs again bubbled to the surface and then just kind of spilled all over the place in a whole lot of, “meh.”

What had happened?

Buster, my cat, who lazily sat behind me on the back of the chair, slapping me in the face with his tail, had no answer. His way of telling me he didn’t care and was annoyed I would even ask a cat.

I listened to some of my favorite songs over and over again. Texas’s “Like Lovers (Holding On)” was high on that list and while still good, just didn’t create that tingling feeling you get when hearing a favorite song.

This is devastating people and a reminder that when you find that one song that is your favorite, appreciate it each time it gives you that feeling. Each time you play it over and over again should be a celebration, because music can bring you what nothing else can.

Peace.