Oh dear God I hate Adam Sandler! Yeah, you may be a fan of his but I fu
cking can't stand him. Every movie I've seen him in he's been the same smug bastard with zero acting talent, and along with Stiller he just angers me to the point where I hate even seeing his smirking face on the television. Which is all by way of introducing our next movie, in which Sandler gets his hands on a magic remote control that can let him fast forward through “the boring bits in life”, but he soon finds that when you rush past things and don't take the time to smell the roses you miss the most vital and important parts of yadda yadda yadda. Bor-ing and highly unoriginal. Which makes it a perfect Sandler movie --- he's never been linked with anything groundbreaking or cutting edge after all --- but odd that luminaries from Kate Beckinsale to Christopher Walken and even “The Fonz” himself, Henry Winkler, deigned to take part in this train wreck.
But look, if you like him and thought this was a great movie then good for you. This slot is not to necessarily trash the movie but to point out where such a, shall we say, below-par film has nevertheless a great soundtrack. And this one does. No, it really does. The cream of pop and rock are featured on it, and it's a long one too: twenty-five tracks. A case could I suppose be made for the soundtrack having to compensate for the dire movie, but then again, what do I know? Anyhoo, as I say we're not here to see the movie but to listen to the music, and it is absolutely legendary.
Click OST --- Various Artists --- 2006
And now I have a reason to hate him even more, as by looking for a picture of the soundtrack album I have the very unwelcome words “Adam Sandler” in my internet browsing history and on Google. Honestly! It was research, I swear! Gaahhh! There's a score for the movie too --- somehow they got Zimmer: must have driven a truck full of cash up to his door --- but that's not what we're concerned with here. The soundtrack consists of songs many of you will know, and certainly artistes that will be, mostly, familiar to you. It kicks off with The Cars' superb “Magic”, where the rising keyboard line and the driving, staccato guitars form a perfect backdrop to Ric Ocasek's unmistakable voice, and given that the film features a “magic” remote control, it's quite appropriate. Next up we have the Kinks, never a favourite band of mine and I only know the odd song, and “Do it again” is not one of them. It's a reasonably restrained song with touches of The Who's “Won't get fooled again”, though it rocks pretty hard for them. I know nothing by The Offspring, not even what sort of a band they are, so “Come out and play” comes as something of a surprise with its mixture of punk, new wave and quasi-indie feel. Not bad, singer reminds me of Paul Weller, but not really. Maybe. Nice sort of Arabic melody in the guitar. Oh, they're a punk band. Yeah, not bad really.
Gwen Stefani of course is known to me but not her music very much, so this is the first time I've heard “Cool”, and it has a nice dreamy opening with a rather long orchestral intro, then develops into a half-decent pop song, reminds me of something though, and I know I haven't heard it before. So is she ripping someone off? Quite probably. Oddly, while listening to this I got the line
”I took you to an intimate restaurant” in my head, though it's nothing to do with the melody, and I couldn't remember what song it was from. For those interested, I'll tell you at the end. Next up is the superb Carole King with one of her big hits, “I feel the Earth move”, and then an oldie in Irving Gordon's “Be anything (but be mine)”. Not my sort of thing I must admit, and I move swiftly on to a somewhat more contemporary tune.
Parliament's “Give up the funk” is also not the sort of music I'm into but it's enjoyable, good seventies soul vibe to it and one thing you can always say about soul is that it's generally uptempo and cheerful. Plenty of brass of course. It's
Benny Hill time then (appropriate for a Sandler movie; one of the unfunniest and coarsest comedy sketch shows of the seventies) with “Yakety Sax” before we get to the first instrumental, and it's like something you'd hear in a lift, honestly. Not too enamoured of Walter Wanderley's “Summer samba”, must say. It's okay I guess but real wallpaper music. Two classics then in Frampton's “Show me the way” (love that talk box) and then Captain and Tennile's other big hit, “Love will keep us together”. Very fond of that. Toto's superb “Hold the line” is next, ramping up the pressure and kicking in a bit of much-needed rock, even if it is soft rock: “Hold the line” was one of their heavier hits, as the boys will no doubt confirm in their Toto journal, if they haven't already.
And the hits just keep coming! They've really pulled the stops out here, as I said probably to deflect attention from how much the movie sucks. T-Rex with “Twentieth century boy”, Tears For Fears' “Everybody wants to rule the world” and Nazareth's excellent cover of “Love hurts”, a great power ballad. “More more more” from the Andrea True Connection takes us back to 1975, but I'm always going to hear Mo singing “Mo Mo Mo! How do you like me! Mo Mo Mo! Why don't you like me?” on the Simpsons. Some more great American AOR then as Loverboy are “Working for the weekend”, a film song if ever there was one, great beat and super solo. An Irish flavour next with “Linger” by The Cranberries, followed by ol' Blue Eyes with “I'm gonna live till I die” then we're a little more up to date with The Strokes.
“Someday” has a nice jaunty indie feel about it, very feelgood, then there's a return to the Cars connection as Ric's solo album
Quick change world gives us the tremendous “Feelings got to stay”, which is pretty close to the standout, and among all these classics that's really saying something. Just amazing. This guy is a genius. Another oldie then in the shape of “Call me irresponsible” by Jimmy Van Heusen, a further Irish link as U2 gives us “Ultraviolet (Light my way)”, a song I've not heard before but which is a pretty typical U2 song, not too much to write home about but not terrible (not “Bad” though!
) then Jim Steinman hooks up with Air Supply for their heartstring-tugging power ballad “Making love out of nothing at all” leaving us with The New Radicals to close proceedings with “You get what you give”, which I realise I know. Good closer to a fantastic soundtrack.
TRACKLISTING
1. Magic (The Cars)
2. Do it again (The Kinks)
3. Come out and play (The Offspring)
4. Cool (Gwen Stefani)
5. I feel the earth move (Carole King)
6. Be anything (but be mine) (Irving Gordon)
7. Give up the funk (Tear the roof off this sucker) Parliament
8. Yakety sax (Boots Randolph)
9. Summer samba (Walter Wanderley)
10. Show me the way (Peter Frampton)
11. Love will keep us together (Captain and Tennille)
12. Hold the line (Toto)
13. 20th century boy (T-Rex)
14. Everybody wants to rule the world (Tears For Fears)
15. Love hurts (Nazareth)
16. More, more, more (The Andrea True Collection)
17. Working for the weekend (Loverboy)
18. Linger (The Cranberries)
19. I'm gonna live till I die (Frank Sinatra)
20. Someday (The Strokes)
21. Feelings got to stay (Ric Ocasek)
22. Call me irresponsible (Jimmy Van Huysen)
23. Ultraviolet (Light my way) (U2)
24. Making love out of nothing at all (Air Supply)
25. You get what you give (The New Radicals)
There is the odd duff track here, or more accurately, one or two I don't particularly like, but considering the amount of tracks and the bad-to-good ratio, this is a phenomenal soundtrack, perhaps the best I've yet reviewed from a questionable film. True, most of us will have or will know the majority of these songs already, but if you want a cross-section of classic rock and pop from the seventies and eighties you would go far to find such a selection on any other album, never mind soundtrack.
So you don't have to see the movie. Never mind the terrible
Click: just relax with the soundtrack and enjoy the great music it has to offer as an apology for the film. Oh, and if you
really want to see a story about a man watching the consequences of how his life changed, settle down with the classic
It's a wonderful life: it's uplifting, you can get the entire thing for free on Youtube here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eS6eQjaRlQ, and best of all, there's no Adam Sandler. Everybody wins!
Oh, and that song I was trying to think of with the lyric? Olivia Newton-John, “Let's get physical.” Just in case you were wondering.