Various Artists – CBGB: Original Movie Soundtrack
Omnivore Records
All Access Rating: B
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| Various artists - CBGB: Original Movie Soundtrack 2013 |
So far, the critics haven’t been at all kind to the movie“CBGB.” Even though Television's Richard Lloyd and the Dead Boys’ Cheetah Chrome, both of
whom have a long history with the iconic punk venue, have gone on record giving
it their stamp of approval, others aren’t so enamored.
Their knives sharpened, the film’s detractors have crucified
it, in fact. Actors were reportedly miscast for important roles or gave
performances that were just plain flat. Inaccuracies are said to abound, at the
very least compromising its authenticity. And these are just a few of the
complaints.
Worst of all, there’s a sense that the filmmakers failed to go
that extra mile to capture the explosive zeitgeist of the times or the energy
of a place that was so vital in nurturing the innovation and raw fury of the
nascent punk rock scene of New York City in the late 1970s, not to mention its
propensity for good, dumb fun. The Ramones had a lot of it, and so did The
Dictators.
If nothing else then, the Omnivore Records soundtrack has to be good, right?
Well, yes and no. Taken out of context, without any regard for what actually
took place at CBGB, this is a fine collection of riotous, vicious rock ‘n’ roll
that provokes and agitates, with a pulse that simply races and lyrics that are
poetic and unflinchingly honest. The tension of almost every track threatens to
boil over at any point, even if stylistically speaking, there is a good amount of diversity. Whatever qualms people – especially the old punks “who were there” –
have about the film, the track listing of the soundtrack offers at least some measure of
salvation.
Containing all of 20 songs within its graffiti-splattered
walls, it is not, by any means, an exhaustive survey of the trailblazing acts
or performers who made CBGB their home. And some of the choices are
predictable, but perhaps necessary, like the Talking Heads’ anxiety-ridden
“Life during Wartime.” Exactly what the MC5’s wild-eyed “Kick Out the Jams” or
The Stooges’ bad acid trip “I Wanna Be Your Dog” – both groundbreaking pieces
of great significance and influence, no doubt – are doing here is up for
debate, seeing as how the scene of the most memorable meltdowns from these
Motor City proto-punks was probably the Grande Ballroom in Detroit.
In between such obvious and controversial selections,
however, lies the true identity of CBGB, where the Tuff Darts’ gnarly,
bull-in-a-china-shop manifesto “All for the Love of Rock ‘N’ Roll” knocks the
martini glass out of the hand of Blondie’s sweet and stylish 2013 remake of the
sunny and sophisticated “Sunday Girl.” What could be more CBGB than Wayne
County and the Electric Chairs’ edgy, kinetic “Out of Control” sharing garish
makeup tips with the New York Dolls’ gleefully obnoxious and thoroughly
pugnacious “Chatterbox” or Television’s nervous art-pop tale of romantic
bitterness “Careful” commiserating with Johnny Thunders & the
Heartbreakers’ punched-up, soul-searing lament “All By Myself.” God, but the serrated guitars everywhere on this soundtrack cut you to the quick.
All of these songs bristle with frustrated energy just
begging for an outlet. CBGB and its eccentric owner Hilly Kristal were only too
happy to oblige the poetic vitriol and tortured self-loathing of “Blank
Generation” by Richard Hell & the Voidoids, as well as The Dictators’
obscenely funny, amphetamine-fueled romp through The Rivieras’ classic rocker “California
Sun.” Two songs by the Dead Boys, the snarling “Caught with the Meat in Your Mouth” and the blazing
arson that is “Sonic Reducer,” have a seat at CBGB’s table, as
do the swaggering, hip-shaking garage-rockers “Slow Death” and
“Psychotic Reaction,” by the Flamin’ Groovies and The Count Five,
respectively.
Of course, they also made room for The Police, who played at
CBGB just before they broke it big. Their super-tight, bubbling paean
to a painted-prostitute “Roxanne” is part of the soundtrack, which, as many
critics will undoubtedly say, could serve a musical textbook for any Punk Rock 101 class. It should
have been much better though.
Although Joey Ramone’s bare-knuckled brawler “I Get Knocked
Down (But I’ll Get Up)” makes an appearance, how is there nothing from The
Ramones as a whole here? And why give space to a Blondie remake of “Sunday
Girl” when some other original from back in the band’s more subversively sexual
heyday would have lent the set more heat? For that matter, who needs yet
another chance to own “Kick out the Jams” or “I Wanna Be Your Dog”? Every
winning choice and every unexpected surprise on the “CBGB” soundtrack is
matched by another that’s completely baffling or gallingly superfluous. Give
this to a kid who needs some real punk rock in his or her life, but tell them
there was more to CBGB than this.
–
Peter Lindblad
