TV Life June 10, 2018

The West of veteran TV writer/Deadwoodcreator David Milch is as grim as it is gritty, sprinkled with salty dialogue and punctuated by sudden brutality and raw sexuality. The original soundtrack cues by composer David Schwartz (represented here by his evocative show theme), Michael Brook and Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek play off that vision with often stark rootsiness. But it's the series' rich slate of songs – choices whose inventiveness often rivals that of The Sopranos – that consistently reinforce its all-too-human drama, if not the crusty veneer. This collection gathers the best songs from the series' first season, coloring the milieu with evocative hillbilly romps like Michael Hurley's "Hog of the Forsaken" and the a capella grace of Margaret's Native American "Creek Lullaby." But the collection's musical eclecticism stretches far beyond mere genre concerns, variously encompassing the nascent jazz of Jelly Roll Morton (a rollicking "Stars and Stripes Forever"), Delta blues of Bukka White and Mississippi John Hurt and even Gustavo Santaolalla's hypnotic Brazilian fretwork. But the collection's country and folk-tinged performances are its most resonant, whether invoking earthy traditions (the gospel fervor of the late June Carter Cash's "Will the Circle Be Unbroken," Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee's more heretical "God and Man") or more contemporary stylings like Lyle Lovett's "Old Friend" and the gentle "Twisted Little Man" by Michael J. Sheehy.

Double Trouble is the fifth album by the British rock band Gillan, released in 1981. It was released as a double album, the first disc containing studio material, and the second containing live recordings. It reached No. 12 in the UK charts. In 1989, Virgin re-released the album, with the same track listing, in CD format. It is the first album to feature Janick Gers, since Bernie Tormé left the group during the tour of Germany in 1981. In fact Tormé was fired because he did not want to participate in the playback TV performance of "No Laughing in Heaven" at "Top of the Pops" on 24 June 1981. Janick Gers came in for the rest of the tour on 25 June 1981. In 2007, Edsel Demon Music Group released this album with bonus material.

On Deadly Ground suffers without the orchestral firepower customary to Basil Poledouris' most memorable action scores, but its quirks – most notably the addition of Inuit throat singers Qaunaq Mikkigak and Timangiak Petaulassie – rescue the music from complete forgettability. Because Poledouris' action efforts operate in such bold, grandiose strokes, their impact is dulled in the hands of the smaller-sized orchestra employed here (presumably to compensate for the additional costs of star/director Steven Seagal's hair plugs). Still, the composer excels at evoking the narrative's emphasis on Alaskan ecological hazards and native mysticism, installing vocals and celestial electronics to capture the otherness of life in the Last Frontier.

The latest in Ace Records’ Songwriters series takes the listener from a version of ‘Why Don’t You Smile Now’ from Lou Reed’s pre-Velvet Underground days through selections from the band’s albums to three from 1972’s solo “Transformer”.