Straight Story Soundtrack

In composing the music for With Peter Bradley, a brilliant new documentary on the abstract painter directed by Alex Rappoport, saxophonist Javon Jackson is also painting a series of pictures. The original music from the documentary, released on his own Solid Jackson Records, is like a full exhibit, an extended play expression of the lightheartedness and verve of the enigmatic Peter Bradley.

From a novel by author Elizabeth Taylor comes the inspiration for Angel, the second English-language film by French director Francois Ozon. In many ways a throwback to the grand romances of Hollywood's Golden Age, Angel also features a wider range of sensibilities that would seem to attract attention from modern arthouse crowds. The story follows the life of young author Angel Deverell, whose force of will leads the audience on a journey from the imaginative aspirations of her youth all the way through her eventual death. A fierce personality for Angel and the story's willingness to toss in a tart now and then provide the film with spicy interest. Angel marks the fifth collaboration (since 2003) between Ozon and young French composer Philippe Rombi, who has shown the talent and promise of an international career that is yet unrealized. Without a doubt, Angel is the biggest spectacle to come out of Rombi's career as of yet, contributing to a belief that he very well could be an extension of (or replacement for) the late master of French romanticism, Georges Delerue. In many ways, Angel will be an absolute delight for fans of Delerue, mostly due to Rombi's unashamed, lyrical devotion to his three themes for the film.

The new multi-part documentary Elvis Presley: The Searcher, directed by Thom Zimny and airing on HBO on April 14, pushes past the larger-than-life image of The King of Rock and Roll, portraying him instead as a man and an artist "who wanted to heal, to find that thing that was always felt to be missing, and to do it through the music."

A return look and listen to this historical and breathtaking collaboration between two of the great figures of modern music should naturally be prefaced by a few key facts. Although this album presents itself as the soundtrack to the film The Hot Spot, like many such releases it bares little relation to the music that was actually used in the film — not that much of this music was actually used. All one really needs to know about the film itself, other than the fact that it was directed by Dennis Hopper, is that it is awful, even by bad film standards. That it was the impetus for this marvelous music to be made is something listeners should be thankful for, particularly fans of either Miles Davis or John Lee Hooker

BUYSOUNDTRAX Records present HIGH ROAD TO CHINA, featuring music composed and conducted by John Barry for the 1983 action adventure film directed by Brian G. Hutton (SOL MADRID, WHERE EAGLES DARE, KELLY’S HEROES), based on a book by Jon Cleary, starring Tom Selleck, Bess Armstrong, Jack Weston, Wilford Brimley, Robert Morley, Cassandra Gava and the great Brian Blessed as the Suleman Khan.