Album Review - Various Artists - Raging Bull: The Original Motion
Picture Soundtrack
"When you think of moments from your own life, you remember feelings and
the way that different sights and sounds and textures connect to those
feelings," writes director Martin Scorsese in the liner notes to Raging
Bull: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. "For all of us, the places
we grew up and the feelings we experienced within those places remain
inseparable."
This simple philosophy summarizes precisely what it is about Scorsese
that distances him from his peers. Throughout his film-making career, he
consistently has immersed his characters within the sights, sounds, and
textures of the worlds that surround them, and in doing so, he has
succeeded in transforming them into living, breathing entities to which
an audience can relate fully. It's impossible to imagine Good Fellas
without the songs of Tony Bennett, Bobby Darin, and Derek and the
Dominoes simply because the aural and visual components of the movie are
so indivisible. Such was the case, too, with the making of Raging Bull.
In adopting Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana: Intermezzo as the
film's unofficial theme, Scorsese added new dimensions to the
composition while effectively underscoring his tragic tale in which love
is reduced to all-consuming jealousy and in which punishment is a
substitute for confession, penance, and absolution. "I need no shackles
to remind me," sings Russ Columbo on Prisoner of Love to which Bing
Crosby responds on Just One More Chance, "I've learned the meaning of
repentance; now, you're the jury at my trial."
So intertwined is the story with its accompanying music that those who
have seen Raging Bull likely will be able not only to identify precisely
the moments in which each track was utilized but also to recognize
instantly the specific thought that was meant to be revealed. The
problem, however, comes for those who haven't seen the film because
without the storyline, the songs lose some of their potency.
Nevertheless, Raging Bull: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is
still a superb collection that artistically fuses together an array of
opera, pop, jazz, and blues selections in order to sketch an
impressionistic portrait of its own emotional journey.
This is an excerpt. To read the complete review, please visit:
http://www.musicbox-online.com/va-bull.html 
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