Hollywood Goes Wild

by

Various Artists

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Well, I reviewed this cd something like five months ago. Now that I've had time to see how the replay value is, I feel like I can write a much stronger review for it. This is a really cool cd to own. First off, you get to hear some of your favorite actors doing songs that they love. While there are a few misses on here (Jeff Goldbloom's "Born Free'ky" just didn't do much for me) this compilation is well worth the cash. I really dug "Your World" by Dogstar and "Midtown" by Brad Pitt. That song just rocks. My personal favorite on the whole cd would have to be "Island Avenue" by Billy Bob Thornton. It's a hard song to describe but the cd is worth owning just for that track alone. A track originally penned by his late brother, Jimmy Don, "Island Avenue" is a very deep, emotional song with great, complex music and Billy Bob singing in his best rocker voice. He sings everything unbelievably smooth until the chorus kicks in, then he sings out in a very heart-felt, almost Springsteen-like, voice. Greatness.

Since buying this album back in April, I've listened to that one song maybe three times a day and I have yet to get tired of it. I've played it for friends who went off and bought the album just for "Island Avenue". The guitar playing (by Michael Shipp) is downright awesome. Very bluesy and Melodic. I also love the B3 organ which gives the whole thing a classic-rock kind of vibe. Check it out.

I had never been familiar with Russel Crowe's outfit, 30 Foot Odd of Grunts, but with "Photograph Kills", I'm tempted to pick up their album. The music may be somewhat simplistic, but he has a great voice and the lyrics are very solid and meaningful. If you've never heard Dogstar before, here's a great place to start. This cd has turned me onto a lot of great bands and it's well worth picking up.