SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: VARIOUS ARTISTS – THE EDGE OF SEVENTEEN (ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK)

Various Artists
The Edge of Seventeen (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Sony Music Canada

Saturday Night Fever may have started it, but John Hughes perfected the various artists’ soundtrack albums. For those of us old enough, who can forget buying the Pretty In Pink soundtrack and enjoying New Order, OMD Suzanne Vega? But the floodgates opened. Since then, there have been thousands of soundtracks featuring songs both in the movie, and ‘inspired by’ the movie.

The latest installment is the soundtrack to Kelly Fremon Craig’s film Edge of Seventeen. Here we have a collection of new and old songs (Aimee Mann’s “Save Me” makes a welcome return, as does The Cinematic Orchestra’s achingly beautiful “To Build A Home”). Some of the newer songs work, others don’t (The Struts’ “Ballroom Blitz” lacks the energy of the original). Birdy comes through with “Ghost In the Wind,” and The 1975 standout with “Somebody Else.” The songs work well in the film, and as an album, as with most various artists collections, it is hit and miss. It is an opportunity for artists to provide songs to promote upcoming releases (Two Door Cinema Club, for example), but when the songs seem to be written specifically for the film, they work better.

The instrumental ‘soundtrack’ pieces composed and performed by Alti Orvarsson beg for a more complete release of this music, as the two songs here are worth the price of admission alone. But, the main question: where is Stevie Nicks’ “Edge of Seventeen”? Surely someone could have approached Florence and The Machine, or Cat Martino to cover this classic. But overall, the album is a pleasant, if uneven, listening experience.

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