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The soundtrack to the film Rachel Getting Married.

When you read the liner notes that accompany the CD, the film’s producer/director Jonathan Demme tells you that both he and Declan Quinn (director of photography), decided to take a “documentary-like” approach to making the movie Rachel Getting Married. The film seems to have lots of multi-cultural musicians constantly playing in the background, which is odd and doesn’t seem to add much to the plot.  The music is quite varied as we hear Middle Eastern music, jazz, R & B, Jamaican music, blues, a lot of Indian music as well as rock. The eclectic mix is performed by many different musical artists, some of whom actually appear in the movie.

Here Comes the Bride , performed by Brooklyn Demme (the producer/director’s son) and Barry Eastmond, Jr. is a rock infused version of the traditional song that sounded like a teenager trying to be funny and didn’t make sense on an album with serious musicians. If you were playing this album at a dinner party, it’s guaranteed this song would jump out at the guests and interrupt the flow. Completely pointless. Brookly Demme tries again with Trilla, a bluesy song with an annoying drum track. As varied as the album is, Demme’s tracks still do not fit with the rest of the soundtrack.

Robyn Hitchcock’s songs on the album, Up to Our Nex and America, echoed the Beatles in the late 60’s/early 70’s during the period they were influenced by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Black Bombay’s haunting Dancing with Shiva was the best of the Indian inspired tracks. The catchiest song was Sister Carol East’s Dread Natty Congo, which added a much needed injection of enthusiasm to the disk with the reggae influenced tune.

Rachel Loves Sidney had a ‘60’s jazz club feel that reminded me of Doris Day films as well as the Breakfast at Tiffany’s soundtrack. Ethan’s Theme had a haunting Indian vibe to it, but sounded more like something you’d hear in a restaurant than a song you’d want to play on its own.

The soundtrack is eclectic and ethnic and might work well in the background of the film, but doesn’t really work a standalone CD.

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