The Squid and the Whale - Music from the Motion Picture

Genre soundtrack Publisher Ultra Records External Links Official Website Ultra Records

The film The Squid and the Whale is getting some incredibly positive reviews. Though Noah Baumbach's tale of a family struggling through a divorce has yet to reach most of the country, the soundtrack to the film is available and is a veritable treasure trove of great songs.

Relying heavily on singer-songwriter material from the early part of the 70s (surely meant to mirror the film's parents portrayed by Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney), there are a couple of tunes from the decade the film is set in (the year specifically is 1986), as well as new numbers by ex-Luna members Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips

Wareham does a breathy version of Pink Floyd's "Hey You," with the other two numbers he and Phillips contribute being airy instrumentals. The Feelies' "Let's Go" gives reason for history to finally catch up with this fine band (remember their appearance in that other Daniels film, Something Wild, where they played Bowie's "Fame"?), and The Cars' "Drive" is born anew, freeing itself of being wrongly incorporated into 80s nostalgia-cheesiness classification once and for all.

The Bert Jansch tunes are probably integral due to the sheer number of them found here (three, to be exact), but they are nothing more than slight folkies here. The album would have been much stronger without them here, with perhaps a suitable replacement being Nick Drake or Van Morrison?

But the real gems here are definitely the songs you may have forgotten existed. Loudon Wainwright III's contributions ("Lullaby" and "The Swimming Song") call for a serious re-evaluating of his sizeable collection. Kate & Anna McGarrigle's lovely "Heart Like a Wheel" feels like a tender kiss, while John Phillips' "Holland Tunnel" is a stirring testimony to a time in music that has been oft-replicated, but never as well as by one of the masters. The Schoolhouse Rock classic, "Figure Eight," by Blossom Dearie brings memories of Saturday morning cartoon-watching flooding back. The song is as delicate as a mild spring morning, and twice as beautiful.

However, the one eye-opener found here is Lou Reed's "Street Hassle," an epic song of youthful joy and maturing darkness. The cello work is ominous, with Reed's stuttering cadences all herky-jerky, adding another layer of nervousness to the song. The backing choral parts soar like the angels surely watching over the overdose and it's after effects in the song. And then Bruce Springsteen comes out of nowhere playing a bit of off-color guitar and paraphrasing lyrics from "Born to Run." This is as odd ball and brilliant as Reed's compositions get, ranking up there with his band, the Velvet Underground's, "Heroin."

When so many soundtracks feel like talent-agency approved packaging, this one for The Squid and the Whale deserves a hearty, welcoming embrace for having loads of character and grace. Now if only the film would come to a theater near me I could find out what all the fuss is about.