VA - Music From Vanilla Sky (2001)

Whatever one may think about the films of director Cameron Crowe, the former music journalist for Rolling Stone always manages to amass amazing soundtrack albums by calling on the connections he made as one of the most artist-friendly writers in music business history. This "music from" various-artists collection is certainly no exception. Vanilla Sky, Crowe's American remake of Spanish director Alejandro Amenábar's film Open Your Eyes, a psychological thriller with a science fiction element starring Tom Cruise, drew mixed notices from critics and filmgoers. But not many movies have theme songs specially written by Paul McCartney (a typically melodic folk-rock ballad) or feature an artist list including tracks by R.E.M., Radiohead, Peter Gabriel, Jeff Buckley, and Bob Dylan (a live acoustic take of "Fourth Time Around" from Blonde on Blonde). Lesser-known artists such as Julianna Gianna, Red House Painters, and Josh Rouse also contribute good songs. The result is an excellent mixtape, irrespective of the virtues of the cinematic complement to the music.~ Review by William Ruhlmann