Not surprisingly, the soundtrack to "Message in a Bottle" is one of those
vapid 'Music From And Inspired By' albums. I feel obligated as a reviewer
to discuss the songs, but I dislike them and have no intention of wasting
anyone's time in some half-wit validation of their existence. But as a courtesy,
here is the song rundown: 'I Could Not Ask For More' performed by Edwin McCain,
'No Mermaid' by Sinead Lohan, 'Let Me Go' by Faith Hill, 'I Will Know Your
Love' by Beth Nielsen Chapman, 'Only Lonely' by Hootie & The Blowfish,
'Don't' by Yve.n.Adam, 'Carolina' by Sheryl Crow, 'I Love You' by Sarah
McLachlan, 'Fallen Angels' by Marc Cohn, 'Somewhere In The Middle' by Nine
Sky Wonder, 'What Will I Do' by Clannad, and 'One More Time' by Laura Pausini.
I have no use for this malodorous collection of generic pap. Those who do,
have my sympathy. There is also an original song by Gabriel Yared & David
Foster and Linda Thompson titled 'I'll Still Love You Then,' performed by
Anna Nordell. It incorporates Yared's sweet main theme, coupled with typical
Foster predictability, and unmemorable lyrics.
The disc ends with 19 minutes and ten seconds of Yared's underscore. The
music received countless negative reviews for its "bloated" contribution
to the film, but on disc it fares reasonably well. Yared became a Hollywood
commodity following his overrated wall of clichéd melodramatic sound
for "The English Patient;" here he fails to dampen the melodrama or clichés
adequately, but he does use some intelligence to polish them to a high shine.
The trio of score tracks share many of the same wistful orchestrations and
somewhat ambiguous melodies, making the 19 minutes seem like one extended
cue. Heavy on Vienna-like strings, guitar and piano, it bears some resemblance
to John Williams' "Sabrina" and "Stepmom." The track 'Theresa & Garret'
merely sets the foundation of Yared's music with the string, guitar, and
piano themes. 'Message in a Bottle' builds on that foundation until it forms
a mildly rhythmic dance that ultimately falls in upon itself, bringing the
listener back where he began. 'Dear Catherine' again builds up from the base,
but this time using wordless voices and melancholy chord progressions that
slowly mutate into a vibrant finale.
Regrettably, the score tracks do not make the album as a whole worth recommending
to anyone other than the soundtrack completist. However, it remains noteworthy
that 19 minutes of capable music is worth a lot more than 55 minutes of that
lesser kind.
Reviewer
Jeffrey Wheeler
OST
