haunting mood music

not everyone can identify with ang lee's multi-award-winning movie, brokeback mountain, but do you know that it has a beautiful soundtrack with excellent recording? even if the touching story of 2 gay cowboys doesn't interest you, you are bound to be moved by the haunting and poignant guitar interludes throughout the movie. listening to the score music, it does make me want to cry.

argentina-born, california-based gustovo santaolalla is the producer and composer for this soundtrack. his instrumental contributions to ang lee's tale of two cowboys in love are acoustic guitar-based and are very evocative, thought-provoking, romantic and sad at the same time.the tracks from santaolalla's score no doubt capture the essence & emotion of the film. with the music, one can even visualize the scenic alps that formed most of the background in the movie.

80% of the material here are original compositions by santaolalla and he roped in popular artistes like emmylou harris, mary mcBride, teddy thompson & willie nelson, who all deliver fantastic performances here.

my fave is willie nelson's "he was a friend of mine", a cover of bob dylan's classic. this song is tremendously desolate and moving and it captures the mood very well. it was sung after the death of the leading actor.

almost every song and instrumental cues on this album are spot-on in conveying the emotional themes of the film: love, loss & longing. these aren't just country & western songs - they're love songs. there is so much pathos in the music that you can't help but to feel moved.

needless to say, this cd is fantastic for late-night listening.

if country ballads is your cup of tea, pick this up without a doubt. even if it isn't, give this a try. you may just fall in love with it, much like yours truly.

and the recording more than justifies the quality of music in it. make sure you get the american pressing (or at least an EU pressing), if you can.

highly recommended.