MUSIC SCENE
MUSIC REVIEWED BY BOB JONES

North Star Deserter - Constellation

Vic Chesnutt

North Star Deserter

In the film Slingblade the antagonist, played by Dwight Yoakam, has a rock band, and every artist in this fictional, dysfunctional band is a wellrespected musician in real life. The little bass player in the wheelchair is Georgia native, quadriplegic, singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt. North Star Deserter is Chesnutt's 12th album, and this time he has teamed up with Montreal's Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra. This may seem like an odd pairing because Vic Chesnutt is considered an alt-country artist and Silver Mt. Zion is an ethereal instrumental group, but the pairing is a fine one. Silver Mt. Zion could have easily made this an epic, overpowering record- instead North Star Deserter is one of Chesnutt's more stripped down releases, one that highlights his sometimes caustic lyrics. The fifth track, "You Are Never Alone," is an uplifting song in a way that only he can pull off. He tells us a list of everything that it's OK to do like "Take a Valtrex/Take a Prilosec/ Have a quadruple bypass/Then keep on keeping on." The poetry of Vic Chesnutt is the centerpiece of North Star Deserter, but it took Silver Mt. Zion to bring it to the forefront.

The Darjeeling Limited Soundtrack - Abkco Records

Various Artists

The Darjeeling Limited Soundtrack

East meets west in the soundtrack to the new Wes Anderson film The Darjeeling Limited. Anderson has always had a bit of a formula when it comes to his soundtracks, where he takes one outstanding obscure song from the vaults, throws in some better known rock music, and mixes it up with the original score from the film. It always makes for an interesting listening experience. For The Darjeeling Limited Soundtrack he pulls out the obscure 1969 recording of Peter Sarstedt's "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?" a hit in the UK but virtually unheard in other parts of the world. Modern Western pop music is represented by three excellent Kinks songs, "This Time Tomorrow," "Strangers," and "Powerman," as well as the Rolling Stones classic "Play With Fire." The majority of the remainder of the soundtrack is music from India, many from Calcutta native and legendary filmmaker/composer Satyajit Ray. There are also Bollywood-sounding pop songs like "Typewriter Tip, Tip, Tip." The soundtrack ends with the French toe tapper "Les Champs-Elysees" by Joe Dassin. Just as Anderson's films break new ground he is also not afraid to mix up the music that he includes in them. The Darjeeling Limited Soundtrack is no exception. Bob Jones is the founder of Silver Platter CDs EST1998 in Fort Myers. For more

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