Box Office Hits (2008)

Product Summary Label: Universal Music Group UPC: 00050087130435 Release Date: 11/24/2008 Buy.com Sku: 209891434 Item#: M4GJWE Format:  CD Song Listing Disc 1 Song Title Sample 1. Ever Ever After - Carrie Underwood ~ Various Artists 2. Down To Earth - Peter Gabriel - (featuring Soweto Gospel Choir) ~ Various Artists 3. Real Gone - Sheryl Crow ~ Various Artists 4. Little Wonders - Rob Thomas ~ Various Artists 5. This Is Home - Switchfoot ~ Various Artists 6. Breakaway - Kelly Clarkson ~ Various Artists 7. Can't Take It In - Imogen Heap ~ Various Artists 8. I Though I Lost You - Miley Cyrus/John Travolta ~ Various Artists 9. Our Town - James Taylor ~ Various Artists 10. All I Know - Five For Fighting/John Ondrasik ~ Various Artists 11. Call, The - Regina Spektor ~ Various Artists 12. Where Is Your Heart At? - Jamie Cullum ~ Various Artists 13. Le Festin - Camille ~ Various Artists 14. Jack's Suite (Paul Oakenfold Mix) - Paul Oakenfold ~ Various Artists 15. Unkle Reconstruction (Incredibles Remix) - Unkle (remix) ~ Various Artists   Album Notes and Credits Notes & Personnel Info This 2008 compilation performs a fine service for Disney fans by collecting a set of pop songs associated with many of its most popular movies. Highlights of the collection include Carrie Underwood's lively "Ever Ever After" (from ENCHANTED), Peter Gabriel's spare "Down to Earth" (from WALL-E), and "The Call," a sweeping number by Regina Spektor (from THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN). In the first decade of the 21st century, as in every decade dating back to the third of the 20th, Walt Disney Pictures successfully created animated and live-action films for pre-adolescents. As a corollary, the studio also commissioned music, often drawing from the ranks of contemporary popular songwriters and performers. Disney's Box Office Hits collects some of the results from films of the mid-2000s, with songs written by the likes of Sheryl Crow, Peter Gabriel, Randy Newman, Rob Thomas, and Rufus Wainwright, and performed by such veteran pop/rock talents as Crow, Gabriel, Thomas, and James Taylor, along with the American Idol-created stars Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood, and the teen idol Miley Cyrus. Such artists have come up with tracks in their familiar Adult Top 40 styles, albeit with lyrics that tend to be a bit more simplistic and generalized than usual, although not dumbed-down to toddler level by any means. Gabriel's "Down to Earth" from WALL-E easily could fit on one of his regular albums; Crow seems to be channeling the Who of Tommy for "Real Gone" from Cars; and both Thomas ("Little Wonders" from Meet the Robinsons) and Switchfoot ("This Is Home" from The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian) may have been listening to U2 too much. But that is only to say that all of this material could fit on an Adult Alternative playlist. The album's sequencing puts the more unusual musical styles at the end. Jamie Cullum's "Where Is Your Heart At?" (written by Wainwright) from Meet the Robinsons is a neo-swing number, while Camille's "Le Festin" from Ratatouille is a chanson sung in French, and the disc concludes with two instrumental dance tracks, Paul Oakenfold's "Jack's Suite (Paul Oakenfold Mix)" from Pirates of the Caribbean and U.N.K.L.E.'s "U.N.K.L.E. Reconstruction (Incredibles Remix)" from The Incredibles. Taken together, the selections demonstrate that, while the movies may be for children, the soundtracks often are aimed at their parents. ~ William Ruhlmann Producer: Brian Marlouf (Compilation); Dani Markman (Compilation) Musical Guests Soweto Gospel Choir   Associated Artists and Works California Dreams Original Soundtrack Original Soundtrack   Technical Info Release Date : 11/24/2008 Original Release Date : 2008 Catalog ID : D000278002 Label : Walt Disney Number of Discs : 1 Studio/Live : Studio Mono/Stereo : Stereo SPAR Code : n/a UPC : 00050087130435    Product Image