Notes & Personnel Info |  | Compilation producers: Glen Brunman, John Kalodner, Kathy Nelson. | | "I Love You" was nominated for the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. "Ready To Run" was nominated for the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal and for Best Country Song. | | Personnel: Billy Joel (vocals); Greg Curtis, Dave Deviller, Sean Hosein, Blumpy (programming). | | Audio Mixers: Chris Lord-Alge; Clarke Schleicher; Manny Marroquin; Daniel Lanois; Hugh Padgham; John Guess; Mick Guzauski; Mike Shipley; Soulshock. | | Unknown Contributor Role: David Swope. | | Arrangers: Dave Deviller; Karlin; Sean Hosein; Soulshock. | | Since the reunion of Julia Roberts and Richard Gere in Runaway Bride was designed to be a crowd-pleasing romantic comedy, it isn't surprising that its accompanying soundtrack was also a crowd-pleaser, with a little bit of something to please everybody. It is somewhat surprising that an album that tackles so many different styles -- alternative pop/rock, new wave, singer/songwriters, contemporary country, R&B, cool jazz, urban soul, and Latin pop all sit side-by-side on the album -- actually works. Maybe that's because every song on the album fits the theme of the skittish bride, who has run from the altar many times before and finally finds love. Whether it's a cover, an oldie, or a new tune, it all ties back to the romance theme. Like most big-budget soundtracks, there are a few new tunes that fall flat, but since Diane Warren and Desmond Child are behind new tunes by Eric Clapton and Hall & Oates, respectively, it's actually stronger than the average soundtrack of its ilk. It has a consistent tone and mood, which is only broken by Billy Joel's pounding cover of Lloyd Price's "Where Were You (On Our Wedding Day)?" -- an uptempo rocker that finds the piano man straining to sound as vigorous as he did on "Easy Money" (and it's fun to hear him try). All in all, Runaway Bride is hardly a major album, not even reaching the standards of Pretty Woman, but it should please fans of the film. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine | | The soundtrack to Julia Roberts vehicle RUNAWAY BRIDE is occasionally sappy, sometimes breezily entertaining, and not without moments of wit--in short, an apt reflection of the film itself. The Dixie Chicks are represented twice, once on a Supremes remake, and while we'll stipulate they're every bit as machine-made as the Spice Girls, they also have sass and can really sing. Requisite and welcome classics include U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and Hall and Oates's Motown-esque "Maneater." Martina McBride's "I Love You" is country meets '80s New Wave, proving once again that Carlene Carter was 20 years ahead of her time. There's also a requisite big production R&B ballad (Allures's "You're the Only One For Me"), the requisite stunningly trite Diane Warren song (here done by Eric Clapton, who should have know better), and (perhaps by way of apology) a vintage Miles Davis track ("It Never Entered My Mind.") But the big surprise is from, of all people, Billy Joel, who does an absolutely knockout job with Lloyd Price's funny, heretofore obscure '50s stomper "Where Were You on Our Wedding Day?". |
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