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Soundtrack Review


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The D Train
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

 

Composer: Andrew Dost
Artists: INXS, OMD and The Vapors
Label: Lakeshore Records
RRP: £13.99
Release Date: 26 May 2015


All his life, Dan Landsman has never been the cool guy. That’s about to change ­ if he can convince Oliver Lawless, the most popular guy from his high school who’s now the face of a national Banana Boat ad campaign, to show up with him to their class reunion. A man on a mission, Dan travels from Pittsburgh to LA and spins a web of lies to recruit Lawless. But he gets more than he bargains for as the unpredictable Lawless proceeds to take over his home, career, and entire life...

Andrew Dost's score for The D Train is really just a collection of cheesy, rather boring music cues. This, coupled with a handful of popular '80s tunes that you should already own, make this a rather pointless release.

The only notable track is 'A Million Stars' which features Dost and Jack Antonoff (fun) with vocals by OMD's Andy McCluskey. It's a retro sounding pop track that feels fresh and current.

For me, the biggest issue I had, other than Dost's score being bland, was that the recording level seemed to be all over the place. 'I Want to Know What Love Is', was where I first noticed that the master volume seemed to be a little too high, causing distortion. It wasn't too noticeable through normal (cheap speakers), but I normally listen to albums using studio headphones and the distortion was pretty bad on those. And, it seems, the further through the album you go, the worse, and more noticeable the problem is. Tracks like 'Certain Realities of High School' distort badly on whatever device you listen to - making it almost unlistenable.

Now, I'm going to assume that this was an issue with the copy we were sent for review, and that this won't be a problem with the final release. But even with the best mix in the world, there's no escaping the fact that all you get are some songs you should already own and some below par music cues.

Track Listing:

01 - 'A Million Stars' - McCluskey, Kroehler, Antonoff and Dost
02 - 'So In Love' - Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
03 - 'Never Tear Us Apart' - INXS
04 - 'Harden My Heart' - Quarterflash
05 - 'I Want to Know What Love Is' - Foreigner
06 - 'Turning Japanese' - The Vapors
07 - 'Kyrie' - Mr. Mister
08 - 'Far Behind' - Candlebox
09 - 'See If I Can Flip You to a Yes' - Andrew Dost
10 - 'Certain Realities of High School' - Andrew Dost
11 - 'Yearbook' - Andrew Dost
12 - 'Heading Out to the West Side on Biz' - Andrew Dost
13 - 'You Will Be Giving Those People a Gift' - Andrew Dost
14 - 'Coming Home' - Andrew Dost
15 - 'Lawless RSVP-ed' - Andrew Dost
16 - 'Classic Lawless' - Andrew Dost
17 - 'Is That Supposed to Make Me Feel Better?' - Andrew Dost
18 - 'I Peaked in the 11th Grade' - Andrew Dost
19 - 'The D Train' - Andrew Dost

2

Darren Rea

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