This is a review of the original soundtrack to the motion picture August Rush.

August Rush is all about the music, this family of 3 musicians, all separated, but music ties them together. I really like that idea, and the soundtrack’s success shows that people like it a lot. The soundtrack contains a lot of stuff from actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers, yes he can sing! I always thought he had the rocker look and he pulls it off like always. Other than that, there is a fine mix of instrumental music by Mark Mancina, Heitor Pereira and Kaki King. Also a few classical snippets and even some jazz. Here is the track list of August Rush:

1. Mark Mancina - Main Title
2. Steve Erdody and Jonathan Rhys Meyers - Bach / Break
3. Jonathan Rhys Meyers - Moondance
4. Jonathan Rhys Meyers - This Time
5. Kaki King - Bari Improv
6. Kaki King - Ritual Dance
7. Jamia Simone Nash and Impact Repertory Theatre - Raise It Up
8. Heitor Pereira and Doug Smith - Dueling Guitars
9. Steve Erdody and Jonathan Rhys Meyers - Elgar / Something Inside
10. Mark Mancina - August’s Rhapsody
11. John Legend - Someday
12. John Ondrasik - King Of The Earth
13. Chris Botti and Paula Cole - God Bless The Child
14. Leon Thomas III - La Bamba
15. Chris Botti – Moondance

As you can see, there is a nice mix of artists and music for a total of 50 minutes. Apart from being a good movie, is the music any good? Luckily it is. When you mix so many genres, you have to be careful not alienate genre-loving people. I think they have succeeded in blending some of this music together, a lot of Jonathan Rhys Meyers stuff for example is rock, but they use violins from Keri Russell’s character. Then you have the “crazy” guitar as I like to call it when Freddie Highmore’s character plays the guitar for the first time (by Kaki King if you wondered).

I’m not sure they put all of Mark Mancina’s score in here though as I thought I heard some cues in the movie not present on the soundtrack. I just wish that they could fill it all up, but that’s my only gripe about this soundtrack (possibly because I really like Mark Mancina). His 2 instrumental tracks on the soundtrack are really great, the first one has a voice over but it’s a nice tie-in with the movie and not so obtrusive. All in all a great soundtrack from a great movie. Go get it people, you won’t be disappointed. Listen to August Rush below:

[tags] august rush, soundtrack review, movie score review, movie score, movie music, film score, film music, jonathan rhys meyers, heitor pereira, mark mancina, kaki king, jamia simone nash, chris botti, dueling guitars, music ties, repertory theatre, john ondrasik, leon thomas, god bless the child, freddie highmore, ritual dance, keri russell, doug smith, paula cole, moondance, john legend[/tags]

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