Hairspray OST - Review
Review by Jack Foley
BASED on the 1988 John Waters cult classic film and the critically-acclaimed Tony Award-winning Broadway hit musical, Hairsrpay is an all singing, all dancing extravaganza of a movie. And fans are going to want to rush out and buy the soundtrack so they can continue singing along.
Let’s face it, the official movie soundtrack has a lot going for it. Great songs in the Broadway/West End tradition, cheeky lyrics that reflect the movie’s themes of fitting in and racial tolerance, and some equally big names belting out the hits.
John Travolta lends his voice to songs like Big, Blonde & Beautiful and You Can’t Stop The Beat for the first time since his seminal work on Grease, Queen Latifah delivers the goods just as she did in Chicago and Michelle Pfeiffer vamps it up to super-sultry effect on (The Legend Of) Miss Baltimore Crabs to provide a mouthwatering reminder of her vocal skills on films like, erm, Grease 2 and The Fabulous Baker Boys.
One of the firmest highlights, however, is the wonderful duet (You’re) Timeless To Me between Travolta and Christopher Walken – accompanied in the film by an equally delicious waltz between the two of them. The song itself is one of the funniest, featuring such choice lyrics as “you’re like a stinky old cheese babe, just getting riper with age” and “you’re like a fatal disease babe, but there’s no cure so let this fever rage”.
For younger fans, on the other hand, there’s songs by High School Musical heartthrob Zac Efron, screen newcomer Nikki Blonsky (who shines as the movie’s star Tracy Turnblad) and Amanda Bynes and Elijah Kelley.
The ’60s influenced music to the film was composed by Tony and Grammy Award-winner and five time Oscar nominee Mark Shaiman with lyrics by himself and Tony and Grammy Award winner Scott Whitman. It also features several new songs created specifically for the film adaptation, namely Ladies Touch, New Girl in Town and Come So Far.
A nice touch on the album is that final song Mama I’m A Big Girl Now features the three Tracy Turnblads so far – Ricki Lake (John Waters’ version), Marissa Jaret Winokur (Broadway’s Tracy) and Blonsky, the new girl in town. It sounds as fun to have recorded as it does to listen to and rounds things off in as much style as Adam Shankman’s fun movie.
Download picks: Good Morning Baltimore, (The Legend Of) Miss Baltimore Crabs, I Can Hear The Bells, (You’re)Timeless To Me, Mama, I’m A Big Girl Now
Track listing: