Music Review: Holes Soundtrack
What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that this soundtrack CD incorporates a
remarkable variety of musical styles: hip-hop, country, blues,
rock, gospel, and electronica.
Families can talk about the origin and variety of musical
styles presented as they listen to the CD with their kids.
Most of the optimistic, motivational lyrics on the HOLES SOUNDTRACK support the movie's story of kids in a juvenile detention center who are forced to search for buried treasure. To inspire the reform school kids, some lyrics suggest a Tony Robbins motivational seminar, such as Eagle-Eye Cherry singing "If we give we will receive" and reggae rapper Shaggy singing "Don't worry, push on through." If the music weren't so fun and accessible, the life-affirming clichés might grow old quickly. The only marginally edgy line is in a verse from "Shake 'Em On Down," where the North Mississippi All-Stars celebrate sex euphemistically: "One thing in this world I crave is a big-leg woman to shake me down to my grave."
Highlights of the soundtrack are numerous. Dr. John and his great band lay down a powerful dose of New Orleans funk on the joyful "Let's Make a Better World." Cuts by Moby ("Honey") and the D-Tent Boys ("Dig It") feature pastiches of gospel, blues, prison work songs, and hip-hop to great effect. Pepe Deluxe's "Everybody Pass Me By" weaves a hypnotic mix of bluesy slide guitar, electronica, and a snatch of lyrics from blues legend Robert Johnson's "Crossroads." On the whole, the musical performances are excellent.
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