Wire: & All the Pieces Matter - Five Years
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CD Details
Edition: Music CDAudio: English (Unknown)
Format: Soundtrack
CD Release Date: 2008-01-08
Music Label: Nonesuch
Soundtracks:
- 'This America, Man.' - David Simon
- Way Down In the Hole - The Blind Boys Of Alabama
- 'Why Would Anyone Ever Wanna Leave Baltimore?' - David Simon
- Oh My God - Michael Franti
- Dance My Pain Away - Rod Lee
- My Life Extra - DJ Technics
- 'The King Stay the King.' - David Simon
- Way Down In the Hole - The Neville Brothers
- 'We Used To Make Shit In This Country.' - George Pelecanos
- Sixteen Tons - The Nighthawks
- Assume the Position - Lafayette Gilchrist
- 'What the Fuck Did I Do?' - David Simon
- Step By Step - Jesse Winchester
- I Walk On Gilded Splinters - Paul Weller
- Fast Train - Solomon Burke
- The Body Of an American - The Pogues
- 'All the Pieces Matter.' - David Simon
- Efuge Efuge - Stelios Kazantzidis
- 'Omar Comin'!' - Ed Burns
- Way Down In the Hole - Domaje
- 'If It's a Lie, Then We Fight On That Lie.' - David Simon
- Projects - Tyree Colion
- 'Later For That Gangsta Bullshit.' - David Simon
- Ayo - Bossman
- Analyze - Sharpshooters
- 'Wars End.' - David Simon
- Unfriendly Game - Masta Ace
- What You Know About Baltimore - Ogun
- Jail Flick - Diablo
- The Life, the Hood, the Streetz - Mullyman
- 'An Act Of Daily Journalism.' - David Simon
- I Feel Alright - Steve Earle
- Way Down In the Hole - Tom Waits
- 'You Remember That One Day Summer Past?' - George Pelecanos
- The Fall - Blake Leyh
Music reviews of Wire: & All the Pieces Matter - Five Years
Music Review: The Wire's Musical Fingerprint
Rating: 5 Stars
"It's easy to think of The Wire as a show with a strong musical identity. Over the course of its three seasons, it's become a hip-hop touchstone. Wire cast members have appeared in videos for Boyz in Da Hood, Cam'ron, Jay-Z, Common, Fat Joe, Obie Trice, Fabolous, and dozens of other rappers and singers. The massively popular local hip-hop mixtape Hamsterdam--named for season three's open-air drug market--features plenty of gangsta koans from Wire characters like the imposing Slim Charles. But The Wire's musical fingerprint, like much else about the show, is more subtle."
Jess Harvell
'The Wire' has been named by the critics as one of the best television shows ever made. And, as true as that may be, the soundtrack more than lives up to those credentials. The same grit, determination and reality of the Baltimore souls comes through in spades. It has been said that during the first two seasons the theme song of "The Wire" written by Tom Wait's "Way Down in the Hole," could be hummed by only the residents of Baltimore. For those of us with a love affair for the show, we can now sing along. 'Down In the Hole' has been recorded by a different artist for each season, stating with The Blind Boys of Alabama in year one, Tom Waits in year two, The Neville Brothers in year three and DoMaJe, a Baltimore son, in year four.
The CD also incorporates real parts of the show interspersed between the tunes. There are 21 seconds of discussion about 'Why would anyone want to leave Baltimore" that leads right into one of the best hip hop songs I have heard by Michael Franti and the Spear, 'My God'. Each of these sections bring us the character of the show, and the reality of life in Baltimore. David Simon,creator of 'The Wire', in an interview with Nick Hornsby for the booklet that comes with the CD says " Instead of the old gods, The Wire is a Greek tragedy in which the postmodern institutions are the Olympian forces. It's the police department, or the drug economy, or the political structures, or the school administration, or the macroeconomic forces that are throwing the lightning bolts and hitting people in the ass for no decent reason. In this drama, the institutions always prove larger, and those characters with hubris enough to challenge the postmodern construct of American empire are invariably mocked, marginalized, or crushed. Greek tragedy for the new millennium, so to speak."
There are thirty five songs that cover the five years of 'The Wire' and beside the fact that these tunes are wonderful in their own right, they fit into the fabric of the show. Solomon Burke, Steve Earle, The Pogues, Paul Weller, The Nighthawks and the Nevilles to name a few of my favorites appear on this CD. As Blake Leyh, the musical director says"Once or twice per season we'll have something that amounts to a montage,Every other time there's music in the show it's being played as source music--they're driving in a car, or they're in a bar and music's playing on the jukebox, they're standing the street slinging and there's a boom box there. And it's always played very rigorously, as if it's coming from the source." Mr Leyh started using Baltimore musicians during the fourth year and many of these street level musicians have broken into the mainstream to become popular in the US culture.
David Simon, creator of 'The Wire' explains that the show is about "untethered capitalism that runs amok, about how power and money actually route themselves in a postmodern American city, and, ultimately, about why we as an urban people are no longer able to solve our problems or heal our wounds." Each of the songs on this CD are about drug dealers, cops, or addicts and the problems within society caused by each. This is real life at the core and the music reflects the soul of the Baltimore characters.
"The Wire has no score, and no sound mnemonic like Mike Post's instantly recognizable Law and Order music. It features no sly pop-culture references, no ironic song/scene pairings--well, maybe a couple, like Herc playing the theme from Shaft during a drug bust, or a dogfighting ring being built to the sound of "Atomic Dog," or Maj. Rawls blasting the "Ride of the Valkyries" as Hamsterdam is bulldozed--and no swelling orchestras at climactic moments or sappy singer-songwriter cues to tug at your heartstrings." Jess Harvell
'The Wire: And All The Pieces Matter' CD is akin to a chorus behind the main singer. It reflects the inner soul and brings us closer to solving our problems and helping to heal our wounds.
Highly, Highly Recommended. prisrob 01-10-08
The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood
Description of Wire: & All the Pieces Matter - Five Years
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