15 Thoughts On 'The Great Gatsby' Soundtrack

1. Jay-Z is on cruise control with the sneering, chest-beating “100$ Bill.” The stutter-step, electro-rap track connects Jigga’s well-worn, drug-dealing narrative to his transformation into respectable, world-beating mogul with the come-up of such past American icons as Joseph Kennedy (the bootlegger turned feared patriarch of the most famous political family dynasty in U.S. history). It’s Shawn Carter 101 stuff. It works, but the replay value struggles to catch up. 2. It’s official. Please avoid covering the late Amy Winehouse if you are unable to project her heartbreaking anguish. Yes, Andre 3000’s and Beyonce’s version of the tortured British songstress’ startling 2006 single “Back To Black” is credible. The ‘60s pop string orchestration of the first version is exchanged for a meatier, keyboard-fueled, big beat groove. But Bey sounds way too pristine on this track. And at this point, while 3 Stacks has earned the right to sing his email messages if he so chooses, it’s his otherworldly rhyming that makes him an icon. Arguably this is the soundtrack’s weakest link. 3. Oddly enough this album picks up with a will.i.am number. “Bang Bang” samples the “The Charleston,” the 1923 international hit that fueled the roaring '20s dance craze. On paper it sounds a bit cheesy. Yet it’s actually a pretty clever, whimsical, high-energy dance workout that makes you forgive the uber producer’s current omnipresent annoyance—the Justin Bieber featured “Power.” 4. Why does the Fergie-Q-Tip-GoonRock collaboration, “A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got),” sound like one of those mid ‘90s, poppy house music anthems that got nonstop play on New York’s Z100 radio station? 5. Haunting, ethereal, gorgeous… Lana Del Ray’s “Young And Beautiful,” the first single from the Gatsby soundtrack, stands as a startling representation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s mighty telling of jazz age excess, brazen decadence, and love lost. Now if only Del Rey could translate that gripping vocal beauty to the live stage.

11. Although it's another early jazz-influenced vision of the flapper age, Emeli Sandé's re-working of Beyoncé’s “Crazy in Love” comes off as more of a novelty than a brave flip. 12. Now this is a cover. Jack White takes on U2’s brilliant “Love Is Blindness” and shoves it in a meat grinder. This is the sound of desperation, pain, rage, and a guitar God not bullshitting around. 13. After hearing Sia’s dark, gorgeous statement “Kill And Run,” and recalling that she wrote arguably Rihanna’s most transformative single (“Diamonds”), you are left to ponder: Why isn’t this soaring vocalist a superstar yet? 14. Best lyric: Sia, when she pours her heart out and sings, “Interpret the eyes as they die, should I cry? Should I lie?/Your poor lashes blow/Victim of sensory love/You cry in the war, an innocent call…” 15. Surprisingly, Jay-Z has done an inspired job corralling this diverse talent for The Great Gatsby soundtrack. Rather than aim for a cheap collection of songs to ride on the coattails of Baz Luhrmann’s cinematic take on a beloved American novel, this release side-steps its stumbles by turning out a tight work that gives more than a stylistic nod to Fitzgerald's masterpiece. It’s an enthusiastic, fresh take on an era that’s still strikingly cool to this day.