Starsky & Hutch: Original
Motion Picture Soundtrack

(TVT)

First Appeared at The Music Box, May 2004, Volume 11, #5

Written by T.J. Simon

The running joke in the Starsky & Hutch movie is that the partnership shared by the title characters is much, ah, closer than a typical police partnership. When put into that context, many of the cheesy love songs of the ’70s that appear on the film’s soundtrack make sense. What else could possess a person to play Starland Vocal Band’s Afternoon Delight or a tepid cover of Love Will Keep Us Together? Even, KC & The Sunshine Band’s That’s the Way I Like It takes on a whole new edge.

Of course, the entire soundtrack isn’t simply an inside joke for those who saw and enjoyed the film. A handful of the tracks on the compilation may have been jettisoned from one’s collection after a conversion from vinyl records and 8-track or cassette tapes, and this collection offers a few nuggets that help to fill in those gaps. Chicago’s Old Days is a terrific song that doesn’t get enough airplay, and the funky bassline of Bill Withers’ Use Me is a welcome addition to any mix CD. Country enthusiasts will be pleased to hear Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues (the studio version) and Waylon Jennings’ I’m a Rambling Man. Likewise, one just can’t hear enough of The Weight by The Band.

Yet, the Starsky & Hutch soundtrack also has its share of filler. Dancing Machine by The Jackson 5 doesn’t come close to being the brothers’ best work, and silly numbers recorded by actors Owen Wilson and Dan Finnerty don’t make much sense when divorced from the big screen. In the end, none of the original material on the set warrants a purchase, and overall, the disc is only as good as the holes in one’s existing music collection.

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Ratings

1 Star:   Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!

Copyright © 2004 The Music Box