Tin Cup Atlanta GA

Tin Cup

Soundtrack

Warner Brothers Records, 1996

REVIEW BY: Duke Egbert

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 02/23/2000

Let's get something straight right at the outset: I don't like soundtracks. I think they're a cheap way for artists to dump off B-singles and lousy outtakes, and the phrase "music inspired by" is enough to make me want to shoot something. (Music related to a movie should be IN a movie). Also, some of the most skull-splitting painfully overplayed songs in human history have been from soundtracks -- you know what I mean. "Let's Hear It For The Boy". That damn Titanic song. Anything from most Disney flicks. Soundtracks are Pop Music Hell at their worst.

Guess what? I like this soundtrack. I like this soundtrack a lot . It's a lot of fun. It's good party music if you like your parties Texas-barbecued. Even better, the music goes with the movie, which I like as well; it's no Schindler's List, but Tin Cup is a fun little flick. (It also proves Costner's Law -- certain actors are only good in genre pictures. Kevin Costner in a sports movie? Fun. Kevin Costner in anything else? Bad.)

The movie has Rene Russo, too. Rene Russo is beautiful. This helps. The soundtrack has Amanda Marshall. Amanda Marshall rocks out. This helps immensely. Her "This Could Take All Night" is the best thing on the CD, but not by much, which is astonishing in and of itself. (Oh, by the way, check out our review of Marshall's Tuesday's Child, the best rock album of 1999. This has been a Shameless Plug).

Marshall may be the highlight, but there's a lot of other tasty stuff on here. The Texas Tornados' "Little Bit Is Better Than Nada" is a fun Latin/country romp. Jimmie Vaughan's "Good Lookin' Woman" and Joe Ely's "Character Flaw" are both good big slices of blues/country rock. Bruce Hornsby's "Big Stick" is Zydeco, good enough to make you want to suck the heads. (Relax, I mean crawfish. Some people.)