Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0886971058628
Format: Soundtrack
Label: Columbia
Languages: Array
Manufacturer: Columbia
MPN: 10586
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Columbia
Release Date: 2007-05-22
Studio: Columbia

Even those allergic to musicals may be won over by Once, a tender-hearted Irish romance with songs by Czech Republic–born Markéta Irglová and Frames frontman Glen Hansard. (The film's director, John Carney, actually used to play bass in the group.) The trick here is that Irglová and Hansard also play the leads; because their characters are shown busking, writing music, or rehearsing, the songs are smoothly integrated in the film. The overall acoustic mood won't surprise fans of the Frames--some tracks ("Say It to Me," "When Your Mind's Made Up") have even popped up on the band's albums, though the arrangements are more pared-down here, befitting the scruffy, street-musician setting. Being the lesser-known entity, Irglová feels like a revelation; she sounds a bit like a folkie Björk on "If You Want Me," and her song "The Hill" is downright heartbreaking. Irglová and Hansard had already made the 2006 album The Swell Seasontogether, so their collaboration here feels really organic--they sound particularly good together on the title track, for instance. Now that's the kind of magic you want from musicals. --Elisabeth Vincentelli

Customer Rating:
Summary: AWSOME
Comment: This CD is awesome. It has so much emotion, especially after you've seenthe movie.....with a touch of humor! Any person with any sentimental feelings at all would love it!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: BEYOND WORDS!
Comment: I find the combination of their lyrics, music and beautiful, soulful voices so poignant and moving. Two really gifted musicians who sing from the heart and touch the soul. Amazing!!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Good movie and this is a good soundtrack
Comment: Every song that was in the movie was here plus a few more. I do wish they would have included the words to the songs as their Irish brogue is sometimes hard to make out. I found lyrics on the internet as interpreted by a person who must have also had trouble making out the brogue since there are many mistakes!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Stick-in-your-head songs
Comment: We saw the film and ordered the soundtrack immediately thereafter. Some good features of the songs:
1. The CD only need be played once in a week; the other 6 days the listener hums, sings, or thinks the songs throughout the day.
2. The voices of the two singers are not at all alike, yet blend remarkably well.
3. The lyrics speak to adults and adult experience, unlike all of the snort-it/beat-it/screw-it music nowadays. Very much like country and western music before C&W became popular.
The only drawback, a minor one, is that Glen Hansard's voice seems to possess that unfortunate property shared by Neil Diamond and Phil Collins: despite being a perfectly fine singing voice, it is hard to listen to for extended periods. Someone on Earth must know what produces that effect. At any rate, the addition of the female lead serves to break up this effect and makes the entire CD an enjoyable and memorable listening experience.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Comment: If i could sing, i would want to sing like Glen H. He sings like his life depends on it... like he really means it. I like his stuff with the frames, but i love this. Not all of the songs are great on this CD, but it makes it better if you have seen the movie. The good songs on here are so good though, i would give this CD six stars if i could. "Falling Slowly" "When your mind's made up" "Leave" etc. Buy this now!

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