Stealth has
been an absolute disaster at the box office. No
one wanted to go and see it; Top Gun pt.
2 it was not. The soundtrack listing is far more
interesting than the box office one – with Epic
recording artist Incubus leading it off by appearing
on nothing short of four out of thirteen tracks.
The first three are the most revealing:
they’re
all new cuts, with the opening “Make a Move” big
and punchy, while “Admiration” and “Neither of Us
Can See” shows interesting development from the surprisingly
good A Crow Left of the Murder album of 2004,
the former containing interesting pace and clever
use of strings, the latter a mid-tempo rocker with
shared vocals from the Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde
alongside those of Brandon Boyd – it really works.
All three are produced by Brendan O’Brien so they
sound bigger than a lorry backing over your house,
and augur well for Incubus’ next album. The band
also close out the album with “Aqueous Transmission” from
2001’s Morning View.
The other big surprise on the Stealth soundtrack
is the inclusion of ‘the Mexican Radiohead’, Dredg,
with their first new recording in three years. “Bug
Eyes” comes from their new long player, Catch
Without Arms. The pop-rock approach of The Fray
is also. Undoubtedly the biggest name inclusion,
other than Incubus, on the Stealth soundtrack
is that of Institute, the new band for former Bush
frontman (and Mr. Gwen Stefani) Gavin Rossdale. It’s
crap, as you’d expect.
Fortunately, David Bowie teams
with electronica producer BT for “(She Can) Do That” with interesting,
although not entirely satisfying, results. Sly and
the Family Stone are re-imagined by Black Eyed Peas
mastermind Will.I.Am on “Dance to the Music”, while
other new actus included are The Fray, Trading Yesterday
and Acceptance, the latter of whom sound disturbingly
like an American clone of Coldplay. Fomer Black Sabbath
member Glenn Hughes also teams with Chad Smith and
John Frusciante for an unnecessary, and poor, interpretation
of Procol Harum’s “Nights in White Satin”. For a
dog of a film, Stealth sure has produced a
soundtrack worth paying attention to for the right
reasons – it’s got a few big names contributing new
things, and a host of newcomers giving a taste of
their wares, with only one or two missteps along
the way.