Monday, February 9, 2009

Thumbs down for the Coraline soundtrack



In a nutshell, the Coraline soundtrack is a perfect example of why people started illegally downloading mp3s. The list price is apparently $18. That gets you a cover featuring the bland poster art, a few stills, and the songs from the movie. Nothing else. No words to "Other Father Song," no desktop wallpapers on the cd, no concept art, no photos of the musicians, no heartfelt words from anyone about the creation of the music. And the cd itself looks more like a cut open kiwi than a button:



Thankfully, nowadays you can buy single mp3s. So if you just want Other Father Song (and alas, the version on the cd is just as short as the version in the movie), you'll find it for a dollar at iTunes and Amazon.

If you just want a Coraline keepsake, you're better off spending the same amount of money to buy Coraline keys at eBay or Coraline toys at eBay and Amazon.

23 comments:

  1. hi! i was wondering if you could please post to coraline inspired pieces i made.... i made a lifesize version of coralines doll and my very own coraline box. :-)

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  2. Anyone know or have any articles about the Coraline soundtrack? What language is that, it's all foreign.

    Any lyrics for that?!?!? With translation?

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  3. Answering my own question: It's nonsense words!

    Capone: So what language are they singing in. To me it doesn't sound like a language I know. It sounds made up even.

    HS: [smiles big] It is! It's all nonsense words. You might hear a little accent, and you're not sure, but that's something Bruno likes to do. He uses sounds. It's all sung nonsense.

    http://www.aintitcool.com/node/39977

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  4. The words to other father's song are :
    Making up a song about coraline/ shes a peach, shes a doll, shes a pal of mine/ shes as cute as a button in the eyes of everyone who ever laid their eyes on coraline/ when she comes around exploring mom and i will never ever make it boring our eyes will be on coraline.

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  5. i actually thought that the soundtrack was amazing and a work of art so HA! to you.

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  6. Did you think the music was great? Or did you think the cd itself was great?

    I was criticizing the cd itself, not the music.

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  7. I agree there is no real reason to buy the cd over downloading it, some of us are just sentimental like that. Besides I don't like to download, I'd rather have a hard copy, just personal prefrence

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  8. i always thought that i read somewhere how the chous was of something or another in france so i always thought itd be in french shows how much i know

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  9. Nope, all of the singing (except the Other Father song) is gibberish. It's in absolutely no language. But it sounds sweet! I love it!

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  10. I guess I disagree. I bought it off of iTunes, and I love it. I listen to it all the time. My favorite is not the Other Father Song, but "Dreaming" and "Exploration."

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  11. That's a pretty harsh review on the Coraline CD. It's one thing to like or dislike the music but those were pretty high expectations for something that advertised itself as nothing more than an album of music from the movie. I'm glad you like the music but please don't thumbs-down the soundtrack CD just because it didn't include some uncommon bonuses.

    Everything you wanted; desktop art, concept art, photos, words from the creators & more are available for *free* on the official movie website. I spent a couple hours there just going through the production video gallery. There's lots of great stuff for lovers of the movie. http://www.coraline.com/

    Also, I like kiwis.

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  12. I believe the criticism is of the list price of $18, which for a movie soundtrack is a lot to pay - especially when you can buy the soundtrack on iTunes for just over half that.

    It's less a critique of the music or the CD, and more a critique of the whole industry of music CD development and production. If companies want us to keep buying CDs rather than digital albums, they have to give us reason to believe that the CD is better. I personally love the music, but if I paid eighteen dollars for the CD, I'd expect something more.

    It's not harsh at all, I don't think - if only because I know the criticism is of the product of the physical album, rather than the (quite stunning) musical score.

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  13. The album has a pretty picture on the front, though. And it has a pretty picture on the CD itself, and buying the CD supports the movie, which when something like this comes along I'm all about. Thumbs up for the CD, I don't care what this critique said. I don't believe it's gibberish, the language most of the CD is in. If anything, it could be a made up language by the director himself, but that doesn't make it gibberish, it just makes people who don't know the language ignorant. It sounds french, though, with a mixture of something else...
    But pooh on you, person who wrote the thumbs down critique. This type of film doesn't come along in the industry a lot and you have to really think to enjoy it. THe CD was great, $18 is just pocket change, come on.

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  14. This is a really dramatic and harsh review, when do music CD's come with that much bonus art or bonus anythings.

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  15. I think it's gibberish based on French and Hungarian. It's cute that they made the CD look like a button. I also like the cover art. The music is awesome, too, so I strongly disagree with this review. I also liked the soundtrack before I saw the movie. Liked the movie, read the book. Obsession started.

    "Oh, my twitchy, witchy girl, I think you are so nice. I give you bowls of porridge and I give you bowls of ice. Cream. I give you lots of kisses and I give you lots of hugs, but I never give you sandwitches with bugs. In."

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  16. Its actually a little bit of french but the people singing the songs are Hungarian!

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  17. i liked very much the lyrics, also the movie was great, it is one of the best movies that i have ever saw.
    congratulations to the author of the novel as the musicians who made it possible this masterpiece

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  18. I actually really miss the dynamics of Mr. Danny Elfman in this soundtrack. It is something different, however it mos. def. lacks in that department. Love the movie. Just miss Danny Elfman.

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  19. Um...what brought up the Danny Elfman memento? The only thing that Danny Elfman and Henry Selick ever did together was Nightmare Before Christmas, and that was only because Tim Burton produced it. I definitely think that Bruno Coulais was a much better candidate for a film of this style and caliber.

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  20. The lyrics are not hungarian (totally sure, I'm hungarian). Not even sounds like it to be honest. It sounds more like some finnish but it's probably just gibberish.

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  21. I love the soundtrack and I am total obsessed with the movie. Coraline is a masterpiece. My favorite song is the other fathers song, its cute and very catchy. If you like The Nightmare Before Christmas than you will like this movie. I love Coraline

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  22. OK, I don't know how you usually rate CDs, but I don't tend to buy them for the special features as these tend to needlessly bump up the price. While it makes sense to give it a thumbs down if that's what you were looking for, I can't recommend the movie or the soundtrack highly enough - and the trailers really put me off, so I've grown into enjoying it long after the initital hype.
    I did a review of the whole thing, though, but the music really made the film into something special. Plus, yay 'They Might be Giants'!

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