What? What is this doing here you may ask? Well this is a power pop album designed to sound like Wham! circa 1982, courtesy of Fountain of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger. Much like he did the early 60’s with the awesome “That Thing You Do” soundtrack- he does it for the 80’s and it’s alot of fun. Hugh Grant does the vocals and gives it his best send up of George Michael/Flock of Seagulls approach with songs, and though it comes close to the line of parody with “Pop Goes The Heart” it never crosses it. It’s mostly light and cute pop music (much like the movie). Haley Bennett also does a good job singing a bunch of faux Britney Spears tunes if you’re into that style. In order to get the character right, Hugh did plently of training and it shows us how almost anyone can learn to sing and play with enough support and be a “pop star” – listen to Hugh Grant proudly admit this. And yes, most of the songs have the “Schlesinger” magic touch. Enjoy it and the movie isn’t bad either.
Listen to a clip here.
You can buy the soundtrack at Amazon