Speed 2: Cruise Control Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

The Speed 2: Cruise Control Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album to the 1997 action thriller film Speed 2: Cruise Control. The album was released in May 1997, almost one month prior to the release of the film. Because of the film's Caribbean setting, the soundtrack features a variety of reggae music from artists including Common Sense, Jimmy Cliff, Maxi Priest, and Shaggy. UB40 and Carlinhos Brown also have songs on the soundtrack, and appear in the film as entertainers on the cruise ship.

In addition to reggae, the soundtrack features music including a dance-rage remix of the film score by Tetsuya "TK" Komuro, and an R&B song by Tamia, which is sung by her character in the film. Many songs on the compilation got their first release on the soundtrack, and five of the compilation's songs were released as singles. Upon its release, the soundtrack received mixed reviews from critics, although it was praised for having reggae music as a consistent genre in the compilation.

Music

Speed 2: Cruise Control, the sequel to the 1994 film Speed, was released in 1997 and stars Sandra Bullock, Jason Patric, and Willem Dafoe.^[1] The film is set on a cruise ship in the Caribbean, and to complement the film's setting, its soundtrack features mostly reggae music.^[2][3] Speed 2 director/producer Jan de Bont wanted musicians to appear in the film as the ship's live entertainment.^[4] British reggae band UB40 appear in the film performing "Can't Help Falling in Love" and "Tell Me Is It True". "Can't Help Falling in Love" is a cover of an Elvis Presley song, which was recorded by UB40 for the soundtrack to the film Sliver (1993) and released on their album Promises and Lies (1993).^[5] "Tell Me Is It True" got its first release on the Speed 2 soundtrack album, and was later featured on UB40's next studio album, Guns in the Ghetto, released ten days after the soundtrack album.^[6] The band was featured in the film after the filmmakers heard a demo of "Tell Me Is It True" and were so pleased with it that they wrote a cameo appearance for the band into the script.^[7]

Brazilian singer Carlinhos Brown was also featured in the film, performing "A Namorada" from his album Alfagamabetizado (1997).^[8] De Bont chose Brown because he wanted music that was "lively" and felt that Brown's music was "very physical" and "full of energy".^[4]

De Bont also wanted to featured a musician among the cast as one of the characters who gets trapped aboard the ship. He chose Canadian rhythm and blues (R&B) singer Tamia because he wanted someone who could both sing and act.^[4] Tamia did not plan on doing any film acting that early in her career, but said the part was "too perfect for [her] to resist".^[9] She worked with de Bont and musician Quincy Jones to choose a song for the film, and they collectively decided on "Make Tonight Beautiful",^[4] which was written by Diane Warren.^[10]

Jamaican musician Shaggy wanted to include his cover of the Erma Franklin song "Piece of My Heart", but could not use the song as it was to be used in the soundtrack for an upcoming biographical film about Janis Joplin.^[6] He instead included his original song "My Dream"; both tracks were later featured on Shaggy's next album Midnite Lover, released in August 1997.^[11]

American reggae band Common Sense featured their song "Never Give Up" from their debut album Psychedelic Surf Groove (1996). At the time they appeared on the soundtrack, Common Sense did not have a recording contract with a major record label and lead singer Jai Vatuk said in June 1997 that the band began negotiations with the soundtrack's label Virgin Records;^[12] the label re-released Psychedelic Surf Groove later that year and signed a deal with the band in 1998.^[13][14]

Jamaican reggae musician Jimmy Cliff contributed to the soundtrack with a re-recording of "You Can Get It If You Really Want" from The Harder They Come (1972),^[15] and Barbadian reggae singer Rayvon featured his song "Some People", prior to its release on his album Hear Me Cry, released in June 1997.^[16]

British reggae singer Maxi Priest was assigned be featured on the soundtrack after his work recording "It Starts in the Heart" for the soundtrack to Jungle 2 Jungle (1997). For the Speed 2 soundtrack, he was asked cover a song in his style, and recorded a cover of "The Tide Is High". Preist said that his work for Jungle 2 Jungle was "more satisfying" than for Speed 2 because "It Starts in the Heart" was an original song.^[17]

The soundtrack also includes a reggae cover of The Police's "Every Breath You Take" by Betty Wright,^[3] which was later released on the Police reggae tribute album Reggatta Mondatta in July 1997.^[18] According to San Jose Mercury News, Jamaican singer Diana King was supposed to have a song on the soundtrack, but her music was "judged too plodding" for the film.^[19]

In addition to "Make Tonight Beautiful", other non-reggae songs on the soundtrack include a modern rock cover of Carole King's "I Feel the Earth Move" by Leah Andreone,^[20] and the R&B song "Crazy" by British singer Mark Morrison.^[2] The version of "Crazy" selected for the soundtrack was a remix by the song's producer Phil Chill, taken from the 12-inch single released in 1995.^[21]

Composer Mark Mancina, who wrote the film score for Speed 2, also wrote a dance-rage instrumental for the soundtrack that was based on the score.^[22] The track was titled "Speed TK Re-mix" and was performed by Japanese musician Tetsuya "TK" Komuro, with non-lexical vocals by Lynn Mabry.^[23] The instrumental was TK's debut in the United States,^[24] and was originally titled "Speed 2 Theme".^[25]

Release

The Speed 2: Cruise Control Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was produced by Budd Carr,^[3] and released on May 20, 1997 by Virgin Records,^[6] almost one month before the film's June 13 release date.^[1] Virgin Music Group executive vice president Nancy Berry said that when compiling the album, a decision was made not only to match the music in the film, but to also "create an album of summer music" and "a reggae compilation that would stand on its own".^[6] Two songs from the film are not featured on the album—"Can't Help Falling in Love" and "O mio babbino caro" by Victoria de los Ángeles.^[26] The album charted in Austria in August 1997, peaking at number 40.^[27]

To promote the soundtrack album, clips of each song were streamed on the film's official website,^[28] and five tracks were sent to radio stations.^[6] The first single was "Tell Me Is True", which was released in late April 1997^[29] and commercially available on June 3;^[30] the song was also the first single from Guns in the Ghetto.^[6] "My Dream" was the second single released,^[31] followed by "Make Tonight Beautiful" in May,^[10] and "Never Give Up" and "Speed TK Re-mix" in July.^[32][33] De Bont's production company, Blue Tulip Productions, made a deal with Virgin that Mancina's score could not be released until six months after the soundtrack album to avoid sales competition.^[22] The score was not released as an album until 13 years later, when it was released as a limited edition album by La-La Land Records in June 2010.^[34]

Reception

The reception of the soundtrack was mixed. J. D. Considine of The Baltimore Sun said the film's Caribbean setting was a "perfect excuse" for the reggae tracks, and that the album's "most surprising moments come with its cover versions".^[2] Jonathan Takiff of Philadelphia Daily News awarded the album three-and-a-half out of five stars for its reggae genre, which he described as a "rare [...] display of soundtrack consistency".^[3] Chuck Campbell from Scripps Howard News Service gave the album three out of five stars, and commended the "continuity" of reggae tracks, but said that it should have featured artists more popular than UB40 and that it lacked the "commercial appeal" of other soundtracks released at the time.^[20] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic said that none of the soundtrack's songs are "standouts", but it has a "fairly enjoyable collection of pop-reggae Latin-dance" music.^[35]

Mansha Daswani of South China Morning Post was more critical of the release and called the soundtrack "surprisingly bland", saying "tracks that should be catchy [...] are surprisingly weak", although she praised TK's remix and Maxi Priest's cover of "The Tide Is High".^[37] David Browne of Entertainment Weekly gave the album a "D" grade, criticizing the "waterlogged" selection of artists as well as TK's remix, but said that the collection of reggae was a "[g]ood idea" based on the film's setting.^[36] CMJ New Music Monthly said the soundtrack's cover versions were unnecessary and contributed to "one of the scariest trends in soundtracks over the last few years".^[38] At the 18th Golden Raspberry Awards in 1998, "My Dream" was nominated for Worst Song, but lost the award to the film score for The Postman (1997).^[39] "Speed TK Re-mix" gained popularity in Japan as it was used as entrance music for wrestler Kazushi Sakuraba, and was re-released as a single in 2001 at the request of fans.^[40]

Track listing

References