Ashes To Ashes Soundtrack CD
Ashes To Ashes
2009, BBC/Kudos.
Various.
Sony, CD, 2009, 88697524832
Rating: 
Retro cop series, ‘Ashes To Ashes’, may not tread much new territory; not surprising considering its whole premise deliberately relies on recycled material. But its ‘80’s setting, soundtrack and likeable sparring partners played by Philip Glenister and Keeley Hawes, inject enough sparks to keep up the momentum. The soundtrack for the second series provides much the same kind of energy, though in the show, the songs rarely appear for more than ten seconds, leaving the viewer feeling a bit short-changed. ‘Ashes To Ashes 2’, the album doesn’t suffer from this problem, with the likes of Duran Duran (’Planet Earth‘), Blondie (’Atomic’) and The Specials (’Rat Race‘), singing their un-edited hearts out. But attempting to increase the show’s cool quotient by including dialogue tracks was a big mistake: largely because it draws attention to just how derivative most of them are. Without the visuals to distract from the sometimes ropey dialogue, they quickly lose their impact and more so with repeated plays. While this might make ‘Ashes To Ashes 2’ stand out from other generic 1980’s best of cds, it doesn’t, as I would imagine the producers thought it would, make it memorable enough in its own right to be remembered with the same affection as the 1970s cop shows from which it steals much of its thunder.
Ashes To Ashes Series 2 Television Soundtrack. Review: Tim Mowbray.
Track Listing:
1. Under Pressure (Queen/David Bowie).
2. “Alex Drake” (Dialogue).
3. Opening Titles (Edmund Butt).
4. Planet Earth (Duran Dduran).
5. In The Air Tonight (Phil Collins).
6. Rat Race (The Specials).
7. “Vindaloo” (Dialogue).
8. Mirror Man (Human League).
9. The Look Of Love (Part 1.) (ABC).
10. Going Back To My Roots (Odyssey).
11. “The Strangest Days” (Dialogue).
12. Alex’s Theme (Edmund Butt).
13. Funeral Pyre (The Jam).
14. Temptation (New Order).
15. The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum (Fun Boy Three).
16. Back Of Love (Echo And The Bunnymen).
17. Wishing (If I had A Photography Of You) (A Flock Of Seagulls).
18. Love Plus One (Haircut 100).
19. “Felicity Kendal” (Dialogue).
20. Stand And Deliver (Adam And The Ants).
21. Lies (Thompson Twins).
22. Streets Of London (Anti-Nowhere League).
23. I Second That Emotion (Japan).
24. Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime (The Korgis).
25. Atomic (Blondie).
26. Hunt’s Theme (Edmund Butt).
Related Posts
