- Artist:
- Gustavo Santaolalla
On The Road (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) 1CD
Gustavo Santaolalla’s On The Road (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) captures the restless spirit of Walter Salles’ 2012 adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s novel, adding another distinctive chapter to the composer’s body of film work following his Academy Award-winning scores for Brokeback Mountain and Babel. Rather than relying on period pastiche alone, Santaolalla curates a set that moves fluidly between dusty blues, bebop, and vintage pop standards to evoke the book’s mid-century American landscape.
Selections such as “Sweet Sixteen” and “Death Letter Blues” ground the journey in Delta blues tradition, while Charlie Parker’s “Ko-Ko” and the buoyant “Hit That Jive Jack” channel the velocity of the jazz clubs that shaped the Beat generation. Santaolalla’s own cues, including “The Open Road” and “I Think Of Dean,” thread the material together with a sense of motion and reflection. Presented here on CD, the soundtrack plays like a carefully sequenced roadside jukebox.