LPCDreissues: Looking forward to the past

• 180 gram audiophile vinyl
• 4-page insert
• PVC protective sleeve
• 25th Anniversary Edition
• First pressing of 1000 numbered copies on white & black mixed vinyl

Alan Parker's adaptation of Roddy Doyle's crackerjack novel The Commitments (1991) kept its focus on the music - the classic American R&B and Soul the titular workingman band cranked out in pubs across Ireland.

As a book and film, The Commitments was all about love of music, so it didn't matter if the soundtrack offered workmanlike versions of oldies the band and audience knew by heart: as long as it was done with some soul, the film would work, and the soundtrack would too.

In that sense, The Commitments were a cousin to the Blues Brothers, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd's tribute to the very same music but where Jake and Elwood managed to hire Stax's house band (such are the perks of stardom) , the group Parker assembled were working Irish musicians.

Track listing:

Side A

1. Mustang Sally
2. Take Me To The River
3. Chain Of Fools
4. The Dark End Of The Street
5. Destination Anywhere
6. I Can't Stand The Rain
7. Try A Little Tenderness

Side B

1. Treat Her Right
2. Do Right Woman Do Right Man
3. Mr. Pitiful
4. I Never Loved A Man
5. In The Midnight Hour
6. Bye Bye Baby
7. Slip Away