We Were Soldiers

Performer: Original Soundtrack
Engineer: Chuck Turner; Mal Luker; Nick DiDia; Steve Harris; Brian Scheuble
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Producers: Chris Farren, Ken Levitan, Randall Wallace. "Good Man" (India.Arie) was nominated for the 2003 Grammy Awards for Best R&B Song. Audio Mixers: Ed Seay; F. Reid Shippen; Jacquire King ; Karl Egsieker; Mal Luker; Steve Bishir; Steve Marcantonio; Tony Castle; Ben Fowler; Blake Chancey; Brendan O'Brien; Brian Scheuble. Arranger: Musiq (Soulchild). From a record company point of view, the opportunity to create a musical counterpart to writer/director Randall Wallace's Vietnam war movie We Were Soldiers must have seemed ideal, and Sony has responded by getting a large number of its developing pop and country acts, among them Train and Five for Fighting on the pop side and Tammy Cochran and Montgomery Gentry on the country side, to record new material for the project. This is a "music from and inspired by" soundtrack, though there is no indication which songs were used in the actual film. Clearly, the songwriters (most of whom are not the same as the performers) were inspired by a story of wartime separation ("Good Man," "Some Mother's Son") and camaraderie ("For You," "Soldier"), as well as that Vietnam-specific complaint, "Why weren't the vets welcomed home as heroes?" ("Didn't I"). All this self-righteous solemnity might be easier to take if it were in the service of a movie about a different war and not another of those Hollywood rationalizations attempting to justify Vietnam by focusing on the grunts. (Is Hollywood ever going to make a film about the people who were right about Vietnam?) But even then, the tone would be so heavy-handed that it wouldn't be much fun to listen to. ~ William Ruhlmann A quick glance at the credits for the soundtrack to the Mel Gibson Vietnam movie WE WERE SOLDIERS might yield a concerned cry of "that can't be a good idea," in reference to the pairing of Johnny Cash and Dave Matthews on opening cut "For You." Fear not, though; Matthews doesn't attempt to match Cash as a duet partner, he retains a respectful distance and adds harmony to Cash's deep, magisterial tones. Those hungry to hear more of Matthews might take solace in Five For Fighting's "The Beautiful," which bears an uncanny resemblance to the sound of the aforementioned South African singer. WE WERE SOLDIERS is, appropriately, a distinctly American album, mixing country music, Christian rock, and Americana-tinged rock in equal measures. However, things close on an even more appropriate (for a war film) note with the spiritual "The Mansions of the Lord" sung by the United States Military Academy Cadet Glee Club and Metro Voices.

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