The Commitments

Performer: Original Soundtrack
Engineer: Kevin Killen; Tim Martin
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Producers: P. Bushnell, Kevin Killen, Alan Parker. Personnel: Maria Doyle, Angeline Ball (vocals, background vocals); Andrew Strong, Niamh Kavanagh (vocals); Conor Brady, Dean Parks (guitar); Felim Gormley (alto saxophone); Carl Geraghty (tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone); Ronan Dooney (trumpet). Audio Mixer: Kevin Killen. Recording information: Hit Factory, London, England; Ocean Way Recording, L.A., CA; Ringsend Road Studios, Dublin, Ireland. Photographer: David Appleby. Unknown Contributor Role: Kenneth McCluskey. Alan Parker's adaptation of Roddy Doyle's crackerjack novel The Commitments 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, well, 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. This would seem to lend The Commitments some degree of authenticity and it does to a certain extent, as these guys can crank out familiar favorites without missing a step, but the description of working musicians suggests that there is some grit here, which there's not. After all, this is music for a movie, so it is cleanly produced: the horns have a punch, the guitars are crisp, the drums tight and neat, all the better to showcase the bar band growl of Andrew Strong -- his Otis worship comes out like Rod Stewart crossed with Mick Hucknall -- and Maria Doyle's salute to Aretha Franklin. All of this sounds fine, if a bit generic: these are great songs performed ably and if they're not distinctive, they at least suit the spirit of the film's open-hearted hero worship. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine In 2007, some 16 years after Alan Parker's adaptation of Roddy Doyle's novel turned into a feel-good cult sensation, Universal released a two-disc Deluxe Edition of The Commitments soundtrack. The first disc contains the original 1991 soundtrack, the second its 1992 sequel The Commitments, Vol. 2, with the two rounded out with five selections from the group's lead singer Andrew Strong's 1993 album Strong. All this music is of a piece -- it's all competent, respectful tribute to classic '60s R&B and soul -- so it makes for a consistent deluxe edition; indeed, for big fans of The Commitments who don't already own the two soundtracks, this is a nice way to get all of the music at once, if they're so inclined to do so. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Stereophile (2/93, p.109) - "...its rendition of Soul is deep, solid, and driving...16-year-old lead singer Andrew Strong, who knows the music, has terrific phrasing, great pitch, and an impossibly cool, raspy voice that sounds like a young Joe Cocker..."

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