HEARTBREAKERS (OST)

The title track is a catchy sequenced electronic tune. The disc goes alternates nice spacey smooth ballads such as Footbridge To Heaven, The Loser and Rain In N.Y. City, and punchy action tracks such as Twilight Painter, Pastime and Gemini.

I will give 3 stars, because of the last songs which are a bit weak. Anyway, a good and very enjoyable and relaxing soundtrack.

In this part of the 80s the best things coming from TD are the lives. They seems to be used to enter a studio only to comment movies. Is it that bad? No, but it's a limitation. They can't create side-long tracks and must compress the ideas into 3 to 5 minutes tracks.

I have to say that also in the last live albums (I mean in the first half of the 80s) the tracks don't flow seamlessly as on albums like "Zeit". They are more often a patchwork of different themes tied together and this may be a consequence of the new way of composing within the "movie" constraints.

So also this "Heartbreakers" is made of short tracks that are all almost good taken one by one, but after having listened to the album nothing remains. I haven't seen the movie (I'm not sure to have ever seen a movie with a TD soundtrack). This means that I can't recall images or sensations to be associated to the music.

The music itself is good as background when you are gardening or cooking, but nothing more. Quite good and absolutely non-essential.

3 stars are rounded up.

In my search for the odd, memorable bits released by TD, finally I get to hear this soundtrack. Not expecting much, since soundtracks are just that and not meant to be compared with more serious works of the band. Honestly, I just wanted to be satisfied that before I relegate this release to oblivion - following their other OST "Flashback" - there is nothing much would be worth holding onto.

Well, right off there is a pleasant surprise. "Heartbreakers" actually contain some pleasant melodies for a change, almost like a precursor to "Le Parc", an album I quite enjoy in parts.

The big difference is in the lack of depth in the instrumentation here that makes the album sound rather cheap. It comes across as if it was realized on a $100 keyboard purchased at a toy shop. And that any teenager who are not tone-deaf could have created it whilst munching on a pizza with the spare hand.

Still, about half of this release contains really pleasant melodies that are worth holding onto, but not the funky piece included that stands out like a sore thumb. Not very TD-like and a rather horrible attempt at trying to be versatile. "Chasing sheep is best left to shepherds" and the "Berlin School" are ill-suited to play convincing Funk.

Conclusion. A good album in parts, cheap production. Essential it is certainly not, but worth picking up a dirt cheap copy from the bargain bin.