Soundtrack album: Girl, Interrupted

Soundtrack album from James Mangold's 1999 film Girl, Interrupted, featuring The Band's original version of "The Weight." Released in January 2000:

Girl, Interrupted, the latest Winona Ryder film that really stars Angelina Jolie, is the true story of a girl locked up in a mental institution for a botched suicide in the 1960s. The soundtrack is slow and dreamy, surefire medicine for keeping a psychiatric inmate sedate, thoughtful, and passive. Beginning with Wilco, the disc imparts the first of many lyrical survival tips. The band's "How to Fight the Loneliness" is a melodic, erudite tune instructing the listener to "smile all the time." Next is Them featuring Van Morrison performing Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now Baby Blue." With a "Stand-By-Me"-esque intro and a tick-tocking alliterative ending, the song is actually as good as all that talent. The Mamas and the Papas ("Got a Feelin') and their San Francisco soul mates Jefferson Airplane ("Comin' Back to Me") make cameos, while other highlights include Skeet Davis' winsome, airy version of "The End of the World, Mychal Danna's engaging classical score, and Aretha Franklin's "The Right Time," which alone makes the entire soundtrack worth a repeat performance. Petula Clark's cloying "Downtown" is the reason your CD player has a "Skip" button, but the inclusion is understandable as its message is reflected in the action of the film. Despite that, the Girl, Interrupted soundtrack is a well-designed blend of old classics and remakes that has the potential to rosy the outlook of even the most pessimistic listener in a mental hospital or in the even crazier outside world.
--Amy Schulman, CDnow

Tracks

1. How To Fight Loneliness - Wilco
2. It's All Over Now Baby Blue - Them feat. Van Morrison
3. The Weight - The Band
4. Got A Feelin' - The Mamas & The Papas
5. Time Has Come Today - The Chambers Brothers
6. Comin' Back To Me - Jefferson Airplane
7. Angel Of The Morning - Merrilee Ruch & The Turnabouts
8. The Right Time - Aretha Franklin
9. The End Of The World - Skeeter Davis
10. Downtown - Petula Clark
    Original Motion Picture Score (tracks 11 - 29) - Mychael Danna

Soundtrack album - Girl, Interrupted - 2000 - TVT/Wax Trax