Director
Jonathan Demme has developed a reputation for assembling especially interesting soundtracks to such previous movies as Something Wild and Married to the Mob, but he's never gotten quite such high-powered talent to work for him as he has on this collection of songs from Philadelphia. Topping the list, of course, is
Bruce Springsteen's Golden Globe and Academy Award-winning gold Top Ten hit "Streets of Philadelphia" (even if it seems to be as much about homelessness as about AIDS, the movie's subject). But also included is
Neil Young's "Philadelphia," arguably a better song, and a new number by
Peter Gabriel, "Lovetown." Those are the major contributions, although
Spin Doctors do a nice version of
Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?," and
Indigo Girls' take on
Danny Whitten's "I Don't Want to Talk About It" is equally enjoyable. And there's the excerpt from the opera Andrea Chenier by
Maria Callas that makes such a striking scene in the movie (minus
Tom Hanks' commentary), and a piece of
Howard Shore's score. ~ William Ruhlmann