Music Munchers - Down By Law (1986 Film) Variety (1985 Film) [2 on 1] by John Lurie

Product Review
If John Lurie's music is most aptly described as "fake jazz" (his own description), then there are few better places to experience its fakeness than here. No matter how that sounds, it's a compliment. Lurie's earliest lineups of his Lounge Lizards featured Arto Lindsay in a deconstructive, crunching mode, and the octet that plays the roughly 19 minutes of music for Jim Jarmusch's cult classic Down by Law features not only Lindsay but also his successor, Marc Ribot, among others. They play 13 atmospheric vignettes (again, in 19 minutes!), always forcing the ear back onto the nuggets, as if Lurie is tugging at you to acknowledge that a) his is a strong, idiosyncratic ear for the meeting of auditory and visual elements; and b) his is a music built out of cells like this, which in future versions of the Lounge Lizards have served as the brick and mortar of his additive compositional techniques. Yes, there's too little music from Down by Law, but you do also get nearly 18 minutes of music from Betty Gordon's Variety, this time played with straighter rhythms, albeit ones with titles like "Porno Booth" and "Garter Belt." The band on the latter film's music is Lurie's after-Lindsay outfit, with his brother Evan on piano. The music is stylized without being overstuffed and aptly sultry and noirish. If anyone had doubts about Lurie's manifold talents, this set from 1987 should confirm that he's been on similar aesthetic roads to his late-1990s bands for many years. For more confirmation from the film-meets-Lurie world, check out Stranger than Paradise. --Andrew Bartlett

John Lurie's memorable music for the wonderful film "Down By Law" (now a Criterion DVD release) is well worth seeking out. Both the film and the music are amazing, and seem to blend together seamlessly. My only complaint is that I wish the CD included some of the Tom Waits songs from his terrific "Rain Dogs" CD which are used in the film, otherwise the soundtrack is perfect and it's without a doubt one of Lurie's best releases. Moody and haunting, the music evokes the alleyways and swamps of New Orleans perfectly. Get this and Tom's "Rain Dogs" CD for the full "Down By Law" experience. You won't be disappointed! Both CDs include some of the finest music made in the 1980s for one of the best American films ever made! Comment | Permalink | (Report this)