High Fidelity (Hollywood)

High Fidelity

(Hollywood)

Powers that be in the film industry commonly complain about the control wielded by movie stars. Hitchcock might have equated actors to cattle, but the marquee names are now herding directors and producers down their chutes, so to speak, more often than not. Kudos to John Cusack and his production company for his winning adaptation of Nick Hornby's tale of extended adolescence. Yet if Cusack is going to put his name atop the list of producers for the soundtrack, he's going to have to take the fall for this one. Like the film, the CD begins auspiciously with Roky Erickson's wail on "You're Gonna Miss Me," and there are other fleeting moments of inspiration along the way: both Velvets songs, Love's "Always See Your Face," the pulsating acid jazz of the Beta Band, Smog's chugging "Cold-Blooded Old Times." But in between are real head-scratchers; among them pedestrian choices from the Kinks and Dylan, and the out-of-place "Shipbuilding" from Elvis Costello. Bereft of any original thought, John Wesley Harding confirms his place as the Brian DePalma of music, and exactly whose niece is Sheila Nicholls? For a film loaded with enough hip songs to fill three CDs, is Royal Trux really the best they could do? It's not like there's a dearth of breakup songs out there. The Austin fetishes of the novel were ignored in the film's relocation from London to Chicago, so there's no Texana on hand to spice up the selection, either. Jack Black, one half of Tenacious D, chews scenery onscreen as Barry, the consummate record snob. His pivotal scene performing Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" is preserved here. Devoid of visuals, it's aural water torture, a groaner of epic proportions. Barry would have given it, like, three seconds.