‘Million Dollar Hotel’ Soundtrack

Making a spiritual return to the languid soundscapes of Passengers Original Soundtracks 1, this score for the Bono-scripted Million Dollar Hotel is probably destined to stir up as much interest as its cinematic relation, featuring as it does two new U2 tracks and a clutch of extra-curricular offerings from the freshly fashioned screenwriter.

A deeply atmospheric affair throughout, as flagged up by U2’s beautiful slow-burning “The Ground Beneath Her Feet” (a musical interpretation of Salman Rushdie’s lyric) and ethereal “Stateless,” the album’s real surprises lie within the remainder of the tracks, committed to tape by the MDH Band assembled around Eno, Daniel Lanois and avant-trumpeter Jon Hassell.

Thus the Lanois assisted “Falling at Your Feet” is a Bono list song par excellence, “Dancin’ Shoes” finds the singer possessed by the spirit of Billie Holliday, and “Never Let Me Go” floats upon a rare groove-ish loop, making for the finest offering here (choice couplet: “Maybe I was blind/Alright I might have closed my eyes”). Even if the Diamanda Galas-like shrieking at the climax of Milla Jovovich’s breathy take on “Satellite Of Love” is sure to set many listeners’ teeth on edge, the remainder paves the way for U2’s much-anticipated return later in the year with no little amount of panache.

  © 2000 Q magazine. All rights reserved.