Across The Universe


Given a track record littered by misfired oddities like the Bee Gees starring in the 1978 movie version of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, successfully transforming The Beatles' epochal oeuvre into film musicals has been an elusive alchemy. Yet director Julie Taymor's 1968-centered, socio-political romance is more than just a stunning visual achievement. Its soundtrack brings a crucially intimate, emotionally engaging sensibility to its rich catalog of Beatles source material. Using an approach she rightly dubbed "organic," Taymor never gets too ambitious with the original arrangements, balancing the plaintive, often stark performances of central young stars Jim Sturgess and Evan Rachel Wood with equally compelling turns by supporting players Carol Woods and Joe Anderson. The stars successfully evoke early Beatlemania via the energetic charms of Sturgess' "All My Loving" and Wood's "It Won't Be Long," then get straight to the canon's often melancholy heart on his take of "In My Life," and her gentle cover of "Blackbird." Taymor's use of star turns--the entire point of too many Beatles-rooted projects--is as sparing as it is deft. Eddie Izzard's effusive "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" is the product of several edited improvisations, while U2's Bono and Edge re-imagine "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" by way of Pink Floyd. Joe Cocker's swamp-dirge "Come Together" shows why he's long been one of the best interpreters of the Lennon-McCartney catalog, and Dana Fuchs alternately evokes the heavenly and hellish via her tender "Dear Prudence," as well as her manic, Joplin-channeling burn through "Helter Skelter." Elsewhere on the CD, Bono teams with Secret Machine for the straightforward "I Am the Walrus," while the Dallas indie rockers also take dream-pop turns on the instrumental "Flying" and George Harrison's haunting "Blue Jay Way." Remarkably, Taymor claims the bulk of the performances here were not lip-synced, but recorded live as the cameras rolled.--Jerry McCulley

Strauss: The Best of Vienna


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Perpetual Motion


Bela Fleck is one of the greatest five-string banjo players performing today. Beginning in the 1970s, he honed his lightning-fast chops performing bluegrass, then moved on to contemporary jazz and fusion sounds. With this album, he broadens his horizons once again by performing an entire program of classical music transcriptions. Reminiscent of classical guitar albums by John Williams (who makes a guest appearance here), the disc traverses a wide range of repertoire--from Chopin mazurkas to Bach's Two and Three Part Inventions. Throughout, Fleck displays a feathery touch on his banjo, and his instrument offers a pleasant, brassy tone with very little twang. The technique he displays on Perpetual Motion is astounding and a refreshing change of pace from the smooth grooves found on the banjoist's Flecktones recordings. The arrangements are generally minimalist and understated, but violinist Joshua Bell, bassist Edgar Meyer, mandolinist Chris Thile, and percussionist Evelyn Glennie join in on this groundbreaking disc. Bluegrass purists may be disappointed (this is a far cry from the free-spirited, folksy abandon found on Sony's Short Trip Home and Appalachian Journey CDs), but classical fans will be astounded by how perfectly natural Fleck's banjo sounds on these works. --Jason Verlinde