All Over Me Soundtrack – Review

All Over Me

(TVT)
by Sheril Stanford

Babes in Toyland, Ani DiFranco, Sleater-Kinney, Helium, the Geraldine Fibbers, the Murmurs, the Amps, the Patti Smith Group – sure, it’s quite a collection, a nice cross-selection of currently celebrated moody pop bands. And just the right choices to support All Over Me, a poignant and perceptive coming-of-age tale. There’s hardly a loser in the bunch. Ani DiFranco couldn’t write a throw-away tune if her life depended on it, so it’s no surprise that “Shy” is a shuddering, shimmering piece of sonic heaven, at once both soft and searing. Boston’s own Helium offers up “Hole In the Ground,” Mary Timmony’s vocals unsettlingly and somberly off-key and disaffected, tumbling over stuttering, stammering guitar lines. The Amps give you their “Empty Glasses,” probably the best track off 1995’s Pacer, raw, rollicking and snide as only Kim Deal can deliver it. The Patti Smith Group’s superb “Pissing in a River,” from 1976’s Radio Ethiopia, has the timeless quality of a true classic. Sleater-Kinney shows what the buzz is about with their urgent and captivating “I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone” from last year’s Call the Doctor. The Geraldine Fibbers give “Dragon Lady,” a folk song punctuated by feedback and roaring vocals about standing up to victimization. New York folk poppers, the Murmurs, contribute “Squeezebox Days” and Murmur Leisha Hailey also appears in the movie. The only ineffective song is “Hello” by Babes in Toyland, it’s not bad, it just doesn’t show off Kat’s feral quality. The Best of Show award has to go to “Dynamite,” a tune by Alison Pipitone – this sleazy pop gem oughta put this girl on the map.