1. "New Divide" by Linkin Park
2. "21 Guns" by Green Day
3. "Let It Go" by Cavo
4. "Capital M-E" by Taking Back Sunday
5. "Never Say Never" by The Fray
6. "Burn It To The Ground" by Nickelback
7. "Burning Down the House" by The Used
8. "Not Meant to Be" by Theory of a Deadman
9. "Real World" by The All-American Rejects
10. "I Don't Think I Love You" by Hoobastank
11. "This Is It" by Staind
12. "Almost Easy" by Avenged Sevenfold
13. "Transformers (The Fallen Remix)" by Cheap Trick
One can only hope that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: The Movie kicks the shit out of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: The Album. Because as far as soundtracks go, this one sucks the big one. It's as though, for eleven of the tracks, someone hit shuffle on iTunes, picked the top 11, threw in Linkin Park and a Cheap Trick remix, created some janky album art, and said, "By fucking golly, we have gold! Send this to press!" Here's something that baffles me: out of all the tracks, five were not even included in the movie. So, I'd be hardpressed to even understand why they were included on the soundtrack, then. Was it for name value? Was it for show? I'd love to know what went on in the room when this was created. Do I blame Warner Brothers? Or the no-named combo of Randy Spendlove and
Diarmuid Quinn?
That's not to say that the songs themselves are terrible; it's the mix of them, the subject matter, and the order that just didn't work for me. For example, "Burn It To The Ground" and "Burning Down the House"? Yeah, we get it; there's destruction. Did you have to include songs with basically the same name? That's on top of the middle of the album deals with virtually the same subject matter. Where was the duet between Tyrese Gibson and Jewel to highlight the intimacy between Sam and Mikaela that I read about? Yeah, cut for some reason (probably didn't fit the pop/rock theme).
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: The Album showcases some excellent tracks, namely, Taking Back Sunday's "Capital M-E", Hoobastank's "I Don't Think I Love You", and The Used's "Burning Down The House." I love Avenged Sevenfold's "Almost Easy;" it's probably my favorite song from their catalog, next to "Bat Country". Staind's "This Is It" is the only redeemable track from Illusion of Progress. I have to give some credit to Cheap Trick, too, for turning the theme song into something half-decent. At least it doesn't sound like some crappy Youtube mashup.
Now, I m going to say something completely radical, and then I am going to move on. I dig Linkin Park's "New Divide". People are saying, "Eh, it's just "What I've Done Part 2". I beg to differ completely. It's extemely remniscent of what made Meteroa such a rousing success, in my opinion. Unlike "What I've Done", which was selected from an already completed album, made part of the OST, and then claimed as a single from the compilation. "New Divide" is written specifically for the soundtracks, and it's decent.
I am not digging this Green Day song, though. "21 Guns." It's far from their best work, and there were plenty of better songs from their new album that could have been included. Or. How about...AN UNRELEASED FUCKING SONG?! I'm sure they have something on the cutting room floor that could have been used that would have suited the movie a bit better. Is that such a novel idea?
In fact, nothing from this album, save for "New Divide", is new material. All tracks are from CDs that have been out for a little bit of time now. The Used's cover of The Talking Head's "Burning Down the House" was included on Covered, A Revolution in Sound. What it all boils down to is that there ABSOLUTELY NO REASON to buy this album. There's nothing new here, so unless you're a huge collecting fan, just pass right on through. I wish I would have. What a lackluster soundtrack for a summer blockbuster movie that's bound to bring in millions of viewers and hundreds of millions of dollars.
