Track Listing

1. A Town Called Malice - The Jam
2. You're Gonna Miss Me - Thirteenth Floor Elevators
3. Cold Blooded Old Times - Smog
4. I'm Gonna Love You a Little More Babe - Barry White
5. Who Loves the Sun - Velvet Underground
6. Rock Steady - Aretha Franklin
7. Dry the Rain - The Beta Band
8. Shipbuilding - Elvis Costello & the Attractions
9. Fallen For You - Sheila Nicholls
10. Oh! Sweet Nuthin' - Velvet Underground
11. Most of the Time - Bob Dylan
12. Lo Boob Oscillator - Stereolab
13. Everybody's Gonna Be Happy - The Kinks
14. Let's Get it On - Jack Black
15. I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever) - Stevie Wonder

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #49885 in Music
• Released on: 2000-07-17
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack

Amazon.co.uk Review
The film adaptation of Nick Hornby's High Fidelity was always going to need a killer soundtrack: the novel, after all, is about the owner of Championship Vinyl, a specialist record shop that specialises in berating customers whose taste isn't refined enough. John Cusack and co. have done a bang-up job (Cusack not only stars; he also co-produced), assembling a list of accessible favourites from artists old and new, obscure and (gasp!) popular. Alongside lesser-known classics from the likes of Bob Dylan, the Velvet Underground, Barry White, Stevie Wonder, the Kinks and Aretha Franklin (an impressive list in itself!), there are classics-to-be from modern critical faves such as The Beta Band, Smog and Stereolab. In fact, there's only one genuine hit--The Jam's "A Town Called Malice"--and it's neatly matched up with "You're Gonna Miss Me" from the proto-psychedelic garage rockers The Thirteenth Floor Elevators. (Obscure trivia fact: the Elevators' are best-known for vocalist Roky Erickson, who underwent shock treatment and never was the same again.) There's also an impassioned version of "Let's Get It On" by Jack Black, who plays one of the store clerks in the film, but also has a cult following in the States for his spoof band, Tenacious D. True musos will debate the merits of the soundtrack endlessly (why not Otis Redding instead of Stevie Wonder? why two cuts from the VU?), but--for once--that's not the mark of an inferior product: the High Fidelity soundtrack is every bit as good as the book that inspired it. --Randy Silver

Customer Reviews

High Fidelity = High Quality
I am not a big fan of soundtrack albums - too often they contain 50% strong, recognisable tracks from the film, with the remaining 50% filled with poor quality tracks inserted to ensure that there are enough songs to make a soundtrack CD. There are a few notable exceptions, the best of which is probably Good Morning Vietnam.

Thankfully, High Fidelity manages to capture the essence of both the film and the book. Whilst the songs on the album do not necessarily represent the more popular songs from the artists (The Kinks "Everyboby's Gonna Be Happy", for example), they capture the spirit of the bands, and the energy of the film.

The album, whether by design or by accident, manages to meet the criteria set out in the film for recording a compilation album:

"You have to start out with something really great, something that is going to grab their attention. Then, you gotta take it up a notch. But you don't want to blow your load to soon, so then you have to bring it down..."

There are few "weaker" tracks on the CD, and those few are well supported by timeless Bob Dylan (Most of the time), classic Velvet Underground (Who Loves The Sun), and wonderfully psychadelic Beta Band (Dry The Rain).

All in all, a great album, and well worth its place in any CD rack.

Great movie, great soundtrack.
Wow, what a great soundtrack! Right from the outset the album starts off with the opening track from the film the fabulous 'You're Gonna Miss Me' by The Thirteenth Floor Elevators, and ends with Stevie Wonder's 'I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever)'. But I feel the pinnacle of the album is Jack Black's rendition of Marvin Gaye's 'Let's Get It On', great in the movie, great on the soundtrack. Every song on the album is top notch, if you are a fan of the movie make sure you add this to your cd collection!

Excellent album with a broad range of tracks...
This soundtrack just gets better and better...A great start with The Jam's "A Town called Malice", and leading to Velvet Underground, Dylan's "Most of the Time", and an excellent version of "Lets Get it on"...you'll find some of you're old faves on this - one for the collection. Great film also...buy this album, you won't be disappointed!