SANTA MONICA, CA. (Top40 Charts/ Universal
Music Enterprises) - There's nothing like the soundtrack to the comedy-drama Nothing Like The Holidays. With original music from dance-master Paul Oakenfold, cuts from three Latin music greats, a hip-hop classic, a '90s boy band smash, tracks from new artists, and even a recording from a group of Spanish-speaking Gypsies from France, Nothing Like The Holidays:
Music From The Motion Picture (Hip-O/UMe), to be released December 9, 2008, is both eclectic and refreshingly original.
With combined efforts from the soundtrack album producers and music supervisors, Budd Carr and Nora Felder, and Paul Oakenfold, who scored the film which opens nationwide December 12 via Overture Films, Oakenfold contributes "Parranda" ("The Big Party," a medley of the Christmas carols "The First Noel" and "O Come All Ye Faithful") and "Humboldt Park Suite." The uber-DJ and remixer, credited with popularizing acid house, has been most associated with the Happy Mondays, U2, and Madonna.
Of late, he has also delved deeply into scoring, working on the films The Bourne Conspiracy and
Speed Racer. Spitfire, who contributes "
Latin Lover" to the soundtrack, was featured on "Feed Your Mind" on Oakenfold's 2006 disc
A Lively Mind.
Nothing Like The Holidays takes place in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood. Starring John Leguizamo (The Happening, Moulin Rouge), Freddy Rodriguez (Six Feet Under, Bobby), Debra Messing (Will & Grace,The Starter Wife) and Alfred Molina (The Da Vinci Code, Spider-Man 2), and directed by Alfredo de Villa (Washington Heights), the film tells the humorous and heartwarming story of one unforgettable Christmas for the Rodriguez family.
Also heard on the soundtrack are Eddie Palmieri, one of the foremost Latin jazz pianists of our time, with his recording "El Molestoso II"; Orlando Vallejo, one of the great classic Cuban crooners, with "Alma Con Alma"; and Celia Cruz, the late Queen of Salsa, with "La Medicina Cubana." Los Ninos de Sara, a Gypsy group from Montpellier, France, that blends rumba and flamenco music with a North African influence, offers the title track from their 2001 album La Cubanita.
In addition, the soundtrack features "The Show," the 1985 classic of early hip-hop from pioneering beatboxer Doug E. Fresh & The Get Fresh Crew (which included Slick Rick), and "I Wanna *** You Up," the 1991 No 2 Pop/No 1 R&B smash hit from vocal group Color Me Badd.
Newer artists are Axxent featuring BOI with "Mi Familia" and Twee, a Manchester, England, pop-funk- soul-rock singer-songwriter, with the heartfelt and stirring ballad "To Let Go" from an anticipated debut album and "Certified Crazy," her 2006 collaboration with U.K. hip-hop duo The Reluctants.
