Revolutionary Road Original Soundtrack

I saw the movie a few years ago and the theme music seemed to sum up the drama of my own life's challenges at that time. The entire sound track from Revolutionary Road is both captivating and haunting. I never thought I could become so obsessed with a musical theme, but I have (and still am)! Thomas Newman's compositions will stir up emotions so esily that even my 10-year old daughter is swept away in the music. Oh, and hearing the Ink Spots is delightful, too!

I rated it a four and I do like it and am glad I bought it. A bit repetitive. I know all movie music is like that but this was a bit much. I recall the instrumental being more dark, foreboding and I like that. It is relaxing because it is slow and the bass is pleasurable to my ear. The piano is so beautiful in this music. When I close my eyes I can have a giant movie fantasy to the music. It is called a creative fantasy. I fantasize I am writing and conducting or playing this music. I could be doing it all. After all it is my fantasy. The singers were nice but I don't remember more than one song with the singers. I was not a fan of 50's music. I was born in 56. I would like to know if Thomas Newman is Alfred Newman's son, and who takes credit for Randy Newman? Are they all relatives? I would like to know the relationship if there is one. My mother gave us a gift while growing up of music appreciation. She had the stereo on every minute when she was home. All the movie music. My sister and I knew the theme music to the movie the Apartment and all the music from Dr. Zhivago. Thanks mom.

Thomas Newman is officially my favorite composer. I have brought nearly every soundtrack he has composed for the movie screen, even the movies I haven't seen yet. This one won me over, along with the directing of Sam Mendes (Road to Perdition, American Beauty, Skyfall), it was obvious that this soundtrack was going to be a wonderful listening experience. Newman is good at mixing vintage songs (the Ink Spots, The Ravens) with his own compositions. I'm gonna be a Thomas Newman fan for life!

It's been almost a decade since Thomas Newman wrote, and was Oscar nominated for, his score for American Beauty. In the intervening period, Newman's work on that film has, arguably, become the most copied piece of music in recent history: the plinking and plonking and rhythmic quirkiness of that score has become cinematic (and televisual) musical shorthand for suburban life, and the things that go on behind the manicured lawns and the white picket fences. Thomas Newman has collaborated with American Beauty's director, Sam Mendes, twice since then, on Road to Perdition in 2002 and Jarhead in 2005, but Revolutionary Road marks the first return to the setting which initially inspired both men. Like American Beauty, Revolutionary Road is a tale of suburban malaise and malcontent, hidden behind the sheen of a perfect marriage and the American dream. Based on the novel by Richard Yates and set in Connecticut in the 1950s, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet - on screen for the first time together since Titanic - as married couple Frank and April Wheeler. Frank is stuck in a dead-end job, and resorts to alcoholism to escape the mind-numbing drudgery of his life, while April dreams of moving to Paris to become an actress. Their neighbors see a perfect partnership living a perfect life, but in private their marriage is slowly dissolving into an endless cycle of bitter arguments and jealous recriminations, ultimately leading to a devastating conclusion. In musical terms, Revolutionary Road is American Beauty's slightly lusher cousin; Newman makes use of a brassless and woodwindless orchestra, augmented by the usual wondrous array of bizarre instruments - far whistles, ambient freezes, dark matter, backwards vibraphones - played as usual by Newman's familiar collaborators George Doering, Steve Tavaglione, Rick Cox and Michael Fisher. The score often employs the off-kilter rhythms and textures that made American Beauty so popular, but regularly enhances them with a much more conventional orchestral sweep that makes for very pleasant listening indeed. The opening cue, "Route 12", is a perfect example of this mix in styles, in which tinkling, metallic tick-tocks gradually give way to the lovely piano and string main theme, which is very much in the vein of his writing on scores such as The Shawshank Redemption or The Horse Whisperer, albeit more restrained and less grandiose. There is a dream-like, other-worldly aspect to cues such as "Picture Window" and "Unrealistic", in which Newman makes use of feathery, fluttery flutes and ambient string and synth textures, as if alluding to the notion that Frank and April's public image really is as fragile and insubstantial as a wisp of air. Spiky, oddly-metered pianos characterize cues such as "The Bright Young Man", and give way to muted accordions and a contemplative string wash in "Golden People". Darker material, with clattering metallic percussion and menacing piano chords, appears in "Night Woods", while the 9-minute "April" gently weaves a hypnotic musical spell of subtle textures and dream-like drones, before the score rises to an emotionally-heightened finale in the conclusive "Revolutionary Road (End Title)", which reprises the main theme with a satisfying sweep. Fans of Newman's writing will undoubtedly love all this, but to me it seems a rather insubstantial score; agreeable and diverting, but ultimately rather forgettable. I've lost count of the times Thomas Newman has written a score like this, and although there is nothing at all offensive or inappropriate about the music, his scores for this type of film are all starting to blend into one another: American Beauty, Pay It Forward, White Oleander, In the Bedroom, Little Children, and now Revolutionary Road. I'm reluctant to say "if you've heard one you've heard them all", because it's a catch-all phrase and it's clearly not true in the strictest sense, but it really does feel like that these days. It used to be that a new Thomas Newman score was an anticipated event; but honestly, despite Revolutionary Road containing a great deal of generally quite nice music, and unless he's scoring a Pixar animation, it's all getting a bit predictable.

No one can create a sound track as moving as Thomas Newman! I love this soundtrack and think it is one of his best!

I'll just say that I have a playlist with select Newman tracks (134 to be exact) from the 11 scores of his I own and every one of these made it onto the list (minus the non-Newman tracks). The playlist was created to capture the compositions that really reflect the thought-provoking sweetness and the emotional depths within Newman's music, or his "signature sounds". The music on this score is very consistent in those regards, though the score is a little short time-wise. However, scores like American Beauty, Shawshank Redemption and Road to Perdition still reign supreme in my books (and thus I must give this 4 stars only because I have heard Newman reach even higher peaks). Still, very good, very solid music to think to, or drift away to.

The movie was thoughtful and poignant

Newman has such an unmistakable signature sound but he is always exploring new variations of that sound and Revolutionary Road continues this journey. it served the film perfectly and is just a strong as a standalone listen. this score is absolutely gorgeous.

Une des plus belles musiques de films de Thomas Newman, à l'image d'American Beauty, Shawshank Redemption, à écouter en boucle, c'est très beau

Simple and beautiful, this soundtrack is one of my personal favourites. The music is extremely evocative, moving and relaxing and I don't think you would need to have seen the film to appreciate it (although the film is wonderful). I would recommend it highly as one of the top soundtracks of the last 10 years, and a classic Thomas Newman score.

Ebenso wie der Film ist auch der Soundtrack zu Revolutionary Road sehr gut gelungen. Diese Filmmusik geht unter die Haut.

I am becoming more and more of a Thomas Newman fan, and this is one soundtrack to proves that his music is worth the time and effort. Newman's music is always so beautifully crafted, none more so than in this selection of tracks for the film. Not everyone will enjoy the use of the insistent theme that runs through them, but the over all effect is mesmeric, and combined with his orchestration, both subtle and tender. I never want it to end, when it does. Newman almost always includes sample music from the period, which you either like or dislike, but this can be selected out for a more continous experience. This is highly reccommended, especially to Newman fans

I heard this once on the radio and couldn't get it out of my head so I had to go and buy the cd. Thomas Newman excels once again. Wonderful!