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BUY THE CD
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A movie as retro hip as this summer’s Ocean’s Thirteen deserves an equally hip soundtrack. Fortunately, right from the very beginning of the very first song, the Ocean’s Thirteen soundtrack is every bit as smooth and hip as the movie itself.
Nineteen of the album’s 20 tracks are entirely instrumental. And they’re really short, too—most of them just a minute or two. They all have a kind of loungey, retro feel, reminiscent of old Bond movies—or, if you prefer, those crazy musical interludes between scenes in Austin Powers movies. They’re playful and mysterious, heavy with psychedelic organs—and occasionally some bongos and horns thrown in to turn up the cool factor.
From the smooth yet energetic “Trapdoor Man” to the heavier, sexier “The Nose,” everything on the Ocean’s Thirteen soundtrack is totally groovy—with just one exception. Track 13, “Suite Bergamasque, Claire de Lune, No. 3,” is a soft, sleepy track that just doesn’t fit with the rest of the album. At six minutes long, it feels like a painfully long intermission in the middle of an otherwise dynamic album. That’s not to say it isn’t a beautiful song. But it doesn’t fit—and after listening to it a couple of times, I’ve taken to skipping track 13 whenever I hear those first hypnotic notes.
The only vocal track on the album is “This Town” by (who else?) Frank Sinatra. It’s the perfect song to tie everything together—to sum up the movie and to connect it back to the original Ocean’s Eleven. And, well, it’s just fun to snap your fingers and croon along.
The Ocean’s Thirteen soundtrack does an excellent job of putting the spirit of the Ocean’s movies on CD. Like the movie, the soundtrack is playful and cool, and it’s got a great sense of humor. It’s George-Clooney-in-a-Suit smooth. And it’s Rat Pack hip. When you listen to this soundtrack, you can’t help but imagine yourself strutting down the neon streets of Old Vegas.
If I were going to pull off a giant heist in Vegas, I’d want this to be my soundtrack, too.
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