Vampire jams will excite ‘Twilight’ fans

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘Twilight’ fans might never find Edward Cullen, the vampire dream boyfriend of countless… ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘Twilight’ fans might never find Edward Cullen, the vampire dream boyfriend of countless adolescent girls, but with Twilight: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, you can at least have his music. ‘ ‘ ‘ The album comprises the definitive collection of songs influenced by author Stephanie Meyer’s novel ‘Twilight’ and its three sequels. ‘ ‘ ‘ The soundtrack conjures the epic, doomed love story with predominantly entertaining melodies and lyrics that capture the grandiosity and angst of teenage vampires and their human love interests while staying, for the most part, on the right side of cringe-worthy. ‘ ‘ ‘ Meyer has said much of the heavy influence of music on her writing, making the playlists she listened to while writing each of her novels available on her Web site. The actual soundtrack features only one song from Meyer’s original ‘Twilight’ playlist ‘mdash; Collective Soul’s ‘Tremble for My Beloved’ ‘mdash; but does include songs from two of Meyer’s favorite bands, Linkin Park and Muse.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Paramore supplied two tracks: ‘I Caught Myself’ and the soundtrack’s lead single, ‘Decode.” Both songs have strong themes of uncertainty and regret, but are redeemed by attractive beats and excellent vocal performances. ‘ ‘ ‘ The inclusion of ‘Never Think,’ by Twilight co-star Robert Pattinson, is likely more of a press gimmick than anything else, as the song combines decisively lackluster and off-kilter acoustic guitar with whiny prosaic lyrics like, ‘I should never think / What’s in your heart / What’s in our home / So I won’t.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ The film will feature Carter Burwell’s original score, of which ‘Bella’s Lullaby’ ‘mdash; a key plot point from the novel ‘mdash; is also included on the Twilight soundtrack. ‘Twilight: The Score’ will be released on Dec 9. ‘ ‘ ‘ A fun and fast-paced new Mute Math song from its forthcoming album debuts on the soundtrack, ‘Spotlight (Twilight Mix).’ Perry Farrell wrote an original song for the movie, ‘Go All the Way (Into the Twilight),’ featuring disconcerting kittenish crooning, ‘Everyday, everyday, everyday / We’re going all the way / Tonight! / Lightning strikes! / Let’s go into Twilight!’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Overall the tracks are a well-chosen collection accurately portraying the book and presumably the movie, which premieres Nov. 21.’ The only possible exceptions being ‘Full Moon’ by The Black Ghosts, with a catchy tempo and intriguing rural melodies ill-suited to the soundtrack’s theme, and Iron ‘amp; Wine’s ‘Flightless Bird, American Mouth,’ which feels sorely incongruous with the rest of the tracks. ‘ ‘ ‘ Regardless of how one feels about the music itself, one cannot deny the prowess of Twilight’s marketing and franchising team. ‘ ‘ ‘ The CD booklet folds out to one of four different versions of a Twilight poster, sure to enchant the target pre-teen girl audience. Promotions to ramp up excitement have included listening parties at Hot Topic stories across the country on Oct. 24 and the release of a special edition of the CD at Borders bookstore featuring an exclusive acoustic version of ‘Decode.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Devoted Twilight enthusiasts will likely purchase the movie’s soundtrack entirely irrespective of its track list, but even non-vampire fanatics will find it enjoyable.