Ladder 49
While films likeBack Drafthave celebrated the spectacular danger and courageous work that America's firefighters face every day, director Jay Russell's tale of a Baltimore ladder company is more interested in the character of the men that dedicate their lives to saving others. The film's character study nature has inspired a song-based soundtrack that variously evokes introspection (David Gray's"As I'm Leaving", "How to Dream" by Sam Phillips) and differences of generation (The Breeders' rollicking "Cannonball,""Twice as Hard"by Black Crowes, Tom Petty's"You and Me"and ethnicity (The Pogues'"If I Should Fall From Grace With God", composer William Ross' richly textured underscore extract), all of it grounded in a rock solid working class ethos embodied by Bonnie Raitt's"Love Sneakin' Up On You".  Of special note is Robbie Robertson's heart-on-its-sleeve ballad "Shine Your Light," the first song the Band founder and rock legend has written expressly for a motion picture. Robertson also contributes the film's moody, Celtic-tinged instrumental end title piece, "Reflections/Adagio."--Jerry McCulley