Brassed Off!: Original Soundtrack From The Miramax Motion Picture
Brassed Offcovers some of the same subject matter as the more popularThe Full Monty, released a year later in 1997, but the soundtracks are polar opposites.Brassed Offtells the story of a group of Yorkshire coal miners who face an end to their livelihood when it appears their mine is going to be shut down. To keep some semblance of normalcy in their lives, the miners play in the colliery band, and these performances make up the bulk of the soundtrack, a mix of traditional brass-band music, transcriptions (Rodrigo'sConcierto de Aranjuezwith a solo flügelhorn replacing the guitar), and orchestral selections. Alternately rousing and touching, the soundtrack is all the more poignant because the music is played by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, a real-life ensemble that struggled to survive when its mine was closed.--David Horiuchi