Smokin' Aces [Original Soundtrack]

Personnel: John Cale (vocals, guitar, keyboards, background vocals); Dustin Boyer (guitar, background vocals); Michael Landau, George Doering (guitar); Al Hershberger, Miran Kojian, Carolyn Osborn , Songa Lee, Barbara Porter, Rebecca Burnnell, Mari Tsumura, Sungil Lee, Patricia Johnson , Sid Page, Roberto Cani, Kirstin Fife, Peter Kent, Sarah Thornblade, Neel Hammond, Armen Anassian, Armen Garabedian, Darius Campo, Josefina Vergara (violin); Shawn Mann, Pamela Jacobson , Karen Elaine, Han Oh, Robert Becker, Janet Lakatos, Darrin McCann, Andrew Duckles (viola); Dennis Karmazyn, Jen Kuhn, James Freebarin-Smith, Larry Corbett, Stephen Erdody , Armen Ksadjikian, Steve Richards (cello); Gary Grant, Malcolm McNab (trumpet); Alex Iles, Phillip Teele, Charles Loper (trombone); Fred W. Greene (tuba); Daniel Kelley , Yvonne S. Moriarty, Richard Todd , Brad Warnaar (horns); Scott Kinsey , Randy Kerber (keyboards); Michael Jerome (drums, background vocals); Gary Novak (drums); Joseph Karnes (background vocals).
Audio Mixer: Adam Moseley.
Recording information: The Boat Studio, Silverlake, LA, CA.
Arranger: John Cale.
It's no big secret that director Joe Carnahan's gonzo crime caper Smokin' Aces was inspired by Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, but the shadow of Tarantino also hangs over the film's soundtrack, a disparate collection of hip, genre-defying adrenaline that's as redundant as it is diverse. From the dance-punk hammering of the Prodigy to the wistful Anglo-pop of John Cale, Carnahan obviously wrote much of the film around the songs, and it's an awfully good collection as far as soundtracks go. The Stooges appear with "Down on the Street" Lemmy and the gang deal out the "Ace of Spades" and even the very obscure Skull Snaps throw down with "Trespassing ," but by the time Ennio Morricone delivers the "Morte di un Soldat" from the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, it begins to feel a little derivative. ~ James Christopher Monger