Released: 1994
Tracks: Hound Dog (Elvis Presley); Rebel Rouser (Duane Eddy); (I Don’t Know Why) But I Do (Clarence “Frogman” Henry); Walk Right In (The Rooftop Singers); Land of 1000 Dances (Wilson Pickett); Blowin’ in the Wind (Joan Baez); Fortunate Son (Creedence Clearwater Revival); I Can’t Help Myself (The Four Tops); Respect (Aretha Franklin); Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 (Bob Dylan); Sloop John B (The Beach Boys); California Dreamin’ (The Mamas and the Papas); For What it’s Worth (Buffalo Springfield); What the World Needs Now is Love (Jackie DeShannon); Break on Through (The Doors); Mrs. Robinson (Simon & Garfunkel); Volunteers (Jefferson Airplane); Let’s Get Together (The Youngbloods); San Francisco (Scott McKenzie); Turn! Turn! Turn! (The Byrds); Medley: Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In (The 5th Dimension); Everybody’s Talkin’ (Harry Nilsson); Joy to the World (Three Dog Night); Stoned Love (The Supremes): Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head (B. J. Thomas); Mr. President (Randy Newman); Sweet Home Alabama (Lynyrd Skynyrd): It Keeps You Runnin’ (The Doobie Brothers); I’ve Got to Use My Imagination (Gladys Knight & the Pips); On the Road Again (Willie Nelson); Against the Wind (Bob Seger); Forrest Gump Suite (Alan Silvestri)
Best track: On the Road Again, maybe Respect or Mrs. Robinson
Tracks to skip: Rebel Rouser, I Don’t Know Why But I Do, Walk Right In, Sloop John B, California Dreamin’, What the World Needs Now, Let’s Get Together, San Francisco, Aquarius, Stoned Love, Mr. President, Sweet Home Alabama, It Keeps You Runnin’, I’ve Got to Use My Imagination, Against the Wind & the Forrest Gump Suite (which is pleasant enough, but definitely doesn’t fit)
This one is a bit of a different animal for me to review. Without the movie, these songs are just a collection of unrelated tunes. I think the 60’s tunes are a good sampling of what “the 60’s” sounded like (well, except for the Beatles, and Stones, and the Who, and Hendrix, and Cream…oh, so not really). Actually, I think it’s how maybe the soundtrack compilers and film makers want modern audiences to remember the 60’s. The 70’s songs on the other hand, aren’t really any definitive statement. Anyway, that’s not the point of this. The whole point of a review is: is it a good album? Honestly, I don’t care for most of disc 2, which starts with Volunteers (a song I like). I think a lot of these songs work better in context of the movie and in short snippets, as opposed to the full things presented here.
The songs I really like on here are, to my ears at least, the ones that still hold up 30-40 years later. Stuff like: Fortunate Son, Respect, For What It’s Worth, Break on Through, Mrs. Robinson, Volunteers, On the Road Again, etc. This could easily be condensed down to a single disc for the soundtrack, but then that would disappoint the audiences. Forrest Gump was a long movie and it had a TON of music in it. So many pop songs. Actually, I bet they could release 3CDs worth of songs from the movie as I know there are a lot that aren’t featured here. I think when I saw the movie, and around that time, I liked listening to this, but now it’s only for selected songs. All the songs listed above as skippers are ones I really don’t care too much about. I like the protest songs, but I really can’t get into the Hippy Propaganda songs like California Dreamin’, What the World Needs Now, Let’s Get Together, San Francisco (gag me) and Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In. Have you ever listened to the words of Aquarius? HILARIOUS! So incredibly silly.
Every time I’ve listened to this album since I bought it, I keep getting reminded of the commercials that all these songs appear on. Every song, another commercial. I think I remember both Fortunate Son & Volunteers being used to sell blue jeans. That’s so ridiculous! What the hell did these songs used to stand for? It surely wasn’t freaking BLUE JEANS and stupid commercialism. Ugh! Anyway, that’s just the purist in me coming out. I think the Forrest Gump soundtrack was an interesting thing when it first came out, but it’s not something I would recommend today. Most of the songs I skip or they just don’t do anything for me.
Rating: 74
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