Soundtrack to a 1997 film that tells the story of a group of British coal miners who face an end to their livelihood when it appears their mine is going to be shut down. Some of the miners play in the colliery brass band and, to keep their mind off their miserable situation, they focus on music, specifically, traveling to the national brass band competition at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Ewan McGregor stars in one of his early roles. For the most part, the soundtrack is performances by the colliery band, but there are snippets of original orchestral movie score interspersed throughout the disc. That leads to annoying sequencing.
Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart
Tracks: The original score is quickly forgettable, but those tracks are mercifully brief. Of the brass band tunes (performed by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band), the highlights are Death And Glory, March Of The Cobblers, Cross Of Honour, Florentiner March, and the gorgeous Percy Grainger setting of Danny Boy (Londonderry Air). Along with the original score tracks, I'll skip Floral Dance and Clog Dance. There's also an interesting arrangement of Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez with a solo flügelhorn replacing the guitar, but I can't decide if I like that track or not.
Personal Memory Associated with this CD: When I was teaching band around the time of this release, I would sometimes have this CD playing on the band hall stereo for my students between classes. I knew they wouldn't hear this type of music if I didn't expose them to it. That sound system had some 3' Klipsch speakers and could put out some amazing sound.
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