From rocking to soothing

Warner Music has two new releases that come from opposite ends of the music spectrum. The Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Soundtrack reads like a who’s who of the current rock music scene, while their new Sitti CD finds her in an ’80s and ’90s frame of mind, giving hits from that era her signature samba/bossa spin.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Soundtrack (Warner Music) —This is one of those compilations that either has us raving and rocking, or has us just thinking “quick fix” but just a hint of each band’s output. Look at the list of bands with tracks on this soundtrack — Linkin Park, Green Day, All American Rejects, the Fray, Staind, Hoobastank, Nickelback, Cheap Trick and Taking Back Sunday — and one really can’t ask for more in terms of quality bands and music. And the funny part is, my favorite tracks here are Cavo’s Let It Go and the funky cover of Talking Heads’ Burning Down the House by The Used. So if you hate buying CDs, of the mind that most of them have two, three good tracks, and the rest are filler, then this could be the wise buy for you.

Contagious Sitti (Warner Music) — As can be expected, there are the Jobim tracks that stamp authenticity to the samba muse that has dominated Sitti’s musical agenda, but what makes this new CD unique, are the covers that are given the Sitti treatment. Sade’s Your Love Is King, Sarah MacLachlan’s Adia, Smokey Robinson’s La La Means I Love You, Annie Lennox’s No More I Love You’s, Mike Francis’ Let Me In, One On One from Hall & Oates, a Basia medley and Culture Club’s Do You Really Want to Hurt Me. Really liked the Adia and One on One, and those work better than say, the Annie Lennox, which is a gut-wrenching tune now made too languid. But by and large, this is another feather in the cap for Sitti; smart selections, solid rearranging, and her voice and the formula still works.