Extended Play: 'Funny People' soundtrack

In Extended Play we review CDs we couldn’t squeeze into the magazine. It’s like that last slice of pizza you just couldn’t fit in your stomach. But with no ham! Then again, as this week’s Extended Play choice is the soundtrack to the new Adam Sandler vehicle, maybe we spoke too soon about the lack of ham….

Various Artists

Funny People Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Rock (Concord Records)

Death stalks this mostly fine soundtrack to director Judd Apatow’s latest film, which is appropriate given the movie stars Adam Sandler as a comedian called George Simmons who is diagnosed with a fatal illness. The album features two tracks by the late Warren Zevon (including “Keep Me In Your Heart”, on which the cancer-stricken singer-songwriter mused about his impending lateness) and the album’s most notable track is John Lennon’s rare, acoustic, run through his posthumous hit “Watching the Wheels”. Meanwhile, Wilco weigh in with a live version of “Jesus, Etc.”, a song co-written by Jay Bennett who passed away earlier this year. Alas, Sandler’s in-character comedy number “George Simmons Will Soon Be Gone” disturbs the atmosphere of skilled melancholia by being just deadly dreadful. B —Clark Collis

DOWNLOAD THIS: “Keep Me In Your Heart”

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Photo Credit: Tracy Bennett