Various Artists – The Apostle: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture

Description

The Apostle: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture is an original motion picture multi-artist soundtrack released on Rising Tide in February 1998, a Universal Music Company. Also released by Sparrow Records. The soundtrack was produced by Peter Afterman, John Huie and Ken Levitan.

The Apostle is a 1997 American independent Southern Gothic drama film written and directed by Robert Duvall, who stars in the title role. John Beasley, Farrah Fawcett, Walton Goggins, Billy Bob Thornton, June Carter Cash, Miranda Richardson, and Billy Joe Shaver also appear. The film was first screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 1997. The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. For his performance, Duvall was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. The film won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Film for 1997.

The score for The Apostle was scored by David Mansfield of The Alpha Band fame. Three songs, by country music artists Lyle Lovett, Patty Loveless, and contemporary Christian artist Steven Curtis Chapman, were recorded especially for the film. The song “There Ain’t No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down” was composed by Brother Claude Ely. The soundtrack won the 1998 Grammy Award for Best Southern, Country, or Bluegrass Gospel Album. The songs, “I Will Not Go Quietly” by Chapman, “Two Coats” by Loveless and “I’m a Soldier in the Army of the Lord” by Lovett were released on a soundtrack album that was supplemented with more exclusive songs “inspired by” (but not included in) the film.

Wow! With all the hype surrounding this film I went to the cinema and listened to the CD expecting at last to find a Hollywood feature film which honestly portrays Christian faith and a soundtrack packed with your favourite CCM artists. In reality The Apostle isn’t quite either of those things but it’s close! Darned close! The musical mood of the film is in fact rootsy with bits of country, a slither of Southern gospel, a touch of CCM and a few goats masquerading as sheep! If you haven’t had the chance to see the film, it stars the wonderful Robert Duval in the title role as Sonny, an itinerant preacher whose wife (Farrah Fawcett) stays at home but plays away with the youth pastor. She then manipulates a church vote so that not only does he lose his wife and kids but his church too. He struggles with this (and who wouldn’t!) and for one moment loses it! The consequences of his action mean that he is forced to go on the run, ending up in small town America knowing he has sinned and yet receiving the grace of God and determination to build a church in the town. There are moments when we see his realistic battle with sin, there are moments when we see him shouting at God in frustration trying to find his will and there are moments when frankly he looks a bit of a fruitcase but then maybe this is deemed an accurate portrayal of a preacher in the southern states. I worry that it might be all too accurate! I won’t spoil it by giving too much else away in the way of plot except to say that overall you get the sense of this being a man who passionately believes in God and is struggling to minister in the midst of struggles with his own flesh. (And aren’t we all?)

Listening to the soundtrack, it’s funny how many of these songs floated past me in the cinema and I never noticed! So the highlights? Well, Steven Curtis Chapman sets things in motion with the moody «I Will Not Go Quietly» and it holds no surprises; the Russ Taff classic «Ain’t No Grave» still sounds pretty good and sits prettily with the rest of the rootsy vibe. Prize goat is Lyle Lovett whose «I’m A Soldier In the Army Of The Lord» closes the film but then I’m left thinking Russ Taff could have had a decent crack at this! There are some nice gospelly bits from the Gaither Vocal Band’s «There Is A River» which has a prominent place in the film and Sounds Of Blackness gives us some traditional gospel. Elsewhere in the country section, Emmylou Harris duets with Duval himself. The Carter Family do their country gospel thing and Gary Chapman and Wynona Judd do a stomping «I’ll Fly Away». But the one that sent shivers down my spine was Lari White’s «There Is Power In The Blood» which reminded me of those intense vocals Ashley Cleveland used to pull out! If you like the rootsy thang, there’s plenty here to enjoy but nothing that really makes you leap up and down and shout Glory! [Mike Rimmer, Cross Rhythms, August 1998]

Like the film itself, the soundtrack to Robert Duvall’s The Apostle is a carefully crafted, subtly brilliant collection of contemporary country and gospel. Only three songs were actually used in the film, but all three – Steven Curtis Chapman’s «I Will Not Go Quietly», Patty Loveless’ «Two Coats», Lyle Lovett’s «I’m a Soldier in the Army of the Lord» – are excellent, fitting the theme of the film itself. More impressively, the remainder of the songs aren’t simply commercial shills – they offer an excellent overview of gospel, particularly country gospel, music. Traditional gospel tunes like «Softly and Tenderly» and «There Is Power in the Blood» are performed by contemporary acts like Rebecca Lynn Howard and Lari White, respectively, and there are great contributions from Johnny Cash, Russ Taff, Bill Gaither, and the Carter Family, among others. The result is a spellbinding album and one of the rare soundtracks that stands on its own merits. [Thom Owens, AMG]

> Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/album/1V1WSSZJPG8hf3JqLdtfFz)

CD tracklist:

01. Steven Curtis Chapman – I Will Not Go Quietly – 3:46
02. Patty Loveless – Two Coats – 3:21
03. Lyle Lovett – I’m A Soldier In The Army Of The Lord – 3:29
04. Rebecca Lynn Howard – Softly & Tenderly – 3:05
05. Gaither Vocal Band – There Is A River – 4:24
06. Johnny Cash – In The Garden – 3:16
07. Emmylou Harris & Robert Duvall – I Love To Tell The Story – 3:45
08. The Carter Family – Waitin’ On The Far Side Banks Of Jordan – 3:15
09. Sounds Of Blackness – Victory Is Mine – 3:32
10. Lari White – There Is Power In The Blood – 5:19
11. Russ Taff – There Ain’t No Grave (Gonna Hold My Body Down) – 4:54
12. Gary Chapmann & Wynonna – I’ll Fly Away – 3:47
13. Dino Kartsonakis – Softly & Tenderly (Reprise) – 4:37

Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by Rising Tide.

---