I’m going to go out on a limb and say that there are at least a handful of people who have never heard of the movie Stealing Beauty, nor have heard of Liv Tyler, let alone the meticulous curation of music on this soundtrack. So I feel like it’s my duty to share what I think has to be one of the most underrated album soundtracks of all time. How underrated? Well, for starters it has the only Liz Phair song that I actually like. But mostly because every song on it is good. And that is something that doesn’t happen every day.
The movie, which came out in 1996, is good on its own merit, or at least I think it is. I haven’t seen it again since I originally saw it in maybe ’97. But from what I can remember, it was pretty awesome. It’s your classic coming-of-age story of a young girl who loses her mother to suicide, and to mourn, she travels to Italy to spend time with family. She ultimately finds herself and the true meaning of life. It stars two of my favorite actors at the time, Liv Tyler and Jeremy Irons. But the real star of this movie was the music. There are too many good songs to go into individually. But my favorites are: “If 6 Was 9” by Axion Funk featuring Bootsy Collins, “2 Wicky” by Hooverphonic, “Glory Box” by Portishead, and my all time favorite “My Baby Just Cares for Me” by Nina Simone. The soundtrack also features songs by Billie Holiday, John Lee Hooker, Stevie Wonder, Mazzy Star, Cocteau Twins, and more. So do yourself a favor, download this album, and watch this movie, but mostly download this album because every thing about it is good—maybe even magical.
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