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An all star cast featuring Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, James Garner, and James Cromwell is best paired with an equally prominent artist list on the Space Cowboys soundtrack.  The film blasted into theatres midway through last year and now can be found on video.

The album's unique twist is that it combines the genres of country and jazz, offering tracks from veteran voices, as well as new gems representing each style.  On the country side, there's Willie Nelson and Chad Brock to top the list, while the jazz artists Joshua Redman, Maceo Parker, and Fred Wesley also stand out.  

The top country tune on the disc is Brock's take on The Eagles' "Take it to the Limit."  He slows down the track, giving it a more reflective tone, while making sure to capture the original spirit of the track. Other covers include Willie Nelson's take on Paul Simon's "Still Crazy After All These Years."  The Farm Aid co-founder puts a unique twist on the tune giving it a southern, yet smooth (or at least as smooth as Nelson can sound) type feel.  "Still Crazy After All These Years" appears later on the album as an instrumental arrangement by the Brad Mehldau Trio.  Other highlights include the instrumental remake of Neil Young's "Old Man," (also by Mehldau), "I Only Have Eyes For You," by the country newcomer Mandy Barnett, and the disc's inevitable closing track "Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words)" by Frank Sinatra and Count Basie.     

The genre switching works to this disc's advantage, making sure the tone is always fresh and representing different scenes in the film.  Probably the biggest highlight is to hear such a generous amount of classics from the past being translated into new arrangements within different genres of their original recordings.  

Andy Argyrakis 4/21/2001