Hope Floats [Original Soundtrack] [Bonus Tracks] [Remaster] (CD - 1998)

Engineers include: Mark Miller, Bob Salcedo, Ed Cherney.

"To Make You Feel My Love" was nominated for a 1999 Grammy for Best Male Country Vocal Performance Best Country Song.

Original score composed by Dave Grusin.

Composer: Dave Grusin.

Audio Mixers: Trina Shoemaker; Ed Cherney; Mark Miller ; Rik Pekkonen; Bob Clearmountain.

Audio Remasterer: Ron McMaster.

Arrangers: Patrick Leonard; Bryan Adams.

Buy it for the superstar indulgences if you must--Mick Jagger's surprising pop-vocal turn on the Rolling Stones' cover of Jimmy Reed's "Honest I Do," or Garth Brooks' crossover-dream cover of Bob Dylan's "To Make You Feel My Love"--but realize the show will be stolen by slightly less familiar names. HOPE FLOATS uses the superstars as provocative starting points for an album that establishes a new standard of what can properly be called Americana music, connecting the Stones' British blues and Brooks' Southern pop to Gillian Welch's trad-country, Whiskeytown's electric roots-rock and even the boundless pop-vocal explorations of Lyle Lovett.

The soundtrack to Hope Floats, the Forest Whitaker romantic comedy designed as a comeback vehicle for Sandra Bullock, is an excellent collection of contemporary country and rootsy mainstream pop assembled by Don Was. Most of the record focuses on popular artists, with contributions from cult artists Gillian Welch and Jonell Mosser tossed in for good measure, but the quality of the music is so strong, it doesn't really matter. Much of the record features brand new material, whether it's originals like Deana Carter's "What Makes You Stay" and Sheryl Crow's "In Need," or covers from the Rolling Stones (Jimmy Scott's "Honest I Do"), Trisha Yearwood (Dylan's "To Make You Feel My Love"), Bob Seger and Martina McBride ("Chances Are"), and Lyle Lovett (Tony Bennett's "Smile"). There are a couple of dull moments scattered throughout the record, but overall, it's one of the finest various-artists soundtrack collections in recent memory. [The 2007 reissue includes five bonus tracks.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine minimize