Sunday, February 20, 2005
Sheet Music
The Stranger details how Craig Thompson's graphic novel Blankets now has a soundtrack:
Sure, there are compilation albums to complement nonfiction titles, but Blankets , the latest CD from Portland ensemble Tracker , is a more ambitious undertaking. It is, to quote its striking, Tiffany-blue sleeve, a set of "recordings for the illustrated novel Blankets by Craig Thompson"...
The musical incarnation of Blankets was born from mutual admiration. Askew loved Thompson's first graphic novel, Good-bye, Chunky Rice , and befriended its publishers. So it came to pass that Thompson, who also resides in Portland, was introduced to Tracker's music on the highway to San Francisco. "That's such an amazing drive, through the mountains and then descending into sunny California," recalls Thompson. "And we were spacing out to the first couple Tracker albums, Polk (2002) and Ames (2001). It's great road-trip music, and that was when the idea was planted."
The literary soundtrack is an intriguing idea, and "match the author with their appropriate band" makes for a fine parlor game. But it's probably a good thing that Tracker and Thompson became friends first: when Camel recorded their similarly inspired 1975 instrumental album The Snow Goose, author Paul Gallico returned the compliment by siccing his lawyers on them.
Sure, there are compilation albums to complement nonfiction titles, but Blankets , the latest CD from Portland ensemble Tracker , is a more ambitious undertaking. It is, to quote its striking, Tiffany-blue sleeve, a set of "recordings for the illustrated novel Blankets by Craig Thompson"...
The musical incarnation of Blankets was born from mutual admiration. Askew loved Thompson's first graphic novel, Good-bye, Chunky Rice , and befriended its publishers. So it came to pass that Thompson, who also resides in Portland, was introduced to Tracker's music on the highway to San Francisco. "That's such an amazing drive, through the mountains and then descending into sunny California," recalls Thompson. "And we were spacing out to the first couple Tracker albums, Polk (2002) and Ames (2001). It's great road-trip music, and that was when the idea was planted."
The literary soundtrack is an intriguing idea, and "match the author with their appropriate band" makes for a fine parlor game. But it's probably a good thing that Tracker and Thompson became friends first: when Camel recorded their similarly inspired 1975 instrumental album The Snow Goose, author Paul Gallico returned the compliment by siccing his lawyers on them.
