I've meant to get the soundtrack to Jane Campion's "The Piano" for six years now. I remember liking the music when I saw the movie. A friend played the soundtrack for me back in 1993 and I remember liking it then, too. But all I can remember know is that one of the pieces featured saxophones. Since then, the disc has been one of those that I keep meaning to pick up but never remember when at that online CD store or walking through those CD markets in the malls.

I started listening to Blur in the year I spent outside Dublin. I had to-- they were played so much over there that I actually missed them upon my return to America. I'd always thought of them as a "non-band," a band that had no artistic capability whatsoever (I was in my young punk phase at that point). I don't think that anymore. In fact, I've come to believe quite the opposite.

That brings us to this paragraph. Nyman and Albarn together. This is probably the type of thing Albarn was talking about when he mentioned last month that the band had plans to do "other stuff." And what better way is there to break yourself into the minimalist film score biz than with a man who composes minimalist film scores?

But let's ask a more important question: what is Michael Nyman doing composing a soundtrack for a movie about civil war cannibals? I mean, I guess he did "The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover," which I think also had a little cannibalism in it. That must be why. I think that movie had sex in it, too. Also, I bet he couldn't pass up the opportunity to help compose pieces with titles like "He Was Licking Me," "Let's Go Kill That Bastard," and my personal favorite: "Ives Torments Boyd and Kills Knox."

I like it. From the Middle School Band arrangements of early American standards to the pieces that echo Nyman's earlier scores and Albarn's more recent tendencies with Blur, Ravenous is a highly interesting recording. I believe it's actually a legit piece of work (though I haven't heard the same about the film). It's pretty fun, especially for anyone who owns-- or at least enjoyed-- the soundtrack to Ken Burns' "Civil War" documentary. Many of the same tunes appear here, yet sound as if my sixth grade marching band was playing them. It's not all squeaks and poor intonation, though. There's a difference between a piece played by an actual sixth grade band and one performed by Nyman's ensemble mimicking one.

None of the soundtrack sounds too much like Albarn's earlier instrumentals-- "The Debt Collector," "Lot 105," "Commercial Break," "Intermission"-- I can, however, see a lineage going from this to Blur's latest album, 13. The same feel from the latter half of that album is here. Then there are parts here and there like a plucked banjo or repetitive squeeze box riff that could be from either Damon or Michael. Hard to tell.

There are also a few of the fill and cue songs usually found on soundtracks, but not many, and the ones that do show up here aren't long. Pieces of old standards (from the 1800s) pop in and out of the mix-- they're all songs you've heard but probably couldn't name. These arrangements, done by Nyman, are actually interesting interpretations of otherwise boring songs.

Damon Albarn may well have a life after Blur (whether we're already in a state of post- Blur or not is debatable at this point). In the meantime, I'm gonna go check out Nyman's back catalog. Hopefully, we'll see some more pairings like this. I hear Zach de la Rocha and Steve Reich are working on the soundtrack for "Thirsty," a period movie detailing the events that befall a group of vampires aboard the USS Maine before the Spanish American war.

-Chip Chanko