''Homeboy – Original Score Performed by Eric Clapton'' is a

soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' ...

recorded by the British

Rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...

ian

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

and features a total of eighteen songs which were mostly composed by Clapton especially for the 1988

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

sports drama '' Homeboy'' starring Mickey Rourke,

Christopher Walken Christopher Walken (born Ronald Walken; March 31, 1943) is an American actor. Prolific in film, television and on stage, Walken is the recipient of numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Awar ...

and

Debra Feuer Debra Lee Feuer is an American former actress. She starred in the films ''Moment by Moment'', ''The Hollywood Knights'', '' To Live and Die in L.A.'', '' MacGruder and Loud'', '' Il burbero'', and '' Homeboy''; the latter in which she starred with ...

. The album was produced and supervised by Fraser Kennedy.

Artwork and release

The

album cover An album cover (also referred to as album art) is the front packaging art of a commercially released studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to either the printed paperboard covers typically used to package sets of and 78-r ...

shows leading actor in the movie Mickey Rourke in a boxing gym wearing his equipment looking directly into the camera. The background behind and aside the photograph is dark blue and has writing concerning the album title, main actors and performers of the soundtrack on it. The

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese album cover, features a different photograph on the front cover as well as a second picture, showing Clapton alongside Rourke. The soundtrack was originally released under

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

in September 1988 in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

and for the rest of the world – notably

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

– in November later the same year. In 1988 and 1989, the soundtrack album was released on music cassette, compact disc and grammophone record formats by Virgin Records throughout the world and was in 2004 re-released the first time on compact disc format only. In 2009, the soundtrack album was re-released again by Virgin Records as the release was requested by more and more fans around the world.

Reception

As the release history shows, the album gained the highest sales figures in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, the United Kingdom, the United States and Japan. Although it is unknown if the soundtrack album did reach any national charts, it had sold more than 100,000 copies in Italy and also gained a Gold record in the United States by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA), selling more than 500,000 copies in the country and more than 600,000 worldwide. Music journalists form the film website ''DVD Legion'' think the release " stands out" and notes that Clapton played emotional Blues as well as Pop and Rock music or the release. ''

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

'' critic William Ruhlmann awards the soundtrack three out of five possible stars, giving it an average soundtrack album rating, reviewing:

Track listing

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Homeboy 1988 soundtrack albums Blues soundtracks Eric Clapton soundtracks Sports film soundtracks Pop rock soundtracks Virgin Records soundtracks Single-artist film soundtracks