''Hail, Caesar! (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)'' is the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

to the 2016 film ''

Hail, Caesar! ''Hail, Caesar!'' is a 2016 black comedy mystery film written, produced, edited, and directed by the brothers Joel and Ethan Coen. An American-British co-production, the film stars Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Ralph Fiennes, Jo ...

'' directed by

Joel and Ethan Coen Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, together known as the Coen brothers (), are an American filmmaking duo. Their films span many genres and styles, which they frequently subvert or parody. Among their most acclaimed works are '' Blood Simple'' (198 ...

. The album features an original score composed by

Carter Burwell Carter Benedict Burwell (born November 18, 1954) is an American film composer. He has frequently collaborated with the Coen brothers, having scored most of their films. He has also scored films by other directors such as Bill Condon, Todd Haynes ...

and musical numbers. The soundtrack was released through

Back Lot Music The human back, also called the dorsum (: dorsa), is the large posterior area of the human body, rising from the top of the buttocks to the back of the neck. It is the surface of the body opposite from the chest and the abdomen. The vertebral c ...

on February 5, 2016.

Development

''Hail, Caesar!'' features a

film-within-a-film A story within a story, also referred to as an embedded narrative, is a literary device in which a character within a story becomes the narrator of a second story (within the first one). Multiple layers of stories within stories are sometimes ...

narrative of multiple films from various genres as the film's story takes place in a Hollywood backlot and featured various musical sequences, including a

tap dance Tap dance (or tap) is a form of dance that uses the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion; it is often accompanied by music. Tap dancing can also be performed with no musical accompaniment; the sound of the taps is its ow ...

number. According to Burwell, "the themes that I'm writing for the movie have to relate to the themes of the movies within the movie" and tying all those themes to become the music of a single film, was a challenge. Scoring all the films had led Burwell researched a lot regarding the musical structure and narrative. He studied

Miklós Rózsa Miklós Rózsa (; April 18, 1907 – July 27, 1995) was a Hungarian-American composer trained in Germany (1925–1931) and active in France (1931–1935), the United Kingdom (1935–1940), and the United States (1940–1995), with extensi ...

's scores for ''Quo Vadis'' (1951) and ''Ben-Hur'' (1959), who felt that he invented his idea of music around the time of

common era Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the ...

. The approach for his score needed to have a recurring melody that appear in different guises in the films that threads the storylines even though it appeared in individual subplots of the film. The score was recorded in multiple phases in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Henry Krieger Henry Krieger (born February 9, 1945) is an American musical theatre composer. He most notably wrote the music for the Broadway shows ''Dreamgirls'' (1981, with lyrics and book by Tom Eyen), '' The Tap Dance Kid'' (1983), and '' Side Show'' (199 ...

and

Willie Reale Willie Reale is an American lyricist who has received Academy Award nominations for best song category for his work as a lyricist on the movie ''Dreamgirls'' and has won 3 Emmy awards (in 2010, 2011) as one of the writer/producers for ''The Electri ...

wrote the original song "No Dames" performed by

Channing Tatum Channing Matthew Tatum (born April 26, 1980) is an American actor and producer. He made his film debut in the drama ''Coach Carter'' (2005), and had his Breakthrough role, breakthrough with the sports comedy film ''She's the Man'' (2006) and t ...

Release

, the in-house label of

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

, announced the soundtrack in December 2015. The album featured 26 tracks, that included musical numbers and was released day-and-date with the film on February 5, 2016 on digital download and physical formats. Mondo released the vinyl edition of the album on May 6, 2016.

Reception

Peter Suderman of '' Vox'' wrote that Burwell "gives ''Hail, Caesar!'' a vibe that is both contemplative and ironic". Dan Jolin of ''

Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

'' also complimented Burwell's contribution to the film as one of an "astonishing technical achievement". Charlotte O'Sullivan of ''

Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...

'' stated that "Carter Burwell pushes the envelope with a cracking show tune as well as a typically soulful, bluegrass dirge." Ryan Lambie of ''

Den of Geek ''Den of Geek'' is a UK and US-based website covering entertainment with a focus on pop culture. The website also issues a biannual magazine. History ''Den of Geek'' was founded in 2007 by Simon Brew in London. In 2012, DoG Tech LLC licensed ' ...

'' wrote "Carter Burwell’s music has a similarly widescreen quality which runs amusingly counter to the movie’s slapstick cynicism". Jake Cole of Slant Magazine described it as "alternately epic and jazzy score".

Track listing

Accolades

References

{{authority control 2016 soundtrack albums Carter Burwell soundtracks Back Lot Music soundtracks