Soundtrack Wrap: RZA, Eddie Vedder, Cat Stevens’ ‘Harold & Maude’ Soundtrack, 50 Cent & Deniro

– As previously reported, Eddie Vedder wrote two original songs for the documentary “Body of War” directed by former talk show host Phil Donahue and partner Ellen Spiro about a injured American veteran, twenty-six-year-old Tomas Young, returning home from the Iraq war. His original songs, “No More” and “Long Nights” will be featured on the doc’s soundtrack, Body of War: Songs That Inspired an Iraq War Veteran in March 18 (apparently a live version of the former track). Other contributors to the double-disc effort include fellow lefty pinko musicians Neil Young, Bright Eyes, Serj Tankian and Tom Morello. “Body Of War” is playing the SXSW Film Festival in March and should hit regular theaters around that time as well. [Rolling Stone]
– While you’ve been able to cobble together your own soundtrack together for years with the right albums, if you’re a completist and a vinyl fetishist, the “Harold & Maude” soundtrack (which up until this point has never been officially released) is finally being made available on LP (only) by director Cameron Crowe’s Vinyl Films record label. “Don’t Be Shy” and “If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out” were both written specifically for the film (and eventually released on the Footsteps in the Dark compilation in ‘84). LITA calls ‘H&M’, Hal Ashby’s “romantic masterpiece” and you cannot argue with that astute assertion. The carefully curated LP has been lovingly repackaged with five bonus cuts (including instrumentals), extensive interviews about the film, posters, a 36-page booklet, a limited edition 7-inch, and a multi-colored record. Yes, Crowe is a obsessive completist and a vinyl nerd. [Light In The Attic]

– You’ve probably read or seen that Robert Deniro and 50 Cent are together on the cover of the most recent issue of Vibe magazine. The duo are starring in the upcoming movie “Righteous Kill” with Al Pacino this fall (Fiddy obviously has the smaller role here) about two New York City Detectives (Pacino, Deniro) hunting a vigilante who may be one of their own. In the issue Deniro doesn’t apologize for taking on negative gangster roles, “Those characters are more exciting. People like to watch and identify with them in some ways. It’s a fantasy.” 50’s take on the same subject is somewhat convoluted: “Actors are imitating life. That exists. People who don’t actually follow the rules. So for an actor to create a project to show people what actually happens, that’s cool.”

Download: Cat Stevens – “Don’t Be Shy”
Download: Eddie Vedder – “Tuolumne”
Trailer: “Body Of War”

Watch: Cat Stevens – “I Think I See the Light” to excerpts of “Harold & Maude”