Great movies are great. Great movies have great plot, great cinematography, great sound and score. But this is not about great movies. No, this is about the unnoticed soundtracks that accompany those movies, great or not. Some soundtracks are music taken directly from the movie; you know, all the orchestra stuff playing in the background. Some, like both of the Transformers soundtracks, are made of pre-recorded tracks that fit the theme of the movie somehow. Then there are some like this one, Almost Alice. This kind is made of songs written specifically from inspirations in the movie and goes practically invisible in the mainstream music industry. Let’s face it, if New Divide (Linkin Park) was soundtrack only, it wouldn’t have had nearly as much success. However, if there was ever made a soundtrack to make you believe in soundtracks, this is it.



Almost Alice Track List

1. Alice by Avril Lavigne
2. The Poison by The All-American Rejects
3. The Technicolor Phase by Owl City
4. Her Name is Alice by Shinedown
5. Painting Flowers by All Time Low
6. Where’s My Angel by Metro Station
7. Strange by Tokio Hotel feat. Kerli
8. Follow Me Down by 3OH!3 feat. Neon Hitch
9. Very Good Advice by Robert Smith
10. In Transit by Mark Hoppus feat. Pete Wentz
11. Welcome to Mystery by Plain White T’s
12. Tea Party by Kerli
13. The Lobster Quadrille by Franz Ferdinand
14. Running Out of Time by Motion City Soundtrack
15. Fell Down a Hole by Wolfmother
16. White Rabbit by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals

And now, thoughts on each of the tracks. That’s the point, right?



Track 1: Alice by Avril Lavigne
I know I said this was the soundtrack to make you believe in soundtracks. I still think that. Don’t let this song deceive you. It’s neither the punk rock nor ballad that Avril has scored with in the past. No, this may be the worst song on the album: incredibly long vocal strains, simple and redundant lyrics, and an overall lack of any punch in the song whatsoever. Hardcore Avril fans will probably like this song, but I’d advise you to simply skip this track.


Track 2: The Poison by The All-American Rejects
Much better than the first, albeit still a moderately slow song. Actually, a handful of these songs are slow, but that doesn’t make them bad. This is definitely toned down from your average AAR song, but still carries all the brilliance of the band’s normal tunes. The song carries mostly soft tones until a burst of apparent irrelevancy in the middle, and then ends in the same soft tones. It won’t be any sort of Billboard Top 40 song, but it’s a vast improvement over the one before it.

Track 3: The Technicolor Phase by Owl City
There’s a well-known phrase that suits this perfectly: “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.” Owl City has gained massive success recently with his constantly similar strains of folksy electronica mixed with semi-soft lyrics about all sorts of subjects, mostly nonsensical. This track is more of the same, playing like an upbeat Vanilla Twilight with Adam now claiming to be (surprise) various colors in the world. It’s pretty much like any other Owl City song you’ve ever heard; they aren’t very different. Just take care not to get a cavity from the sugary sweetness of the melodies.

Track 4: Her Name is Alice by Shinedown
Where the last track had no references to the film whatsoever, this one is chock full of them. The song begins and ends with vocal samples from Alice herself, which are interesting in their own right. The tune itself is definitely one of the band’s slower pieces, but has plenty of interesting lyrics and gains a bell and xylophone to beautifully compliment the percussion. Most of the charm in this song is found by listening to it a few times. It may have to grow on you a little, though, so don’t simply dismiss it after one play.

Track 5: Painting Flowers by All Time Low
From a popular alternative band, a popular-sounding alternative song. This is the kind of song that usually involves romance of some sort, the ballad-type song that girls tend to like and some guys won’t admit liking. I really believe that if they threw this song on the radio right now, people would embrace it without a clue where it came from for months. Maybe then people would start noticing what they tend to overlook.


Track 6: Where’s My Angel by Metro Station
Easily the most upbeat track yet. This has mainstream pop-rock radio written all over it, yet its placement on this album makes it attractive even to those “rebels” against mainstream music. What makes this song better than most before it is the ability to play again and again without losing value. If anybody picks up on it at all, it would fit nicely in some club sets, as it carries Metro Station’s patented dance floor beat.


Track 7: Strange by Tokio Hotel feat. Kerli
Note: the usual trend of “feat. = virtually unnoticed” also applies to this album. Yes, Kerli has her parts, but this song is run by Tokio Hotel. To compare it to their other work, it sits pretty well in the middle of Ready Set Go and Monsoon. It’s certainly nothing like their original German work, but it fits perfectly with their catalog of English music. To TH fans, this will be fantastic. To everyone else, it will be decent to good.


Track 8: Follow Me Down by 3OH!3 feat. Neon Hitch
There are basically two opinions of 3OH!3: absolutely terrible, or freaking awesome. Those opinions will likely carry over to this song. Although it attempts to bridge the gap between causes, there are many parallels between this one and their smash hit Don’t Trust Me. The one noticeable difference is that this song requires no editing. Nope, it’s free of a parental advisory sticker. This may improve some people’s opinions, but I don’t expect this song to completely change anyone’s mind.

Track 9: Very Good Advice by Robert Smith
This track will, if nothing else, throw you off completely. It sounds absolutely NOTHING like any of the ones before it. However, there’s a good reason for that: this is the only track from the original Alice in Wonderland, which makes it fifty- or sixty-something years old. While it brings the flow of the album to a grinding halt for a minute, this is still an outstanding modern rendition of a song with that kind of age on it. It can easily be described in one word – quirky. Hardcore Disney fans will love this one.

Track 10: In Transit by Mark Hoppus feat. Pete Wentz
Form a duo of rock stars and you get…something subtly impressive. David Bowie and Queen, it’s definitely not, but that’s not a fair comparison of anything. This is a guitar-driven tune, as expected, and has a sound unique to itself. I’m not sure how, since there’s nothing truly definitive about it, but it’s also nothing like the music the artists’ regular bands produce.


Track 11: Welcome to Mystery by Plain White T’s
This song is a definition of what I like to call a dark carnival song: written in ¾ time, acoustic and slightly eerie melodies, and semi-soft and dark vocals. It’s good to know that this band is capable of producing something brilliant that isn’t Hey There Delilah or 1, 2, 3, 4. Not that they’re brilliant, but popularity counts for something. On that count, I am sad, because this song will most likely never get half the chance those two songs had. It’s just as good if not better than both of them.

Track 12: Tea Party by Kerli
A cutesy flue and xylophone intro, and suddenly… dance music. Watch your bass, because this song is certainly capable of testing your stereo. This song maintains amazing relevancy to its title without being cheesy or terrible. No, this track is outstanding. It even finds a way to insert the classic teapot rhyme without missing a beat. I would not be surprised in the least to find remixes of this song springing up randomly across the internet.


Track 13: The Lobster Quadrille by Franz Ferdinand
This song actually takes you directly to its identical scene in the movie when you listen to it. The vocals are definitely deeper than normal work, but they work beautifully alongside the swing beat and the orchestra-style backing of the song. This is the shortest track on the album (on many albums, for that matter) at two minutes and nine seconds, but it’s a good two minutes and nine seconds.


Track 14: Running Out of Time by Motion City Soundtrack
This track clocks in at the level of decency that’s just below airing on the radio. Not to say it wouldn’t enjoy moderate success, but it certainly won’t be a hit any time soon. There’s nothing truly defining or outstanding about this track, and I doubt anybody would notice if it were dropped from the album, but it’s still a decent track in its own right.


Track 15: Fell Down a Hole by Wolfmother
Another one of those songs that fits in perfectly with everything the band has done before. The vocals, the guitars, the tempo – everything about this song screams Wolfmother. It even comes completely with a half-hollow toned guitar solo in the middle. This song, in contrast to the one two before it, is fairly long. While it can seem stretched at times, this eventually plays out well in favor of the tune. Wolfmother fans, rejoice and listen. Everyone else, listen and rejoice if you feel the need to. Some will.

Track 16: White Rabbit by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
Besides a few similarities between some of the Blue Man Group’s work, this song sounds like nothing I’ve heard before. That is definitely a good thing. I have no references to compare this song to; it sets its own standards. Rather, this song will be used as a base for other comparisons. For something I’ve never heard of before now, this is pretty darn good. Do not let ANYTHING about this track cause you not to listen, you’ll be missing out terribly.

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Other versions of the soundtrack exclusive to iTunes or Hot Topic have a few bonus tracks, but these 16 tracks will be on any copy in existence. Honestly, you shouldn’t need any bonus tracks as persuasion here; the lineup already present should make this an auto-buy. If you still don’t believe in soundtracks after listening to this, then I give up on you. I honestly believe that over half of this album would generate massive success if aired regularly on the airwaves. Sadly, with the music world in its current state of affairs, this isn’t likely to happen, so hopefully I have been able to convince you to give this album a shot. If I haven’t said it enough, I’ll say it one last time: this album, sans track one, is amazing.