A love letter to Rock 'n' Roll

"Almost Famous" is the latest offering from Cameron Crowe, the Oscar-nominated director of "Jerry Maguire". Crowe collaborates with his long-time music soundtrack partner, Danny Bramson, with whom he worked on "Say Anything" (1989), "Singles" (1992) and of course "Jerry Maguire" (1996).

Cameron Crowe was 15 when he began his career as a writer for Rolling Stone magazine. Nearly 30 years later he tells the tale in satisfying and extensive detail of the coming of age of a young rock critic William, superbly played by Patrick Furgit. Crowe manages to effectively capture the progressive rock, vintage clothing and backstage commotion of the 70s, and shows us what it was like to be young, with a whole new world opening up before us. “Sure there was music, but there was also a whole lot more.”

The inspiration of the movie is music. The soundtrack accurately reflects the young critic’s trial by fire. Led Zeppelin have never before licensed a performance to a soundtrack, so “That’s the Way” earns respect. Robert Plant and Jimmy Page were apparently so moved by the film that they also gave their blessing for Crowe to use four other songs in the movie: “The Rain Song”, “Misty Mountain Hop”, “Tangerine" and “Bron-Yr_Aur”.

Actors Billy Crudup and Jason Lee, and musicians Mark Kozelek and John Fedevich were enrolled to portray the ficticious band “Stillwater”. Crowe admits: “Going into the film, my biggest fear was that they would look like a movie band, but I think they captured the feeling of a real band in that era. They looked and sounded like a genuine journeyman American band trying to make it to the next level.”

The movie and the soundtrack are essentially a love letter by Crowe back to the music that had such a profound effect on him in his early days. Not only does it portray a hazy golden era, but gives a sense of timelessness to the music and immortalises Rock 'n' Roll.

Crowe has included some of the most influential artists of the day, including Led Zeppelin, The Who, Elton John, Black Sabbath, Joni Mitchell, Yes, Simon & Garfunkel and The Allman Brothers. He also collaborated closely with his wife, composer Nancy Wilson of Heart, as well as music supervisor, Danny Bramson, to bring us a brilliant and eclectic collection of tracks that you will grow to love.

Several of the songs sung by “Stillwater” in the movie were a collective effort by Crowe and Wilson, such as “Fever Dog” and “Love Thing”. Peter Frampton also contributed by co-writing the songs “Hour of Need” and “You Had to Be There”.

In "Jerry MacGuire", Crowe managed to salvage from obscurity the bittersweet ballad “Secret Garden” by Bruce Springsteen. Here he does the same for the achingly tender “Tiny Dancer” by Elton John.

The movie itself boasts more than 50 tunes, but the songs on the soundtrack have been carefully culled, mixing soul, pop and rock into a brilliant pastiche of the era.