LA VIE EN ROSE (EMI Classics, $18.98 SRP)
Legendary French torch singer Edith Piaf comes to tragic life in this beautifully remastered collection of The Sparrow’s hits, making up the soundtrack to Olivier Dahan’s biopic. While the eleven tracks here are by no means comprehensive, songs like “L’Hymne à L’Amour (The Hymn of Love),” “Rien de Rien (Nothing of Nothing)” and “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien (No, I Do Not Regret Anything)” very fairly represent this Gallic Garland’s style and flair, with the occasional comic accent breaking up the epic gloom. (It is an énigme des âges why only the English version of “La Vie En Rose” is included here.) The value of this disc to the soundtrack collector is threefold, as Christopher Gunning’s suitably lush and moody orchestral score is included, too, with four Piaf interpretations (three of them by gifted mimic Jil Aigrot) added to the mix, as well. An essential disc for the cultured film fan. –Elizabeth Meyer

La Vie En Rose opens at the Ciné Art at Showcase North on Friday, July 20th.

STRANGE WEIRDOS: MUSIC FROM AND INSPIRED BY THE FILM ‘KNOCKED UP’ (Loudon Wainwright III • Concord Records • $18.98 SRP)
Writer-director Judd Apatow has long been a fan of New York folkie Loudon Wainwright III (father of musicians Rufus and Martha), but it was not until now that he had a real chance to let him showcase the full breadth of his musical talents. This sort-of soundtrack to Knocked Up features Wainwright material that was in process before the film was, as well as songs that were presented as just straight score in the movie but given lyrics for the album. The result is a fantastic collection of new Wainwright music, his best in 15 years. His variety of musical styles, from folk to blues to rock, make the disc an easy choice for many, especially since his caustic, sometimes alienating edge is not in full effect here. This is Wainwright the grown-up, whose 60 years of life experience have made him more wise, not more soft. He communicates the laid-back joys of parenthood in “X or Y,” cutting through the stress of it all by spinning the “as long as it’s healthy” vibe, and in the catchy “Daughter,” which plays under the film’s credit roll, boasts, “That’s my daughter in the water/Everything she knows, I taught her.” This is a standalone album apart from the film, and without a wasted track in the mix, is one for any folk fan’s permanent library. –Elizabeth Meyer

The ten musical jabs at Wal-Mart collected on the official site of Wal-Mart: The High Cost Of Low Price may not be an actual soundtrack to the documentary that is so critical of the big-box giant, but every track is forged in the activist spirit, intended to raise awareness about the locust-like national blight. Spartan rapper MC Lars’s “Wal-Mart Nation” is the catchiest of the bunch, casting barbs like, “Veggie Tales on DVD won’t prevent teen pregnancy,” with nimble folkie David Rovics spinning some thoughtful rhymes such as, “Where ‘miserable’ has become a noun — Wal-Mart is coming to town,” on “Wal-Mart.” Click the graphic on the right to download any or all of the 10 tracks for free. –Robert Newton

As morbid as listening to music by the Peoples Temple Choir might be, considering that most of them drank the Kool-Aid and died in Guyana in 1978, they did leave behind some very listenable gospel music. New York City public radio station WFMU has collected a dozen of their tunes, and posted them on their blog site. While they do not provide cover artwork for this creepy collection of uplifting tunes, we suggest you plug the December 4, 1978 cover of Time Magazine into your iTunes (click image for a larger version), lest we forget that Jones, for all his good intentions and lives touched, was still just the leader of a “Cult of Death.” The documentary Jonestown: The Life And Death Of Peoples Temple is available on DVD this week. –Robert Newton