Price of Glory
(New Line)
Despite the fact that Jimmy Smits’ boxing drama got KO’d commercially, the film’s heavyweight Rock en Español soundtrack moves and punches like Roberto Duran in his prime. As was the case with 1997’s Star Maps soundtrack, Price of Glory pumps barrio beats with a vivid cinematic panache that will long outlive the film’s straight-to-cable run. An expert collection of the best past/ present Spanish-slung hip-hop & rock, this 14-round bell-ringer lands all its punches: Puya’s indigenous acoustic strut on opener “Keep It Simple” and Pastilla’s jolting Britpop explosion “Be a Star” border Razaland, where new moves from Ozomatli, King Chango, and Monterrey’s El Grand Silencio rumble with unmistakable Latin rhythm and groove. Sharing a back seat with Los Lobos’ “Cumbia Raza,” from the band’s sleeper hit of last year This Time, and vintage Mano Negra shout-out “King Kong Five,” Cypress Hill’s menacing “Jack You Back” and Control Machete’s wickedly dope “Si Señor” are a knockout left/right combo. Sequencing is fundamental, but when El Grand Silencio’s propulsive “Todo se lo Debo a Mi Manager” cuts to Mano Negra’s “King Kong Five” and then bursts into King Chango’s floor jam “Ina Boom Bam Bam,” it sounds as if Price of Glory should’ve been Raging Bull. Crowned by the Texas Tornados’ righteous romp through “Ring of Fire,” which scant liner notes credit as “produced by Texas Tornados in loving memory of Doug Sahm,” Price of Glory may not challenge Rocky as one of the all-time greats, but the soundtrack floats like a butterfly, stings like a G.
This article appears in April 28 • 2000.
