NEW YORK, NY. (Top40 Charts/ Columbia Records) - Canvasback/ Columbia Records/ Sony
Music Soundtrax will release a deluxe CD/DVD combination collector's edition of
Music From the Motion Picture 'Once' on Tuesday, December 4.
The newly expanded edition of Music From the Motion Picture 'Once' includes a CD featuring the original soundtrack album in its entirety as well as two previously unreleased tracks: "And the Healing Has Begun," performed by Glen Hansard, and "Into The Mystic," performed by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova.
The deluxe version of Music From the Motion Picture 'Once' also premieres a DVD of live performances of songs from the film including "Falling Slowly" and "Into The Mystic" (Live from the Old Town School of Folk Music) as well as "Lies," "When Your Mind's Made Up," and "If You Want Me" (from the KCRW sessions). The DVD includes revelatory interviews with the film's principal performers Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova.
Beginning in November, Hansard and Irglova will embark on an extensive North American concert tour. Among the most highly-anticipated live events of 2007, the Glen Hansard-Marketa Irglova concert tour will feature Martha Wainright as the opening act on all US dates (see full itinerary following).
One of the most universally acclaimed motion pictures of recent years, "Once," a Fox Searchlight Pictures release, took home the World Cinema Audience Award for Best Dramatic Film at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and the 2007 Audience Award at the 5th Jameson Dublin International Film Festival. Fox Searchlight Pictures is slated to release "Once" on DVD on Tuesday, December 18.
Both audiences and critics at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival raved about "Once." "It may well be the best music film of our generation," observed Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune. "The best of the best at Sundance. A gift of a movie that is absolutely worth seeing more than once," wrote Rolling Stone's Peter Travers. A.O. Scott, of The New York Times, called it, "One of the genuine discoveries of this year's Sundance Film Festival ... close to perfect."
Critical and popular acclaim for the film, its stars, and its music continued to amass following a limited US opening of "Once" in New York and Los Angeles in May 2007:
"...some of the most appealing, moving and rousing musical numbers heard in independent films...the unequivocal highlight is the collection of songs, which range from lilting to haunting." - USA Today
"Thanks to [Hansard's] soulful wail, cuts like the excellent 'Trying to Pull Myself Away' and 'Leave' have a solid roots-rock magnetism." - Rolling Stone
"Hansard, a member of the Irish group The Frames, wrote the movie's songs, and they are softly gorgeous odes to troubled hearts..." - Entertainment Weekly
"...the music is so rich and completely satisfying..." - LA Times
"[Hansard's] a powerhouse - his voice can be raw and clear, impassioned and imperfect. But it always feels like you're listening to a true, heartfelt expression of who he is." - Associated Press
"pitch-perfect rock love story" - The Wall Street Journal
"...writer-director John Carney does something both profound and unexpected: He reinvents the movie musical as a genre of swooning rock 'n' roll realism...it rocks the soul." - The Boston Globe
"Hansard is undoubtedly a charismatic, compelling screen presence, and he has a ferocious way with a song's dynamics." - The Washington Post
"This is a very little film with a very large heart." - The San Francisco Chronicle
"'Once' will reinforce your belief in the power of melody and harmony to heal one's inner wounds... really, truly, deeply - one of the year's best so far." - Newsday
"The most naturalistic and believable romantic musical you may ever see and hear." - Detroit Free Press
When conceptualizing "Once," the film's writer/director John Carney wanted to create " ... a simple, classic story of two artists falling in love." Carney had been a musician himself - playing bass guitar with the Dublin band The Frames in the early 1990s - before devoting himself to film. As a fan of classic movie musicals, Carney brings a new relevance and believability to the genre in "Once," an Irish alternative-folk musical. He set "Once" in his native Dublin, casting his former Frames bandmate Glen Hansard (who'd appeared in Alan Parker's "The Commitments") as an itinerant busker/songwriter/guitarist and Marketa Irglova - a musician from the Czech Republic (who collaborated with Hansard on his 2006 solo album, "The Swell Season") - as an immigrant pianist. With the film's scenes taking place where music would naturally occur - a piano shop, a recording studio, a room with a guitar, a busking spot - the songs in "Once" are all performed on camera, arising as organic elements in the storyline.
In the film, the Guy (Hansard) works part-time helping his father, who runs a small, vacuum cleaner repair business, but dreams of having his songs recorded and landing a record deal. His girlfriend has recently left him and gone to London, and he is still coming to grips with that loss and is emotionally vulnerable.
One day while busking on Dublin's Grafton Street, he meets the Girl (Irglova), an East European immigrant who has moved to Dublin to start a new life for herself and is currently working as a house cleaner in an upper-class residence. She is struggling financially, cannot afford the piano she yearns for, and is in the process of making crucial decisions about her personal life.
The Guy and the Girl are both outsiders, both strangers with nothing to lose. As their two worlds cross over through their shared love of music, their relationship blossoms. They put together a band to rehearse songs and record a demo, all of which results in finding themselves and sharing the transformative power of music.
Written and directed by John Carney, "Once" is produced by Martina Niland and executive produced by David Collins with Music by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. The director of photography is Tim Fleming, and the production designer is Tamara Conboy. Costume design is by Tiziana Corvisieri with casting by Maureen Hughes. Once has been financed by The Irish Film Board and RTE.
Music From the Motion Picture 'Once' - Deluxe CD/DVD Edition track listing
CD:
1. Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova - Falling Slowly
2. Marketa Irglova and Glen Hansard - If You Want Me
3. Glen Hansard - Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy
4. Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova - When Your Mind's Made Up
5. Glen Hansard - Lies
6. Interference - Gold
7. Marketa Irglova - The Hill
8. Glen Hansard - Fallen From The Sky
9. Glen Hansard - Leave
10. Glen Hansard - Trying To Pull Myself Away
11. Glen Hansard - All The Way Down
12. Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova - Once
13. Glen Hansard - Say It To Me Now
BONUS TRACKS:
14. Glen Hansard - And the Healing Has Begun
15. Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova - Into the Mystic
DVD:
- Falling Slowly - Live from the Old Town School of Folk Music
- Into the Mystic - Live from the Old Town School of Fold Music
- Lies - KCRW sessions
- Mind's Made Up - KCRW sessions
- If You Want Me - KCRW sessions
- Interviews with Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova North American Concert Tour
(Martha Wainright opening on all US dates)
DATE CITY VENUE
Mon 11/5 Seattle, WA Moore Theatre
Tue 11/6 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom
Thurs 11/8 San Francisco, CA Grand Ballroom
Sat 11/10 Los Angeles, CA The Wiltern
Sun 11/11 San Diego, CA 4th and B
Tue 11/13 Denver, CO Ogden Theatre
Thurs 11/15 Austin, TX Stubbs
Sat 11/17 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse
Sun 11/18 Washington, DC Lincoln Theatre
Mon 11/19 New York, NY Beacon Theatre
Wed 11/21 Boston, MA Orpheum Theatre
Thurs 11/22 Montreal, QUE Le National
Fri 11/23 Toronto, ONT Danforth Music Hall
Sat 11/24 Chicago, IL Vic Theatre
Sun 11/25 Chicago, IL Vic Theatre
