Album Review: Various Artists - The Sapphires: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

On the face of it, you can go either way with a motion picture soundtrack. One is the route of a sporadic collection of a variety of musical styles that appear in a movie, and the other goes in the direction of this album; a consistent sounding album that could survive autonomously of the movie itself. The Sapphires soundtrack is a self-sufficient 45 minutes of toe tapping, finger clicking, heart-on-sleeve '60s soul melodies over 16 tracks with some guest appearances and a few surprises. Jessica Mauboy (a rare thank you and salute to Australian Idol) is the star of the soundtrack, delivering lead vocals to a whopping nine tracks and providing texture with her warm vocal grain.

Ngarra Barra Ferra, a traditional Indigenous song in the Yorta Yorta language, makes a welcome, unanticipated appearance amidst recognisable soul melodies, delivering one of the many musical pillars in the album that draw you in. In The Sweet Bye And Bye is another one of these pillars, including a surprising appearance by Darren Percival (another rare salute to reality TV, this time Australia's The Voice).

Not so unexpected, soul classics that embrace the old school - such as I Heard It Through The Grapevine, I'll Take You There and What A Man - are performed beautifully, and the '70s original performance by Creedence Clearwater Revival of Run Through The Jungle makes a welcome appearance. If there's anything keeping this soundtrack from dominating other chart releases it is the sheer length, but the balance of modern and old makes for a great listen and a more than decent driving album.