Homeboy

1988 soundtrack album by Eric Clapton

Homeboy – Original Score Performed by Eric Clapton is a soundtrack album recorded by the British Rock musician Eric Clapton and features a total of eighteen songs which were mostly composed by Clapton especially for the 1988 American sports drama Homeboy starring Mickey Rourke, Christopher Walken and Debra Feuer.[1] The album was produced and supervised by Fraser Kennedy.[2]

Artwork and release

The album cover shows leading actor in the movie Mickey Rourke in a boxing gym wearing his equipment looking directly into the camera.[3] The background behind and aside the photograph is dark blue and has writing concerning the album title, main actors and performers of the soundtrack on it.[4] The Japanese album cover, features a different photograph on the front cover as well as a second picture, showing Clapton alongside Rourke.[5] The soundtrack was originally released under Virgin Records in September 1988 in North America[6] and for the rest of the world – notably Europe – in November later the same year.[7] In 1988 and 1989, the soundtrack album was released on music cassette, compact disc and grammophone record formats by Virgin Records throughout the world and was in 2004 re-released the first time on compact disc format only.[8] In 2009, the soundtrack album was re-released again by Virgin Records as the release was requested by more and more fans around the world.[9]

Reception

As the release history shows, the album gained the highest sales figures in Canada, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom,[10] the United States and Japan.[11] Although it is unknown if the soundtrack album did reach any national charts, it had sold more than 100,000 copies in Italy[12] and also gained a Gold record in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), selling more than 500,000 copies in the country and more than 600,000 worldwide.[13] Music journalists form the film website DVD Legion think the release "definately [sic] stands out" and notes that Clapton played emotional Blues as well as Pop and Rock music or the release.[9] AllMusic critic William Ruhlmann awards the soundtrack three out of five possible stars, giving it an average soundtrack album rating,[6] reviewing:

Eric Clapton`s score to the Mickey Rourke film Homeboy consists largely of bluesy instrumental pieces performed by Clapton, keyboard player Michael Kamen, bassist Nathan East, and drummer Steve Ferrone. Clapton`s solo electric guitar version of "Dixie" owes much to Jimi Hendrix`s version of "The Star-Spangled Banner". There are also a few blues numbers by Magic Sam and J.B. Hutto. The playing is accomplished, of course, but like most soundtracks this one seems to be missing something without the film images.

— William Ruhlmann, AllMusic[6]

Track listing

Certifications