It’s strange that the 1986 fantasy film Labyrinth failed at the box office when there was so much going for it. Jim Henson peppered the movie with Muppets, and it featured a young and beautiful Jennifer Connelly. It also starred a Fu Manchu-by-way-of-Andy Warhol-looking David Bowie, who wrote and recorded six songs for the soundtrack. Even the Trevor Jones score is a cool mix of ‘80s-flavored synthesizers and pointed guitars. Bowie’s “Chilly Down” is sung in character as Jareth, the evil Goblin King, but it sounds like a wonderfully cartoonish mix of Let’s Dance and Tonight-era Bowie, and there’s even a rap in the middle of the tune! With “Hallucination,” Jones approximates tripping out with warbling melodies and bent strings before a very unpsychedelic saxophone slips in and straightens things out. Bowie’s “As the World Falls Down” sounds like a less-daunting version of “This Is Not America” (which he recorded a year prior for the soundtrack to The Falcon and the Snowman). The smooth and soulful “Underground” proves to be the standout jam.

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