Soundtrack   Fame: More Music From the Motion Picture Music By: Various Artists Distributed by: Lakeshore Records Reviewed by Melissa Minners                         When I received the soundtrack from the remake of Fame, I was thrilled.  The entire album was great and I enjoyed listening to it over and over again.  Recently I received Fame: More Music From the Motion Picture and I was slightly worried.  There were a lot of great songs on the 2009 soundtrack and I wondered what else they could add.  There was only one way to find out - pop the CD into the player.             I was immediately greeted with the voice of Debbie Allen as she greets the new students of the New York City Academy of the Performing Arts.  This excerpt from the film is indicative of the format of the soundtrack.  Each musical track is preceded by a track which features an excerpt from the film.  I remember thinking, “This can be cool if the mood of each excerpt fits the song that follows.”  For the most part, this is the case.             The music on this album is mostly enjoyable.  I’m not very fond of the hip-hop remix of Fame, not very happy with Dust by James Grundler and in pain from the tongue in cheek performance of All That Jazz by Patrick Cenesoplano.  I loved Try by Asher Book in the original Fame Soundtrack.  I really don’t see much of a difference in the Radio Mix version appearing on this soundtrack - I still love the song.  There are some great ballads like the uplifting and inspiring Hold Your Dream by Naturi Naughton and the love song Gravity by Asher Book.  I enjoyed the fun remake of I Want Candy by Anna Maria Parez De Tagle and the melodic remake of the classic ballad Fly Me To the Moon by Asher Book.  I sang and clapped along with What A Mighty God We Serve by the Pasadena Community College Gospel Choir.             So, it’s safe to say that I did enjoy the music on this album.  I also enjoyed some of the dialogue including the inspiring words of That’s Your Power by Charles S. Dutton and Success Is Not by Kay Panabaker (“There are some things success is not.  It’s not fame.  It’s not money or power.  Success is waking up in the morning so excited about what you have to do, that you literally fly out the door.”).  I also appreciated the honesty of You Might Make A Wonderful Teacher by Bebe Neuwirth.             My question is this: was this album necessary?  Without the hip-hop and karaoke instrumental versions of Fame, Try and the karaoke instrumental version of Out Here On My Own, there are only about six songs that didn’t appear on the original soundtrack.  Actually, make that five - Hold Your Dream was performed by a trio in the original soundtrack and appears as an acoustic version on this soundtrack.  That being said, I believe that the dialogue was just filler material to justify the creation of this album.              So, is this album worth the purchase?  Well, I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy the music, despite the fact that some of the tracks were simply reworked versions of the tracks found on the original Fame Soundtrack.  Fans of the movie will be quite happy to pick up this album to complete their Fame collection.  They’ll enjoy the extra music and will relish in the dialogue tracks.  So, the answer is yes, I believe that the Fame: More Music From the Motion Picture Soundtrack is definitely worth the purchase.   For feedback, visit our message board or e-mail the author at talonkarrde@g-pop.net.