The soundtrack to
Tequila Sunrise is what it is: background music for the celebrity love triangle on the screen. The most notable selection, one of those myriad closing-credit ballads no one really remembers called "Surrender to Me" (co-written by
Richard Marx), actually hit number six. Instead of love-theme queen
Jennifer Warnes,
Ann Wilson of
Heart does the heartbreak honors this time around, with
Cheap Trick powerhouse
Robin Zander. Raspy
Robin even drops a ref to his band's second album in the song's second line, not to mention a different nod in the title. Sans his
Duran Duran brethren, former heartthrob
Andy Taylor slips in one of his few solo bits. His old bandmates do appear elsewhere with a couple of other '80s-only bands (
the Church and
Crowded House). Although '60s stalwarts
the Beach Boys hit big this same year (1988) with "Kokomo" off
Cocktail, even the presence of
the Everly Brothers couldn't help here.
Bobby Darin's immortal "Beyond the Sea" is a nice addition, before movie music heavy-hitter
David Grusin brings his classy adult contemporary cohorts, sophisticated shredder
Lee Ritenour and saxman
David Sanborn, for a high-gloss finish. Like the film, this soundtrack comes off professional and enjoyable, though the titular tune by
the Eagles remains nowhere to be found.
–
Whitney Z. Gomes, Rovi