Roddy Bottum teams with Courtney Love on <I>Adam & Steve</I> soundtrack (15459)

Gay ex-Faith No More keyboardist Roddy Bottum is finishing work on the soundtrack to the upcoming independent film Adam & Steve, and called on an old friend to lend vocals on the song "Love, Love, Love." The singer in question is none other than onetime Faith No More singer Courtney Love (albeit extremely briefly, and early in the band's career). "Recording was a piece of cake," Bottom told Billboard. "Courtney and I have been friends for over 20 years, and we have a mutual respect for each other's craft. The song is a '40s big band sort of sound, not something you'd immediately associate with her style of singing. Courtney and I had done a project a couple years ago that involved reworking old jazz standards, so when I approached her about this song I was able to reference what we'd done before and she understood. She's a total professional and compulsively fixates on a project until it's perfect."

The track came about after a Judy Garland song that was originally planned for inclusion had to be removed. Bottum had another familiar name in mind before securing Love's participation. "Pink was going to sing it," he said. "[She] would have done an amazing job, but I think Courtney brought something to the song that's absolutely, undeniably something only she could do. The song accompanies an off-kilter, nontraditional, out-on-a-limb relationship, and Courtney wears that shoe pretty perfectly. I feel like her voice is so recognizable in that specific way. She's pretty genius at f---ing with convention. The politics and the message of the film are a lot about that."

Bottum described Adam & Steve as "a romantic comedy set in New York about two guys who meet in the '80s at Danceteria, have a horrible, botched date, and then meet again 15 years later and start a relationship." Written and directed by Craig Chester (who also appears in the film), the film stars Parker Posey, Chris Kattan, and Malcolm Gets. It will premiere in late April at New York's Tribeca Film Festival. While assembling the soundtrack, Bottum felt it was "important to play it straight, musically," and modeled the music after the jazz sound of classic Woody Allen films, as well as such romantic comedies as Arthur, Heaven Can Wait, and Private Benjamin. "The film takes place in New York, and that came into play musically in a big way," he said. "We felt it was better to play it highbrow than go with a lowbrow, juvenile rock score. I didn't want to use guitar at all--or drums." A release date for the Adam & Steve soundtrack is not yet final. (Greg Prato, via Reuters)