There's a narrative to the soundtrack for Bradley Cooper's 2018 remake of A Star Is Born, one that mirrors the one told in the movie. Often, the album features dialogue ripped from the screen -- a full 15 tracks, actually, amounting to seven minutes of this 74-minute album -- which means A Star Is Born almost plays like a Disney record from the '60s or '70s: it's designed to tide listeners over until they get a chance to see the movie again. Of course, A Star Is Born is a musical, so its soundtrack is filled with full-fledged songs, all of which serve the story that the dialogue gooses along. Strip out the distracting dialogue tracks and the plot of A Star Is Born is still evident, as the music moves from the grungy Americana of Cooper's character, through his affecting duets with Lady Gaga, toward her flashy pop, and then culminating with "I'll Never Love Again," the song where the two estranged lovers reunite. Each of these phases is expertly executed. Lukas Nelson assists Cooper in the rangy grunge of "Black Eyes," while Jason Isbell's spare "Maybe It's Time" is an affecting slice of Americana. The second stage, where Gaga is duetting with Cooper, fuses their sensibilities seamlessly, particularly on the aching ballad "Shallow" and loping country-rock of "Music to My Eyes," which was co-written by Nelson and Gaga. Her pop section plays like its own EP, and it's snappy, stylish, and savvy, particularly on the retro-disco of "Why Did You Do That?" and soulful "Heal Me." All the songs make sense narratively and on their own, so they hold together well and would amount to a first-rate soundtrack, if it weren't for those meddling dialogue tracks, which wind up sapping any kind of momentum for the album.

1 Intro 0:20
2 Bradley Cooper - Black Eyes 3:03
3 Somewhere Over the Rainbow (Dialogue) 0:42
4 Fabulous French (Dialogue) 0:19
5 Lady Gaga - La vie en rose 2:59
6 I'll Wait for You (Dialogue) 0:19
7 Bradley Cooper - Maybe It's Time 2:39
8 Parking Lot (Dialogue) 0:31
9 Bradley Cooper - Out of Time 2:52
10 Bradley Cooper - Alibi 3:03
11 Trust Me 0:31
12 Shallow 3:35
13 First Stop, Arizona (Dialogue) 0:10
14 Music to My Eyes 3:19
15 Diggin' My Grave 3:57
16 I Love You (Dialogue) 0:19
17 Lady Gaga - Always Remember Us This Way 3:30
18 Unbelievable (Dialogue) 0:28
19 How Do You Hear It? (Dialogue) 0:14
20 Lady Gaga - Look What I Found 2:55
21 Memphis (Dialogue) 0:24
22 Lady Gaga - Heal Me 3:16
23 I Don't Know What Love Is 2:57
24 Vows (Dialogue) 0:17
25 Lady Gaga - Is That Alright? 3:11
26 SNL (Dialogue) 0:13
27 Lady Gaga - Why Did You Do That? 3:04
28 Lady Gaga - Hair Body Face 3:22
29 Scene 98 0:34
30 Lady Gaga - Before I Cry 4:18
31 Bradley Cooper - Too Far Gone 1:26
32 Twelve Notes (Dialogue) 1:03
33 Lady Gaga - I'll Never Love Again (Film Version) 4:41
34 Lady Gaga - I'll Never Love Again (Extended Version) 5:28