Michael Fassbender has been almost inescapable for film fans in 2011 after starring roles in Jane Eyre, X-Men: First Class, A Dangerous Method and Shame. In that last film, Fassbender plays a man in the grip of sexual obsession. Of course, I can\'t say if the recordings chosen for the soundtrack echo or amplify the emotional state of the character or his milieu until I see the movie. Meanwhile, the Shame soundtrack CD (released by Sony Masterworks) is intriguing for covering a great deal of ground while suggesting a retro vibe. Eighties club land hits such as Blondie\'s “Rapture” and Tom Tom Club\'s “Genius of Love” flow into Glenn Gould\'s somber renditions of Bach and the winsome if edgy jazz of John Coltrane\'s “My Favorite Things” and Chet Baker\'s “Let\'s Get Lost.” I\'m tempted to say that Fassbender\'s range as an actor, given the many roles he\'s played this year, is as wide as the music from Shame.
