The Basketball Diaries

The Basketball Diaries is a soundtrack guided by basses: on PJ Harvey’s ”Down by the Water,” it’s hypnotic; on Flea’s ”I’ve Been Down,” it’s feathery, and on Soundgarden’s ”Blind Dogs,” it’s wall-sized. Jim Carroll, on whose memoirs the film is based, recites poetry and even fronts for Pearl Jam on ”Catholic Boy.”