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Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you seek a score with the same themes and humor of City Slickers, but with a far more boisterous, dramatic, and muscular orchestral and choral presence. Avoid it... if no amount of dramatic elegance in this score can counter Marc Shaiman's usual shamelessly upbeat and overly-enthusiastic attitude. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Every once in a while, you get a sense as a listener that a composer thinks about a score for a good film and wonders for a few years how it could have been done better. Even in the case of unique projects like City Slickers or The Mask of Zorro (among others), where the sequels are far worse in cinematic quality, you end up hearing revised scores that do everything that you wished the original had done. This is exactly the case with City Slickers II, for which Shaiman returns to all of the thematic ideas from the first film and expands upon them with brilliant results. The jaunty title theme and dramatic trail theme are both treated to far more robust recordings, with a wider variety of well-recorded specialty instruments (guitar, fiddle, harmonica, etc) and a light choir mixed into many of their performances. The smaller motifs returning from City Slickers are expertly mixed with references to Jerome Moross' The Big Country, Elmer Bernstein's The Magnificent Seven, and Max Steiner's The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (the last of which is the only one explicitly credited, though you can year references to Bernstein's Western writing --both comedic and serious-- all throughout). The score is perpetually thematic and upbeat (the calling card of a Shaiman work), which can, in parts, be the only weakness. The enthusiasm with which Shaiman rolls through his themes over rhythms ranging from rap to honky tonk can be overwhelming, especially in the reprised opening credits animation sequence. Undeniable, however, is the depth of power that Shaiman exhibits in his straight dramatic sequences. The choral-enhanced "There's Gold in Them Thar Hills" is a good example of a cue that offers both a couple of wondrous ensemble crescendos and some robust rhythmic work. As in any good Shaiman score, the percussion section is put to the test; the Western rhythms lend themselves well to varied drums and wood blocks, while the mystery of the topic allows for a plethora of metallic elements. As a listening experience, City Slickers II is leagues ahead of its predecessor because it maintains the same humor while boasting a muscular orchestral and choral presence. The superb quality of the recording by Shawn Murphy cannot be emphasized enough; the vibrance of the soundscape is crucial to the personality of this score. ****
(track times not listed on packaging)
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