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Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you seek a superior presentation of the parody Western The Flim-Flam Man in the brilliance of its original stereo mix (an absolute necessity for the character of its style). Avoid it... if Jerry Goldsmith's smaller-scale and unique Americana style, especially concerning delicate themes for harmonica and woodwind, doesn't sustain your interest. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
One of the reasons why The Flim-Flam Man is the highlight of the album is because of its superior stereo mix. The content of the music itself has the rhythmic bounce of Take a Hard Ride, the harmonica movements of Magic, and the romantic interludes for woodwinds that would later define A Girl Named Sooner. The instrumentation of The Flim-Flam Man is its greatest asset, with the strings joined by oboe, French horn, and the eclectic collection of supporting 'personality' instruments: harmonica, banjo, piano, guitars, accordion, marimba, and wood percussion (among others). Contributing to the unique sound of The Flim-Flam Man is the fact that Goldsmith recorded the piano rhythms separately and then sped them up to give them a tack piano sound that is infectiously rambunctious in the comedy cues from "No Rest for the Wicked" to "The Getaway." The cue "Stolen Property" is especially addictive in its upbeat mock-Western rhythms, and the score's separate tape recordings are masterfully reassembled for this presentation, allowing a vibrant stereo mix that is quite splashy for a recording of that age. A smaller portion of the score had only been available on the Society for Preservation of Film Music's limited tribute CD to Goldsmith in 1993, and those excerpts did not contain some of the more difficult-to-edit assembling of chase cues. The late dramatic turns of the score produce a good transition to A Girl Named Sooner, which is considered a superior score by some because of its straight forward and more genuine dramatic approach. Led by Goldsmith's typically pretty harmonica, flute, and string lines, the later score is perhaps the easier listening experience on album. Its mono sound is free of hiss but quite shrill in parts, a result of the original recording quality that the label decided not to alter. Some listeners will find the more dull sound of the latter score to be difficult to appreciate after the masterful job that Intrada Record's Douglass Fake did with the assembling of the various elements for The Flim-Flam Man. This album was notable for its all-star cast of producers, and the results are very strong; fans of Goldsmith would be treated to similar results for Goldsmith's Take a Hard Ride in a subsequent FSM release, further reducing the value of the SPFM Tribute album.
A Girl Named Sooner: *** Album: ****
The album contains the usual excellent quality of pictorial and textual information established in other albums of FSM's series, with extremely detailed notes about the films and scores. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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