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Notting Hill
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U.S. & U.K. Commercial
Japanese Commercial
Promotional
Bootleg
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Labels and Dates:
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No Label (promos & bootlegs)
(1999-2000)
Polygram (Japan)
(July 2nd, 1999)
Island Records (U.S. & U.K.)
(May 18th, 1999)
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Availability:
The commercial albums are regular releases in their respective nations. The promotional score album is extremely rare, even moreso than the bootlegged versions of it floating around the secondary market.
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Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... one of the rare score-only albums only if you are a die-hard
collector of Trevor Jones or romantic comedy writing for acoustic guitar,
piano, and light orchestra.
Avoid it... the score-only albums if you seek the strong song
collection featured in the film and would be satisfied with eight minutes of
highlights from Jones' score.
Filmtracks Editorial Review:
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Notting Hill: (Trevor Jones) After the popularity of
Four Weddings and a Funeral earlier in the decade, mainstream British
comedy was ready for a series of similarly themed and humored romance films.
Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts were juxtaposed in a British/American romance
tale for Notting Hill (in a nutshell, a British guy who is a nobody
improbably wins the heart of a top-name American actress who is in a film
shooting in his home town --you can guess who plays which roles), with
several twists of humor and basic plot ideas repeated from Four Weddings
and a Funeral. Propelled by its star power, Notting Hill was a
date-movie success, so much so that the soundtrack began to take on epic
proportions in its variations around the world. Several songs by the likes
of Shania Twain and Elvis Costello are positioned wisely in the film, with
one montage sequence involving the changing of seasons utilizing "Ain't No
Sunshine" to great effect. Mixed in between the songs is a score by Trevor
Jones. These situations aren't often composers' favorites, for you can't
tell if the post production of the film will lead to a whole slew of songs
replacing score that had been tailored specifically for those scenes. Jones
does exactly what you would expect to hear from any composer in the same
situation, writing an underscore that could be moved around, replaced,
downsized, or repeated without much loss to the integrity of his music.
Hearing Trevor Jones score a light comedy probably isn't what his fans
expect to hear in the first place, with Jones scoring a wide range of
fantasy and action films and usually writing with enormous, sweeping themes
or dramatic, orchestral contructs with the London Symphony Orchestra.
Notting Hill came in between Jones' television assignments for
Merlin and Cleopatra, and the stylistic difference cannot be
greater.
Jones fans need to take Notting Hill with the same
regard that Alan Silvestri fans have with that composer's numerous
interludes into the romantic comedy genre. Silvestri, known widely for his
action themes, is perhaps the most experienced such composer to tone down
his writing for films like What Women Want and Serendipity.
The half an hour of music that Jones presents for Notting Hill is as
pleasant as it is surprising. Jones is a man who has literally studied and
taught methodology in every conceivable genre of music, and the
effectiveness of his work for Notting Hill is undoubtedly successful.
He begins with a solo acoustic guitar and weaves it in between clubby bands,
solo sax, solo piano, and occasional orchestral backing. His title theme is
simplistic and repeated often to compensate for the score's lack of screen
time in the film. It is soft, upscale barroom music at every turn, although
a few cues with modern loops of percussion and rhythm keep the score moving
at a listenable pace. The "Car Chase" cue near the end of the film features
some light rock, but is consistent in instrumentation and personality with
the remaining, softer underscore. Orchestral fans will likely enjoy the
several cues in which the woodwinds and strings (and perhaps two or three
brass) of the orchestra offer a deep, lush accompaniment (Jones always
insists on using top musicians for his ensembles), whether they appear in
one of the traveling scenes (to/from the hotel) or in performance of the
theme in full, symphonic force, which works well in the magical,
movie-business scenes in the film. The acoustic guitar writing sounds
similar in ways to John Du Prez's work for A Fish Called Wanda,
although Jones always maintains a heavier, dramatic mix. He also wrote the
source music for the film, whether it is heard in the bar, the hotel lobby,
or elsewhere. The hotel lobby scene involves some gorgeous solo piano work
that you'd expect to hear live upon entering a high class department
store.
Due to the film's success, several different song albums
were pressed. The U.S., U.K., and Japan all had slightly differing
collections of songs, and score fans can keep the situation simplified by
knowing that the same eight minutes (in two suite cues) of Jones' score
appears on all of them. For the most part, these eight minutes offer all you
really need from the score, and you may very well enjoy the songs, too. But
for die-hard Jones collectors, a full score is an option. The composer
originally pressed a promo (this was just before the Contemporary Media
Recordings label he released scores under semi-promotionally starting later
that year with Cleopatra) with the full promo disclaimers on it. This
album had seventeen untitled tracks following a shorter Costello performance
of "She," which has a piano bass that works seamlessly with the score. The
purpose of the promo is not certain, although awards consideration may have
been the thinking. As could be expected, the score then made several trips
around the bootleg market, sometimes with the seventeen score tracks
appearing by themselves (with the "She" song unfortunately stripped from the
package). On other bootlegs, it was combined with material from Jones'
Arachnophobia, which doesn't exactly work with Notting Hill on
the same album. The sequence of tracks is different on nearly all of them.
There are some downright beautiful solo performances on the expanded promo
or bootlegged albums of Jones' score, especially the piano writing. But is
either of these full-score options worth the search as opposed to commercial
song and score album? For most people, no. The songs are really quite
enticing, and since they fit the mood of Jones' underscore, they make a nice
overall balance. In those eight minutes on the commercial album, the most
significant of Jones' orchestral outbursts of theme is presented. Still,
though, Jones continues to impress in the entirety of his work, proving his
versatility once again.
Commercial albums: ****
Promotional album: ****
Bootlegged albums: ***
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Viewer Ratings and Comments:
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Track Listings (Island Records, U.S./Polygram, Japan):
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Total Time: 51:10
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• 1. No Matter What (4:33) - Boyzone
• 2. You've Got a Way (Notting Hill Remix) (3:21) - Shania Twain
• 3. I Do (Cherish You) (3:45) - Bill Withers
• 4. She (3:06) - Elvis Costello
• 5. Ain't No Sunshine (2:03) - Bill Withers
• 6. How Can You Mend a Broken Heart (6:24) - Al Green
• 7. Gimme Some Lovin' (2:57) - Spencer Davis Group
• 8. When You Say Nothing at All (4:14) - Ronan Keating
• 9. Ain't No Sunshine (Bonus Track) (2:03) - Lighthouse Family
• 10. From the Heart (Bonus Track) (4:51) - Another Level
• 11. Everything About You (Remix) (Bonus Track) (3:55) - Steve Poltz
• 12. Will and Anna (Score) (3:35)
• 13. Notting Hill (Score) (4:46)
Japanese version features two bonus tracks on top of the American album:
(14.) Pulp's 'Born to Cry' and (15.) Swing Out Sister's 'Filth and Dreams'
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Track Listings (Island Records, U.K.):
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Total Time: 52:22
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• 1. From the Heart (4:51) - Another Level
• 2. When You Say Nothing at All (4:14) - Ronan Keating
• 3. She (3:06) - Elvis Costello
• 4. How Can You Mend a Broken Heart (6:24) - Al Green
• 5. In Our Lifetime (4:06) - Texas
• 6. I Do (Cherish You) (3:45) - 98 Degree
• 7. Born to Cry (5:33) - Pulp
• 8. Ain't No Sunshine (3:41) - Lighthouse Family
• 9. You've Got a Way (Notting Hill Remix) (3:21) - Shania Twain
• 10. Gimme Some Lovin' (2:57) - Spencer Davis Group
• 11. Will and Anna (Score) (3:35)
• 12. Notting Hill (Score) (4:46)
• 13. Ain't No Sunshine (2:03) - Bill Withers (Bonus Track not included in film)
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Album features a different track order and selection from the U.S. version.
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Track Listings (Promotional Album):
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Total Time: 37:23
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• 1. She (2:03) - Elvis Costello
• 2. Two (Introduction) (1:41)
• 3. Three (The Book Store) (1:56)
• 4. Four (Interviews) (2:25)
• 5. Five (End Credits Suite) (4:07)
• 6. Six (Video Melancholy) (1:11)
• 7. Seven (Dating) (2:38)
• 8. Eight (Will's Reflection) (1:29)
• 9. Nine (Walk Home) (0:57)
• 10. Ten (Anna's Invitation) (1:18)
• 11. Eleven (Hotel Piano Player) (1:58)
• 12. Twelve (Source Music) (3:19)
• 13. Thirteen (Love Scene) (2:15)
• 14. Fourteen (To the Hotel) (0:48)
• 15. Fifteen (The Henry James Film) (2:16)
• 16. Sixteen (The Garden) (1:58)
• 17. Seventeen (Resignation) (2:06)
• 18. Eighteen (Car Chase) (2:50)
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Promo album contains no track names other than the number of the track. Confirmed titles have been provided here (in parentheses) for reference.
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Track Listings (Bootleg Albums):
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Total Time: 35:48
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• 1. Introduction (Notting Hill) (1:41)
• 2. Anna's Theme (The Book Store/The Kiss) (1:53)
• 3. Smile (Video Melancholy) (1:09)
• 4. Bus to the Ritz (To the Hotel) (0:47)
• 5. Hotel Piano Player (The Lobby) (1:57)
• 6. Interviews (Interviews) (2:25)
• 7. Walk Home (Love Theme) (0:56)
• 8. The Garden (Sadness) (1:59)
• 9. Source Music (Source Music) (3:19)
• 10. Anna's Invitation (She's in London) (1:18)
• 11. Dating (All New Girls) (2:38)
• 12. Will's Reflection (To the Book Store) (1:28)
• 13. The Seduction (Love Scene) (2:14)
• 14. At the Set of a Henry James Film (The Henry James Film) (2:15)
• 15. Resignation (Secret Talk) (2:04)
• 16. Car Chase to Press Conference (Go!) (2:52)
• 17. End Credits Reprise (Notting Hill Suite) (4:09)
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Different versions of the bootleg feature alternate titles. Both sets are provided here for reference.
Inserts for the score-only albums include only basic art. The commercial albums feature no extra information about the score or film either.
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