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Conducted by:
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Pete Anthony
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Release Date:
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December, 2000
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Availability:
Limited promotional release by the specialty label, available through Intrada.com on the web.
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Filmtracks Editorial Review:
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Wonder Boys: (Christopher Young) Damned from the very beginning,
Wonder Boys was released twice by Paramount Studios in the year 2000.
Despite some critical success it received at the start of the year, the film was
an enormous flop at the box office and, to stir up some possible awards
consideration for the film, Paramount decided to release the film to theatres a
second time at the end of the year. Even with more critical acclaim the second
time around, the film was a lousy attraction once again. So it has forever
slipped away into obscurity. Christopher Young's music for Wonder Boys,
therefore, was not only composed quite a long time before its album release, but
has also fallen completely off the face of the planet as far as the public is
concerned. While I don't like to see talented composers' works fall to such
depths, this particular score is unfortunately not worth the trouble anyway.
The score for Wonder Boys is a low budget affair, with an ensemble of
about dozen men having at it with their small studio specialties. It has all the
typical small band instruments, with the addition of an electric organ and
accordian. For me, the problem begins there. If there are two instruments I
simply refuse to listen to (just as vehemently as Jerry Goldsmith damns the
harp), those two instruments would be the electric organ and accordian. Apart, I
can barely tolerate their hokey, silly tones. Together, they are a menace to my
ears... almost painful. Whether or not I can therefore accurately judge this
score remains unknown. All I can say is that it drives me nuts. With an almost
constant, loungy, percussive beat existing in the background, the accoustical
bass and guitars bounce in and out of the unorganized ramblings of the organ and
accordian. So unorganized are parts of this score that it sounds almost like it
was improvised in the studio. The performers have the talent --Michael Lang, who
performs some of my favorite piano solos in other scores-- rips on the organ in
this one with uninhibited style.
Another problem is this score's lack of any attributes that usually define a
film score. No readily accessible scene changes, themes, or motifs are
established, causing the improvisation to become rather silly after a while. The
slower cues performed by the piano and electric cello/violin can barely keep
pace with the rip-snorting southern style jazz of the full band. The score
becomes even more bizarre when in track eight it dissolves into clapping and
tapdancing; and in track thirteen, a further affirmation of the southern style
is presented with a lazy female vocal. At only thirty-six minutes in length,
this promotional album of Chris Young's Wonder Boys is all anyone will
ever need to hear. While my personal and total distate for electric organs and
accordians may somewhat cloud my judgement, I can't imagine anyone wanting to
see this film aftering hearing its music. Just as the film flopped in the
theatres, this score and album will be simply unlistenable to many pairs of ears. *
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Viewer Ratings and Comments:
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• 1. Grady Tripp (3:04)
• 2. Dead Poe Pie (3:24)
• 3. Tales From the Woods (1:38)
• 4. Greenhouse Woman (2:31)
• 5. That Would Be a Tuba (2:52)
• 6. Woozy Q (1:56)
• 7. Rip Roaring (3:09)
• 8. Novel Lies (2:41)
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• 9. Small Shoulders (1:30)
• 10. I'm Not a Holiday Inn (1:30)
• 11. Does That Sound Like Anybody We Know? (1:45)
• 12. Doggie Door (1:43)
• 13. Wonderful (3:37)
• 14. The Love Parade (1:34)
• 15. Sire Shire (3:06)
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Insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
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