Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you groove to enthusiastic small ensemble performances of the blues, led by prominent roles for an electric organ and accordion. Avoid it... if the idea of tolerating a wild, almost improvisational combination of electric organ and accordion is a potential disaster for your ears. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
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 its February release, 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, not to mention the appeal of being Curtis Hanson's first project since L.A. Confidential., the film was a lousy attraction once again. Forever slipping away into obscurity, Wonder Boys was considered so unviable that the Varèse Sarabande label, which originally was set to release Christopher Young's score for the film, backed out of the affair. Young's music for Wonder Boys, therefore, was not only composed quite a long time before its eventual release in the form of a limited promotional pressing by Intrada Records, but the work had also fallen completely off the face of the planet as far as the public is concerned. For some collectors of the composer, this was a tragedy, especially in the light of such a productive year for the composer. And, while it's difficult to see talented composers' works fall to such depths, this particular score is unfortunately not worth the trouble anyway. The film's character-centered story was a good match for a non-traditional score of comedy flavor, and Young responds with not only the kind of music that he had just provided for the equally obscure The Big Kahuna and Judas Kiss, but also with the touch of Thomas Newman thrown in for good measure. The small-scale, genre-bending scores of Newman and Young at the time were interesting deviations from the norm, and it would have been interesting to hear what Hanson's usual collaborator at the time, Jerry Goldsmith, could have come up for the film (though commitments during a hectic 1999 likely precluded this possibility). Young's versatility is certainly the star of this score, with a jazz, blues, and bluegrass tone that dances with a certain zeal and sophistication through the film. The score does have a central theme for Michael Douglas' main character, introduced in full rhythmic flavor in "Grady Tripp" and closing the album with its reprise in "Sire Shire," though tender variants for solo piano in "Does That Sound Like Anybody We Know?" and "The Love Parade" are more attractive. Mostly, however, the score is a stream of consciousness style of blues rhythms for a small ensemble. Wonder Boys was a low budget affair, with an ensemble of about dozen men having spirited fun with their small studio specialties. The score makes use of all the typical jazz band instruments, with the addition of a Hammond organ and accordion. This, right off the bat, is where some listeners are going to run screaming. If you could make a list of common instruments that generally irritate film music fans and send them scattering, especially when prominently used, it would be the Hammond organ and accordion. Together, they are a potentially painful menace to the ears, and indeed parts of Wonder Boys are so insufferable in their lively performances that you have to both praise Young for writing such diverse tones while simultaneously shutting off the score on your stereo. Acoustic bass and guitars bounce in and out of the unorganized ramblings of the organ and accordion (outside of the title theme, parts of the work sound distinctly improvised), and five percussionists had a field day in the studio. The performances are all evidence of great talent; Michael Lang, who performs some of the best piano solos in the industry, let rip on the organ in this recording with uninhibited energy. But another problem is this score's lack of any attributes that usually define a film score. No readily accessible scene changes or consistency in development are apparent in Wonder Boys, causing the improvisation to become rather silly after a while. The slower cues performed by the piano and electric cello/violin struggle to keep pace with the rip-snorting bluegrass style of the full band. The score becomes even more bizarre when in "Novel Lies" it dissolves into clapping and tap dancing, and the lazy Southern female vocals in "Wonderful" suggest a locale far from the one in the film. Overall, at only thirty-six minutes in length, this rare promotional album is more than anyone will ever need to hear. ** Track Listings:
Total Time: 36:35
All artwork and sound clips from Wonder Boys are Copyright © 2000, Intrada Promo. The reviews and notes contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Filmtracks Publications. Audio clips can be heard using RealPlayer but cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 1/15/01, updated 7/20/08. Review Version 4.1 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 2001-2013, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. |
