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•	Score-Only Album

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•	Score-Only Album

•	Regular Song Album

The combination of old-school jazz musical numbers and complimenting underscore in La La Land was a hit with audiences, Hurwitz sweeping all major cinematic awards for both song and score. There is a "devil may care" demeanor to the soundtrack's recording that keeps it effortlessly breezy, the spirit nearly too upbeat to tolerate in parts. Not unexpectedly, Hurwitz has to address three sides of the jazz in his score and songs; there's the rowdy, nearly Latin-influenced trumpet personality of hip spirit for the location on one end, the intensely personal, solo-piano-led romance for the Sebastian character's on screen style on the other, and the more traditionally Golden Age, waltz-laden romance for orchestra sandwiched in between. The last portion has a snippet of choral Hollywood magic at the end as well, making La La Land a wildly varied ride through vintage jazz like nothing else heard on screen in a generation. The recording is extremely dry and intimate, placing the supporting string and brass performers so far behind the piano, bass, and other featured musicians that the dryness of the soloists becomes a bit obnoxious. Just a touch of natural nightclub reverb would have helped considerably. If you're not a fan of vibraphones or trilling woodwinds, then these recordings will drive you absolutely nuts. The vibraphone in particular is an acquired taste. The trilling is a little transparent in the flutes ("Planetarium" and "Credits" highlight these well) but Hurwitz also seems to bury the technique in the lower ranges of other winds in the full ensemble with reckless abandon. The layering of the various players is inconsistent in the score, a cue like "Bogart & Bergman" more engaging than several of the comparatively sparse cues. Don't expect any of the orchestration to really overwhelm, as the highlighted performances are clearly intended for the piano and jazz group at the forefront. In the favor of the score is its significant loyalty to the song melodies, many of which guiding the themes elsewhere. An exception of sorts is the "Mia & Sebastian's Theme" that some listeners will consider the main theme despite existing as more of source-like identity that Sebastian uses to woo Mia. A secondary love theme for the duo is summarized in the (largely instrumental) song "A Lovely Night," and this identity is more pervasive in the score, occupying "Stroll Up the Hill" and "There the Whole Time/Twirl" on either side and reprised later in "Summer Montage/Madeline" and "You Love Jazz Now."

Both characters in La La Land receive their own individual themes, though Sebastian's identity is rather short-changed by plot necessity. His celesta and whistling-led theme is the basis of "City of Stars," the extremely overrated awards bait from Hurwitz's songs. Forget for a moment that Ryan Gosling cannot sing worth a damn; even the melody itself simply isn't that memorable. Reprises in "Mia Hates Jazz" and "Boise" are brief. Mia's dedicated theme, meanwhile, is far better realized. Based on the very well acted but emotionally draining song, "Audition (The Fools Who Dream)," owing much to Anne Hathaway in Les Misérables , this idea provides most of the optimism to the score ("Classic Rope-a-Dope" and "Bogart & Bergman"). The best song in La La Land by a mile is "Another Day of Sun," representing the infectious, slightly Latin-infused zeal of the Hollywood dream. For those not in tune with Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling's solo performances, the cast singing in this song, along with it's outstanding rhythmic and counterpoint lines, will impress. As you'd expect, the score's most equally entertaining cue is the straight instrumental rendition in "Credits." If only the entire score could have exhibited more of this pacing and performance enthusiasm, La La Land would have benefited. Others point to the lengthy "Epilogue" as the most notable score cue, and while it does rotate nicely between several of the melodies in wrapping up the story, the trumpet solo in the midsection is highly annoying and the choral addition to Mia's theme in waltz form around the 4:35 mark is at odd juxtaposition with the rest of the soundtrack despite the dream realized. That choir extends the fairy tale conclusion into "The End" as well. As for the other two songs in La La Land, "Someone in the Crowd" is a solid extension of pizzazz from "Another Day of Sun" and John Legend's "Start a Fire" may be a source insertion disparate from everything else, but it's a really fantastic song by itself. Another song, "La La Land," was jettisoned right before being recording, though hearing a midi rendering of it would be interesting for fans. Overall, La La Land is a well-constructed musical with a clear stylistic focus and faithful development of its melodies. You have to admire Hurwitz's honing of the jazz genre of yesteryear for this new application. Then again, the vocals are suspect and there are a few emotional disconnects throughout some of the material, and if you have no love for extremely dry, intimate jazz combos or vibraphones, this soundtrack will do little to endear itself to you. It remains an admirably solid musical, but it's one of the most overrated soundtracks of a generation.  ****   @Amazon.com: CD or Download