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Review of Reel Music (Bacharach/Jones/Schifrin)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... only if you are an established fan of each individual
composer, and the corresponding album contains enough material absent
from your collection to warrant your interest.
Avoid it... if you expect consistency in sound quality (for these are original recordings) and in the presentation of each artist's styles.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
The Reel Music Series: (Quincy Jones, Burt
Bacharach, and Lalo Schifrin) There is an awkward relationship between
dedicated film score collectors and the three composers for whom these
albums pay tribute. From the early 1960's to the 1980's, Quincy Jones,
Burt Bacharach, and Lalo Schifrin filled an important role in Hollywood
composing, one that was necessitated by a temporary shift in audience
expectations in their soundtracks. It was the era of original pop
scores, coinciding with the Silver Age of film music, and as hot as
their music was for mainstream listeners at the time, they could not
stop the arrival of the Bronze age; with the resurrection of large
orchestral scores came the demise of their style, and it would
eventually be stifled almost completely by the trend of studios using
song compilations (in the 80's and 90's) in situations that would have
previously called for a mainstream pop score. There are composers
working in the 2000's who continue to fill the void (and, in fact, all
three of these composers lived past the prime of their era, with
Schifrin still composing in the late 00's), but their work is no longer
as hip and marketable. Still, when in the prime of their popularity,
these three artists accumulated awards nominations and wins at a
staggering rate, equaled only by John Williams in the Bronze and Digital
eras. In 1999, a series of compilations released by Hip-O Records paid
tribute to these jazz, pop, and easy listening composers and their
original songs and scores for motion pictures. The compilations aren't
aimed at the same crowd that typically buys film music today, except for
the holdovers from the previous generation. But fight this music as they
may, there needs to be a tribute to these men for their role in bringing
film music to the mainstream during that era, and these albums serve
that need. The first two of the series were those dedicated to Quincy
Jones and Burt Bacharach, with the music on both varying greatly from
track to track as you might expect.
Each album includes original recordings from musicals, pop songs, straight score tracks, and not the kinds of re-recordings that typically plague such albums. As such, the sound quality often fluctuates with every few tracks, depending on the source masters. Their aim is to be as representative of their careers as possible, and they accomplish this well. The Bacharach release, with his Arthur themes occupying an important section of the album, is most in tune with the largest audience. The easy listening selections are what most collectors today would call "elevator music" or "grocery market music" but nonetheless, for a fan of Bacharach's easy-going style, his album is well suited for the smooth experience you'd expect. The Quincy Jones album is perhaps the weakest of the three, for the selections vary so greatly in venue from one to the next. Jones' career has been perhaps as unpredictable as any in the three, and his album suffers as a result; a greater attempt to group like-styled selections together might have helped. The soul and jazz of this album is highlighted by B.B King's performance of "You Put It On Me." The Lalo Schifrin compilation was the last of the three, and although it's considerably shorter than the other two, it's easy to suspect that it will remain more popular to the traditional film music crowd. The sound quality is surprisingly good on this album, with some remastering seemingly done to a few of the themes. The album thankfully puts most of the jazzy pop material near the start and concludes with the more dramatic efforts. The highlight of the album is the track "Dirty Harry's Creed," which includes Eastwood's famous "Do you feel lucky?" line from the film (mixed so that it doesn't interfere with the music). On the whole, the CDs of the Reel Music series will likely greatly satisfy fans of the particular artists. Broad film music fans could find the Lalo Schifrin CD to have the most entertaining material, while the Quincy Jones CD is a definite miss (even with its Austin Powers track at the end). Each product is packaged beautifully, though, with extensive liner notes detailing the career of the corresponding artist.
TRACK LISTINGS:
The Reel Burt Bacharach:
Total Time: 56:52
The Reel Qunicy Jones: Total Time: 58:36
The Reel Lalo Schifrin: Total Time: 45:51
NOTES & QUOTES:
All three releases have superb and thorough liner notes.
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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Reel Music are Copyright © 1999, Hip-O Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 8/3/99 and last updated 4/15/07. |
