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•	2002 Disney Album

•	2018 Intrada Album

•	2002 Disney Album

Ultimately, Silvestri's task for Who Framed Roger Rabbit would be to accomplish a little merging of his own, too. The old, frenetic Looney Tunes style of breakneck writing had to be infused into the jazzy atmosphere of 1940's Los Angeles that exuded a significant dose of noir personality. Just as the film successfully combined its disparate visual halves, Silvestri created an extremely serviceable score for both the cartoon characters and the real-life actors and location of the film. In its general demeanor, Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a trademark cartoon score, with slapstick breaks and dizzy rhythms that challenge the London Symphony Orchestra and jazz band to keep up with the mad dashing of the animated characters. It's a lightweight score in tone, its thematic development consistent but not enduring as a truly memorable element in the overall equation. The main, live-action detective and the location receive Silvestri's parody of Jerry Goldsmith's Chinatown, noir of an intentionally bloated, melancholy personality. Meanwhile, a jazzy identity for the animated love interest offers the equally sad romantic tilt to several associated scenes. The villain of the tale receives a low string and chime motif to match Christopher Lloyd's ridiculous performance. By no accident, some of the manic comedy mannerisms of Silvestri's handling of Doc Brown in the Back to the Future scores carries over to the action sequences here, representing the same hair-brained pace of humor. In general, this work relies on the bouncing creativity and positive energy that the orchestra generates to provide the same children's ambience that you'd expect to hear in any Warner Brothers cartoon. The delightful, upbeat personality of the score is carried by Silvestri's ability to adapt the style of legendary Warner Brothers animation composer Carl Stalling, who created all the memorable themes for the studio's legacy cartoons. No better a tribute is made to Stalling than in the logo music for the Maroon studio that opens the real film. Many subsequent cues exhibit the same Stalling character, fulfilling the basic environment necessary for the licensed supporting cast. Several slapstick adaptations of other famous themes are included in the mix, and a few direct statements of old Warner pieces throughout the score, including "That's All Folks," are a treat. Film music collectors will likely be drawn more predictably to the straight 1940's noir jazz, performed by trumpet with great solace in "Valiant & Valiant" and in the famous vocalized song, "Who Don't You Do Right?," which is the enduring musical centerpiece of the film.

On album, various score and source music, as well as dialogue from the film, was released several times early on. At the time of the film's debut, a 40-minute album of music and dialogue from Who Framed Roger Rabbit was offered directly by Disney (Buena Vista, actually) in a promotional format of sorts that was sold mostly at Disney-related locations. Concurrently, Touchstone Records released a 46-minute album with more of Silvestri's music featured. Both albums fell badly out of print and were, for a while, considered significant collectibles. In 2002, Disney Records itself re-issued an identical copy of the 1988 Touchstone album with re-mastered sound and new cover art, and this updated product remained readily in print and easy to find for a few years before likewise becoming scarce. In 2018, Intrada Records provided a comprehensive 3-CD set featuring not only the full score as originally written by Silvestri, but the music recorded for the four animated shorts as well. Since Zemeckis rearranged Silvestri's music so thoroughly in the film, this lengthy set will be a revelation for the composer's collectors, finally allowing a faithful presentation of the score prior to its dismemberment for the final film edits. Some of the new cues are not insignificant, either, the late action piece "Steamroller" containing more than a hint of Predator mannerisms. The extra material, which extends to a variety of alternate cues as well, is a mixed blessing, however, because many of the comedic portions are redundant and potentially overwhelming. Still, the narrative is provided uninterrupted if not for the lengthy "Eddie's Theme" arrangement to open the second CD. The extended film version of "End Credits" is an outstanding summary of the entire score. Even more fascinating for collectors may be the three short scores not composed by Silvestri, who only handled the first one. Both "Rollercoaster Rabbit" and "Trail Mix-Up" come from Bruce Broughton, who lends his own Western-inspired interpretation of the Stalling playbook to the concept. There is carry-over of motifs between his two entries, but neither points back faithfully to Silvestri's themes. Meanwhile, "Tummy Trouble" was the work of James Horner, who was himself immersed in lighter animation at this time in his career. Horner also takes aim at pilfering Stalling, but the frenzied result of his efforts isn't quite as cohesive as Broughton's music, and his interpolations of famous melodies are not as well masked. The third CD of the Intrada set contains the original album remastered. On any product, the Silvestri score is a wild ride, as to be expected, but cartoon lovers will devour its shameless enthusiasm. The 2018 album is the only recommended product, as its presentation is as full-fledged and fabulous as Jessica Rabbit herself.   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

• Music as Written for the Film:  ****
• Music as Heard on the 1988 and 2002 Albums:  ***
• Music as Heard on the 2018 Album:  ****
• Overall:  ****

Bias Check:

For Alan Silvestri reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.41 (in 37 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.28 (in 34,649 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.