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Who Framed Roger Rabbit
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Composed, Conducted, and Produced by:
Orchestrated by:
James Campbell
Performed by:
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LABELS & RELEASE DATES
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ALBUM AVAILABILITY
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The 1988 Buena Vista Promo (CD 010) and 1988 Touchstone Records
commercial album are both out of print, but their extensive original pressing
made them relatively easy to find on the secondary market. The 2002 Walt Disney
Records album was a regular U.S. release, but fell out of print as well. The 2018
Intrada album is limited to an unknown number of copies and retailed at soundtrack
specialty outlets for an initial price of $35.
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AWARDS
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Nominated for a Grammy Award.
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ALSO SEE
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Buy it... if you can't get enough of that old Warner Brothers,
Looney Tunes style of frenetic, enthusiastic orchestral slapstick music,
Alan Silvestri mingling it with noir sentiment for this rowdy venture.
Avoid it... on any album other than the 2018 Intrada set if you
seek a satisfying presentation of music from the film, assuming its
dizzying personality doesn't make you want to strangle an animated
character.
BUY IT
 | Silvestri |
Who Framed Roger Rabbit: (Alan Silvestri) Hailed as
one of the most successful technological breakthroughs in the history of
the animated film genre, Who Framed Roger Rabbit was an
incredibly popular merging of animated and live-action filming
technologies in 1988. And while the seamless integration of these two
genres was heralded to no end at the time, the film strangely had little
impact on the actual future of merged animation and live action films.
It would take until 2003's Looney Tunes: Back in Action before
the technique could be perfected in the digital realm. Ironically, the
industry encountered even greater grosses in the interim by going back
to the strictly animated scene, and Disney hit the financial pot of gold
beginning the next year with The Little Mermaid and continuing
through all of the Alan Menken-composed projects of the 1990's. Despite
the success of its visuals, Who Framed Roger Rabbit turned out to
have a bigger legacy in the other realm in which it dabbled:
cross-studio character mingling. It was also famous for its rare
collaboration between Warner Brothers and Disney, and the licensing and
copyright nightmare that the film ended up creating, with strict
royalties necessitated for each appearance of a Warner Brothers property
in a Disney production, unfortunately made the idea largely a one-time
experiment for quite some time. No better a director to pull off this
competitive corporate challenge existed than Robert Zemeckis. Having
proven with Back to the Future that he was a bankable director,
Zemeckis tackled the project with charm and ingenuity, succeeding in
making a film that was much better than the messy corporate
circumstances under which it was created. After its Oscar-winning
success, Disney attempted for years to plan sequels and prequels, one of
which yielding six new songs from Menken in 1997 that were never further
developed. As such, Who Framed Roger Rabbit only inspired a few
animated shorts featuring the concept in the years following its debut.
Zemeckis had discovered composer Alan Silvestri during the production of
Romancing the Stone just a few years earlier, and their work
together on Back to the Future created undeniable movie magic.
The director naturally continued to trust Silvestri's talents, bringing
the aural atmosphere of a fictional noir cartoon studio to life in
Who Framed Roger Rabbit before concentrating solely on the
Back to the Future sequels.
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 3.48
(in 42 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.34
(in 40,099 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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1988 Buena Vista Album Tracks ▼ | Total Time: 39:15 |
1. The Setup (6:01)
2. Judge Doom (6:12)
3. The Will (9:17)
4. On the Lam (6:12)
5. Toontown (2:21)
6. The Last Laugh (9:12)
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1988 Touchstone and 2002 Disney Albums Tracks ▼ | Total Time: 46:02 |
1. Maroon Logo (0:17)
2. Maroon Cartoon (3:21)
3. Valiant & Valiant (4:19)
4. The Weasels (2:04)
5. Hungarian Rhapsody (Dueling Pianos) (1:49)
6. Judge Doom (3:46)
7. Why Don't You Do Right? - performed by Amy Irving (3:02)
8. No Justice For Toons (2:40)
9. The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down (Roger's Song) (0:44)
10. Jessica's Theme (2:00)
11. Toontown (4:39)
12. Eddie's Theme (5:19)
13. The Gag Factory (3:54)
14. The Will (1:06)
15. Smile Darn Ya Smile/That's All, Folks! (1:17)
16. End Title (4:56)
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2018 Intrada Album Tracks ▼ | Total Time: 175:08 |
CD 1: (70:24)
1. Main Title (0:30)
2. Maroon Toon Logo (0:18)
3. Cartoon (4:01)
4. Hitch-Hike (2:17)
5. Cloverleaf (1:05)
6. Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (Franz Liszt) (2:57)
7. Why Don't You Do Right? (3:04)
8. Eddie Breaks In (1:28)
9. Patty Cake (0:53)
10. The Eye (0:13)
11. I Needed That/Work Here Finished (1:20)
12. Valiant & Valiant (2:07)
13. Fire in the Hatch/Scene of the Crime (1:06)
14. Shoes on the Loose (0:33)
15. Judge Doom/Looking For a Murder (4:05)
16. The Weasels (2:20)
17. The Glass (1:07)
18. Strange Bedfellows (2:44)
19. Toon Patrol/Search the Place (3:23)
20. I'm a Pawn (2:00)
21. The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down (Roger's Song) (0:44)
22. But I'm a Toon/Looking For Murderer (4:38)
23. Execution (1:46)
24. Got Ya, Kid (2:59)
25. Toon Killed My Brother (1:16)
26. Have a Good Man (0:17)
27. R.K. Maroon (4:03)
28. The Getaway (2:49)
29. Toontown (6:07)
30. Acme Factory/Roger Fanfare/Ton O' Bricks (5:16)
31. Start the Dip (2:09)
CD 2: (58:42)
1. Eddie's Theme (5:17)
2. The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down (Instrumental) (2:09)
3. The Kick/The Climbing (2:02)
4. Toon Magnet (0:25)
5. Steamroller (5:43)
6. Hole in the Wall (0:46)
7. Saved (2:56)
8. Big Kiss/Smile, Darn Ya, Smile (2:03)
9. End Credits - Roger Rabbit Medley (Film Version) (6:32)
Additional Cues and Alternates: (8:44)
10. Maroon Toon Logo (Without Logo Slide) (0:17)
11. Hollywood 1947 (1:00)
12. I'm a Pawn (Alternate) (2:00)
13. Toon Killed My Brother (Alternate #1) (1:18)
14. Toon Killed My Brother (Alternate #2) (0:54)
15. Trumpet Fanfare (0:04)
16. Hole in the Wall (Alternate) (0:19)
17. Saved (Alternate) (2:41)
The Roger Rabbit Cartoons: (21:45)
18. Rollercoaster Rabbit - composed by Bruce Broughton (6:37)
19. Trail Mix-Up - composed by Bruce Broughton (8:21)
20. Tummy Trouble - composed by James Horner (6:47)
CD 3: (46:02)
Original 1988 Soundtrack Album:
1. Maroon Logo (0:17)
2. Maroon Cartoon (3:21)
3. Valiant & Valiant (4:19)
4. The Weasels (2:04)
5. Hungarian Rhapsody (Dueling Pianos) (1:40)
6. Judge Doom (3:48)
7. Why Don't You Do Right? (3:02)
8. No Justice For Toons (2:40)
9. The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down (Roger's Song) (0:45)
10. Jessica's Theme (2:01)
11. Toontown (4:40)
12. Eddie's Theme (5:18)
13. The Gag Factory (3:54)
14. The Will (1:06)
15. Smile, Darn Ya, Smile - That's All, Folks! (1:15)
16. End Title (4:56)
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The inserts for the 1988 and 2002 albums include no extra information about
the score or film. That of the 2018 Intrada product includes extensive information
about both.
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