City Slickers
Marc Shaiman
" not strong enough to make it a score for everybody "Written by Justin Boggan - Review of the regular release
The opening cue "Main Title" gives you some idea of how wacky Marc Shaiman can be in his scoring, but it also shows a side of mickey mousing which did not serve the film properly. The music is wild, just around from styles and ideas, and even pays homage to Elmer Bernstein (I'll give you three guesses as to what film/score...), but just barely holds together, in the end being ultimately not memorable. Sadly some of the score on this CD goes a similar route, but not as blatantly and in-your-face as the opening cue.
A traditional orchestral score with nary a synth, Shaiman offers a creative blend to a picture that could have otherwise been rot with heavy western cliches. The main theme itself is a cousin to the aforementioned Bernstein score, and gets some wonderful moments to shine, like in "Find Your Smile".
Stand out tracks include: "Career End", which tries to paint the city life of out main character with sax and guitar backing to show he had the spirit in him all along; "The River" which builds up in a dramatic way fans might not know the composer could do, and sports some nice dramatic and emotional writing; and "Mitchy the Kid" which offers some nice closing variations of the themes. The CD itself is really short, and what's listed here is about half of the score tracks.
In the end the score is a bit too over the place and the writing is not strong enough to make it a score for everybody -- I can barely appreciate it myself on a random day, but it's for some fans. It's certainly not a top-shelf Shaiman. Often you will see this CD used for $6.00 -- that's about right. But one thing is for sure after hearing this, and assuming you are a tad bit familiar with stronger efforts, the man has the knack; why Hollywood ignores that, is beyond me.
Tracklisting
1. Main Title (2.42)
2. Career End (2.11)
3. Find Your Smile (6.07)
4. Walking Funny (1.25)
5. Cowabunga (2.29)
6. Young at Heart: Jimmy Durante (2.48)
7. Birth of Norman (5.23)
8. The River (5.48)
9. Mitchy the Kid (4.19)
10. Where Did my Heart Go?: James Ingram (3.52)
Total Length: 37.04
A traditional orchestral score with nary a synth, Shaiman offers a creative blend to a picture that could have otherwise been rot with heavy western cliches. The main theme itself is a cousin to the aforementioned Bernstein score, and gets some wonderful moments to shine, like in "Find Your Smile".
Stand out tracks include: "Career End", which tries to paint the city life of out main character with sax and guitar backing to show he had the spirit in him all along; "The River" which builds up in a dramatic way fans might not know the composer could do, and sports some nice dramatic and emotional writing; and "Mitchy the Kid" which offers some nice closing variations of the themes. The CD itself is really short, and what's listed here is about half of the score tracks.
In the end the score is a bit too over the place and the writing is not strong enough to make it a score for everybody -- I can barely appreciate it myself on a random day, but it's for some fans. It's certainly not a top-shelf Shaiman. Often you will see this CD used for $6.00 -- that's about right. But one thing is for sure after hearing this, and assuming you are a tad bit familiar with stronger efforts, the man has the knack; why Hollywood ignores that, is beyond me.
Tracklisting
1. Main Title (2.42)
2. Career End (2.11)
3. Find Your Smile (6.07)
4. Walking Funny (1.25)
5. Cowabunga (2.29)
6. Young at Heart: Jimmy Durante (2.48)
7. Birth of Norman (5.23)
8. The River (5.48)
9. Mitchy the Kid (4.19)
10. Where Did my Heart Go?: James Ingram (3.52)
Total Length: 37.04