SOUNDTRACKS
Soundtracks are a lot more than movie music...

...or so I'm ready to argue as a 30 year devotee of this sorely under appreciated genre.  So, in an effort to do my part, each week
I'll be making recommendations of soundtracks current and vintage, make a fuss over long awaited soundtrack scores finally getting
a well deserved release, and in general, make some noise about this often overlooked category.  Beyond my long experience as a
listener and as a pianist and songwriter, both of which I've put to use in writing a quarterly soundtrack column for the
Chicago
Tribune, I can only offer my recommendations.  You'll discern my taste soon enough and upfront I'd like to make it clear that I'll
focus most heavily on SCORE soundtracks.  In the end, all criticism is subjective but if I can point a listener toward a little heard
soundtrack or strongly advise you to either ORDER IMMEDIATELY or SKIP ALTOGETHER, all the better.
A few weeks back my soundtrack column focused on some of the delicious pop groovy
sounds of the swingin' sixties.  At that time, one of my faves from the era, The Swimmer, was
an out of print hard to find LP (though I managed to find a rather nice CDR of it -- I'm
nothing if not determined when it comes to my soundtrack hunting).

Now comes glorious news -- Film Score Monthly is releasing a limited edition CD of the score.
 And the news gets better -- it's going to contain additional cues not heard on the original
LP.  So guess who's already ordered their copy.

Now don't delay -- this is one fabulush piece of pop sugar and also has the first of composer
Marvin Hamlisch's many haunting themes.  I'm a huge fan of Hamlisch's film scores and will
do a separate column on him down the road.  He's syrupy and schmaltzy but can write a
melody to beat the band (I'm also crazy for a lot of his Sweet Smell of Success Broadway
music -- especially what should have been the "11 o'clock number" -- "At the Fountain.")

Now if we could only get his score for the 1984 Ann Margret-Treat Williams TV version of
A
Streetcar Named Desire
on CD I'd be thrilled.

Oh yeah -- I'd also like to see
The Swimmer released on DVD.  It's a wonderful study of
suburban ennui -- one of Burt Lancaster's best (and he looks mighty fetching in and out of
those swim trunks).  Janice Rule and an expert supporting cast (including two TV commercial
icons -- Madge "you're soaking in it" and the guy with the bad headaches that needed the
Nyquil already) are also memorable in this very interesting 1968 drama.  

Order your copy of the score now!  I'm not getting a cut of this but I know that once these
limited editions are gone THAT'S IT.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Don't forget to check out previous soundtrack recommendations by visiting the
ARCHIVES


Next Week:  TBD
We're finally getting a limited
edition CD release of
Marvin
Hamlisch's first score for The
Swimmer
(soundtrack cover and
the film poster seen above)  
Yeah!!!  Courtesy of Film Score
Monthly.  I think Hamlisch's
score, done when he was just 19
at home in his sweaty Manhattan
apartment, is one terrific little
score.