Though he was one of 20th century America’s greatest songwriters, Richard Rodgers was not much for singing himself. Members of his immediate family recall that they never heard his singing voice — that he didn’t even sing in the shower. However, he did apparently record some demos in 1934, when he and lyricist Lorenz Hart were under the gun to provide songs for the film Mississippi (1935) starring Bing Crosby. Perhaps singer Jerry Cooper was late to the demo recording session, because Rodgers — it is believed, as there is no identification given on the original records — ended up singing the first seven numbers himself, with Lorenz Hart pitching in on the first tune, “No Bottom,” as well. As heard here, Rodgers’ singing is reedy but surprisingly tuneful and endearing, and these recordings underscore his strong affinity for melody.

These vocal rarities appear on Harbinger’s newly released Richard Rodgers: Command Performance. It is the first package in any format –- tape, LP or disc -– to concentrate solely on Richard Rodgers as a performer, and it includes items ranging from Ampico piano rolls Rodgers cut in 1926 to a radio interview recorded in 1971 in which he discusses the nature of his collaborations with Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II. Rodgers was not a flamboyant showman in the vein of George Gershwin, and he reserved his performing skills for promotional activities like pitches to potential backers, radio guest appearances, and obligatory first night stints leading the band on Broadway.

Rodgers, however, was a fine pianist whose elegant playing matched the nature of his music. Hearing it affords a rare glimpse of his personality, something he wasn’t always dying to reveal to the public at large. Many of the songs on this collection are obscure, and one would have loved to hear him play, say, “Carousel Waltz” or “March of the Siamese Children” from The King and I, but such recordings weren’t made. Equally fascinating are the vintage photos included, featuring Rodgers in his twenties, freshly scrubbed and looking like an accountant for a Wall Street firm.

Richard Rodgers, voice & piano: No Bottom

Richard Rodgers, voice & piano: Pablo, You Are My Heart

Richard Rodgers, piano (from piano roll): The Girl Friend

Richard Rodgers, piano (from radio broadcast): My Heart Stood Still

The music of 1968, the subject of our latest AllMusic Loves feature, captures the extreme conflict and rebelliousness — the Vietnam War, the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, riots in the U.S. and Paris, the Prague Spring — in all its blazing beauty and abject horrors. In classical music, a number of important strides were made in terms of making avant-garde styles accessible to a large public it had never had before, which has to be addressed here rather than in our feature’s lists, as true CD re-releases do not exist for most of those albums. The big event in 1968 classical music was the release of Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey and its two corresponding soundtrack albums on the long-defunct MGM Records label. In addition to the big tune by Richard Strauss and the Viennese waltz music used in the film, the masses were introduced for the first time to then way-out-there composers like György Ligeti and Anton Webern. CBS Masterworks’ knock-off on 2001 featured Leonard Bernstein’s recordings of the Strauss — and yes, some Ligeti — but added a suite from Karl Birger-Blöhmdahl’s “space opera” Aniara.

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In spite of the lack of any of the customary hoopla, the Golden Globes did in fact get awarded on Sunday. The choice of Best Original Score, Dario Marianelli’s for Atonement, reflects the cautious trend in the selection of many of the other winners, where conventional nominees tended to get more recognition than some of the edgier films and artists. Marianelli’s music is lushly romantic, with a bittersweet quality that fits the subject, and with appropriate allusions to the music of the period. It’s also clever, and its distinctive and memorable use of the typewriter as a percussion element may have been what pushed it to the top. (For an in-depth look at the typewriter as a musical instrument, see David Jeffries’ recent post, “The Atonement Soundtrack and Other Great Moments in Typewriter Music”) Overall, it’s a fine but entirely conventional score; it’ll be interesting to see if the Academy Awards will have the same conservative tilt as the Golden Globes this year.

Atonement: Robbie’s Note
Atonement: Dénouement

Out of print for several years, the popular soundtrack to Joseph L. Mankiewicz’ film version of Guys and Dolls is back and better than ever. Featuring the sophisticated songs of Frank Loesser, this 2007 Blue Moon reissue boasts legendary renditions by Frank Sinatra as Nathan Detroit, Jean Simmons as Sister Sarah, Vivian Blaine as Miss Adelaide, and Marlon Brando as Sky Masterson, along with bonus tracks of numbers from the Broadway musical not included in the movie. For anyone who loved the marvelous Damon Runyon characters and the film’s lavish production, but lamented the omitted musical numbers (and dubious additions for the movie, such as “Pet Me, Poppa” and “Adelaide”), this disc provides everything you need for the full Runyonland experience.

Fugue for Tinhorns
Guys and Dolls
Adelaide’s Lament
Luck Be a Lady
Sue Me
Sit Down, You’re Rocking the Boat

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Original Soundtrack - Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Australian buddies Nick Cave and Warren Ellis spent a lot of time on the prairie in 2005 and 2007, laying down music for (and even appearing in) the westerns Proposition and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. While the former relied heavily on Cave’s doom-laden vocals, Assassination focuses on fellow Bad Seed, Grinderman and founding member of the Dirty Three Warren Ellis’ violin and Celeste-tinged audio landscapes to color the “new” Old West. Like a music box tipped on its’ side in the desert, Cave and Ellis’ all instrumental soundtrack occasionally echoes familiar genre exercises (check out the Morricone-esque “Song For Jesse”), but it’s long, languid motifs are as spread out as the film’s 160-minute run time. Read more >>

Trevor Jones - Dark Crystal: 25th Anniversary
The fantasy film The Dark Crystal is a live-action feature performed entirely by puppets created by the Jim Henson organization, also responsible for the Muppets. As such, it is visually unusual, but Trevor Jones’ score is a traditional orchestral work in the Hollywood tradition. In Randall D. Larson’s liner notes to the 25th anniversary edition of the soundtrack album (reissued to coincide with a similarly commemorative DVD release), Jones reveals that the initial idea was to come up with music just as inventive as the look of the film, but that plan was abandoned when it was decided that audiences needed something to feel comfortable with in contrast to what they were seeing. Read more >>

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