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

Check out Part 1

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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Various Artists - American Gangster
Almost all the material on the American Gangster soundtrack that does not originate from the early ’70s or prior is engineered to at least sound like the early ’70s: two excellent Anthony Hamilton songs produced by Bomb Squad innovator Hank Shocklee (both of which feature string arrangements from Willie Mitchell), as well as a handful of instrumentals produced and directed by Shocklee (including a version of Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Checkin’ Up on My Baby”) that cook. The music that was originally released during the early ’70s or earlier makes for a mini-compilation of soul and blues classics. Read more >>

Various Artists - Control
Initial screenings of Control were met with no short amount of praise, including a standing ovation at Cannes and approval from each surviving member of Joy Division, so it is not a surprise that the film’s soundtrack — released the same day as Rhino’s Joy Division “collector’s edition” (not to be confused with “deluxe edition”) reissues of Unknown Pleasures, Closer, and Still — is commendable as well, put together with similar degrees of knowledge and care, though a second disc containing New Order’s full score would not have been a bad thing. Nearly every proto-punk artist a Joy Division expert would expect to hear in the film’s background is represented: a who’s who featuring the Velvet Underground, Roxy Music, Kraftwerk, Iggy Pop, and two David Bowies (the glam and Berlin/Eno Bowies). Read more >>

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