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.
Previewing a batch of comedy DVDs for this week's recommendation led me to pull out my
worn copy of
Young Frankenstein, one of my all time fave dialogue-music soundtrack combos.  
Film composer John Morris had a wonderful collaboration with Mel Brooks.  All of Brooks’ zany
masterpieces are complemented by Morris’ equally wonderful scores.  The greatest of these,
in my estimation, of course, is the music that Morris composed for 1974’s
Young
Frankenstein.  I think this is Brooks’ masterpiece because unlike many of his other films,
parodying the old Universal horror classics gave Brooks a visual jumping off point that only
serves to heighten the comedy.  Morris’ elegant and witty score – much of it surrounding the
familiar piece that’s used to soothe Peter Boyle’s monster – “Transylvanian Lullaby” – also
pays homage to the classic Universal horror movie scores of Hans Salter and certainly the
score for
The Bride of Frankenstein which was composed by Franz Waxman and recycled time
and again in other horror pictures by Universal.

Morris’ score for
Young Frankenstein has never gotten a release – though much of what he
wrote can be heard under the very funny dialogue on an album that defunct label ABC
Records released when the film turned out to be a big hit.  As a huge fan of the movie, my
copy of the album (which came with a gate fold and had lots of stills from the movie inside)
is scratched beyond belief and like many
Young Frankenstein fans, I can recite pretty much
the entire movie by rote (“Put zee candle beck,” “He vas my boyfriend,” etc.)  All these
dialogue highlights are here – along with the Gene Wilder/Peter Boyle performance of
“Puttin’ on the Ritz.”  

The album went out of print, was given a brief release on CD in the 1990s, and just as
quickly disappeared.  The album’s easy to track down at bargain prices but the CD can easily
top $100 at E-Bay auctions.  With the film’s release on DVD it’s just as easy to jump to
appropriate moments of dialogue but the soundtrack album does have the advantage in
one instance: that’s the inclusion of the “Young Frankenstein Theme” as the last track.  It
would seem at first glance to be just a reprise of Morris’ lovely, haunting main title but it’s
actually one of those hideous/fabu-lush disco arrangements of the song – complete with
howling winds, thunder and lightning, etc.  It’s worth tracking down JUST for this one hilarious
lapse of taste – wretched excess and a nod to the market place of the era (the
Close
Encounters of the Third Kind
soundtrack also featured a disco arrangement of the title song –
but it was included as a 45 so as not to sully the work of John Williams).

Brooks, of course, went on to several more successes and his collaboration with Morris
continued as well.  Highlights from their work together was included on what was called the
High Anxiety soundtrack, which was released by Asylum Records in 1978.  This actually only
included five tracks, including Brook’s very funny performance of the title song (which he also
wrote).  Selections from
The Producers, Blazing Saddles (including Khan’s comic masterpiece
“I'm Tired”), the main title and “Puttin’ on the Ritz” from
Young Frankenstein, and two tracks
from
Silent Movie round out the album.  This also, unfortunately, soon went out of print and
has never gotten a CD release.  Funny stuff all!

Morris, who probably reached his composing height with the beautiful and haunting score for
The Elephant Man in 1980 (which is available on CD), deserves a compilation all his own.  His
work is melodic enough to be separated from Brooks and is a delightful listening experience
on its own.

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Next Week:  TBD
The cover of the Young Frankenstein
soundtrack, a rare and expensive
find on CD and the
High Anxiety
cover which includes selections from
other Mel Brooks comedies.  Brooks
is pictured above because I couldn't
find a photo of film composer
John
Morris
, his brilliant collaborator on
Brooks' hilarious parody films.