2x DICK TRACY Film Soundtrack OST LPs 1990 DANNY ELFMAN Madonna Warren Beatty M

	£		30
	$		40

Here I have for sale 2 Dick Tracy soundtrack albums – score and songs from the 1990 film. Both MINT.

Labels: Sire Records
Country: Germany
Years: 1990
Vinyls: MINT. Clean on visual inspection. Never been played since new!!!!
Covers and sleeves: MINT. Colours are unfaded and no tears on sleeves. Fine examples. Never been played since new!!!!

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1. Song album.

Track listing

1. Ridin' The Rails (02:19) – k.d. lang and Take 6
2. Pep, Vim And Verve (03:21) – Jeff Vincent and Andy Paley
3. It Was The Whiskey Talkin' (Not Me) (03:41) – Jerry Lee Lewis
4. You're In The Doghouse Now (02:00) – Brenda Lee
5. Some Lucky Day (02:35) – Andy Paley
6. Blue Nights (02:44) – Tommy Page
7. Wicked Woman, Foolish Man (02:14) – August Darnell
8. The Confidence Man (02:24) – Patti Austin
9. Looking Glass Sea (02:47) – Erasure
10. Dick Tracy (02:40) – Ice-T
11. Slow Rollin' Mama (02:26) – LaVern Baker
12. Rompin' & Stompin' (02:11) – Al Jarreau
13. Mr. Fix-It (1930's version) (03:00) – Darlene Love
14. Mr. Fix-it (03:15) – Darlene Love
15. It Was The Whiskey Talkin' (Not Me)(Rock & Roll Version) (03:01) – Jerry Lee Lewis
16.  Dick Tracy (90's Mix) (05:31) – Ice-T

Total Duration: 00:46:09

Review:

Produced and partly written by Andy Paley, this is a nice surprise -- a collection of original material designed as source music for the movie (with some more modern alternate versions that only appear on the album).

Paley seems to have taken the mandate given him quite seriously -- the songs here take a variety of styles from circa 1930 to 1939 and run with them. You have a nice mix as a result, from blues belters (Patti Austin's "The Confidence Man") to Cab Calloway stylings ("Wicked Woman, Foolish Man," sung by August Darnell, who takes many of his own performing cues from Calloway, and does him proud here) to the Western swing of "It Was the Whiskey Talkin' (Not Me)," sung by Jerry Lee Lewis and sounding as though the CD player has suddenly turned into a Victrola spinning at 78 rpm.

Even better than all of these, you have "Pep, Vim and Verve" performed by Jeff Vincent and Andy Paley, backed by the White Heat Swing Orchestra; this following k.d. Lang and Take 6 doing "Ridin' the Rails" -- a one-two opening combination. Even Ice-T's track, "Dick Tracy," manages to work because a) it really isn't a rap and b) its tongue is firmly in cheek (though there's a strong wish here that it had been done Spike Jones fashion).

Again, unlike Prince's Batman, this album may work because it was conceived as part and parcel of the movie itself, rather than being thrown in as an afterthought along the way. Because of this, there's a stronger connectivity to the whole musical structure, from Madonna's album (on which a couple of songs originally meant for this album wound up) to this one, and the Danny Elfman underscore.

This is an album recommended for the performances and the overall energy that went into it.


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2. Danny Elfman score

Track listing

1. Main Titles (03:36)
2. After The "Kid" (01:45)
3. Crime Spree (01:53)
4. Breathless' Theme (02:13)
5. Big Boys/Bad Boys (02:10)
6. Tess' Theme (01:09)
7. "Slimy D.A." (01:41)
8. Breathless Comes On (02:54)
9. Meet The 'Blank' (01:43)
10. The Story Unfolds (01:59)
11. 'Blank' Gets The Goods (02:25)
12. Rooftops (02:01)
13. Tess' Theme (01:17) Reprise
14. The Chase (02:57)
15. Showdown/Re-United (04:07)
16. Finale (01:00)

Total Duration: 00:34:50

Review:
Just as Danny Elfman is the composer-of-choice for superhero / comic-book films in 2003, so he was in 1990.  Having just come off Batman, which is probably responsible for the slew of (weaker) efforts that have followed ever since, he was a natural choice to score Warren Beatty's extravagant Dick Tracy, with a genuine all-star cast including Beatty, Madonna, Al Pacino, James Caan, Michael J. Pollard, Paul Sorvino, Dustin Hoffman, Dick van Dyke (!) and Kathy Bates, among others.

Elfman's score obviously takes its cue from his Batman effort, with a similar(ish) main theme, though it's not as memorable this time around.  He injects a real old-fashioned air into it, with Prohibition jazz prominent in tracks like "Crime Spree" - this is probably where the score works best.  There are various secondary themes as well, such as the Golden Age-type one for Breathless, probably the pick of the bunch.

Unfortunately this is nothing like as strong an effort as Batman.  Various tracks (like "Meet the Blank" here) just travel along without having much to say; while Elfman trademarks are certainly present through the album, his music was nothing like as well-developed back then as it is now.  Another very large hindrance is the muddy recording which makes the orchestra sound much smaller than it probably was - you're pining for music like this to sound big and punchy, but instead it's somewhat limp.

At the time of the film's release, an album of Madonna songs far overshadowed the score album (Batman was probably the first film to have separate songs and score albums released; and Dick Tracy was probably the second!) and it is now rather difficult to find.  But it's worth persevering, for Elfman fans.


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Please see my other soundtrack listings.

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