{"id":3927,"date":"2011-12-13T01:55:52","date_gmt":"2011-12-13T06:55:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=3927"},"modified":"2011-12-13T01:55:52","modified_gmt":"2011-12-13T06:55:52","slug":"cd-trading-places-1983","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=3927","title":{"rendered":"CD: Trading Places (1983)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>T to U<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Rating: Excellent<\/p>\n

Label:\u00a0La-La Land Records<\/a> \/ Released: October 14, 2011<\/p>\n

Tracks & Album Length: 26 tracks \/ (48:00)<\/p>\n

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Special Notes: 24-page colour foldout booklet with liner notes by Jeff Bond \/ Limited to 2000 copies.<\/p>\n

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Composer: Elmer Bernstein \/ various<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/p>\n

Elmer Bernstein once explained in an old interview with Soundtrack magazine how his career was divided into specific periods, such as his comedy years, where he wrote important underscore and arrangements for directors Ivan Reitman (Meatballs<\/strong>) and John Landis (Animal House<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

The unique problem for Bernstein was where to apply score when most of his films for the two filmmakers relied on source music for comedic effect. As Johnny Mandel knew in the song-heavy Caddyshack<\/a><\/strong> (1980), there were specific areas where the need to compose or arrange material to dramatically match a scene was necessary, and after the success of the aforementioned films, Bernstein became their go-to guy because of his versatility.<\/p>\n

The composer was also blessed with a sense of humour, because as the arrangements of classical and Christmas tunes in Trading Places <\/strong>illustrates, he knew where one could create a sense of the absurd and the ridiculous through little gestures, and shifting the dramatic emphasis a wee bit without harming a song’s integrity.<\/p>\n

The dilemma for CD soundtrack producers is that while Bernstein\u2019s music works well, what original cues were actually composed for most of his early eighties comedies are sparse, if not short. In many cases, the music was designed to get into and out of scenes without delay, and there isn\u2019t much original material to fill even a half-hour album, which is why Trading Places<\/strong> is unique for having original music plus a wealth of full-length source cues (aka, a complete tune) arranged by Bernstein rather than pre-existing recordings.<\/p>\n

The CD\u2019s first third is comprised of score \u2013 essentially variations on \u201cThe Marriage of Figaro\u201d with slight bits of original Bernstein material \u2013 whereas the midsection is filled with source pieces that shift from classical to Christmas arrangements, and the CD closes with several alternate cues that function as a thematic wrap-up.<\/p>\n

As a whole, the CD manages to flow surprisingly well, perhaps because of the specific moods that carry the listener through satire, silliness, saccharine nonsense, strained emotionalism, and earnest gentility (the latter nicely evoked in \u201cO Little Town of Bethlehem\u201d). The arrangements are quite lovely, and their inherent harmonic beauty amped the humour of their corresponding scenes where Landis\u2019 goofball characters learn respective moral lessons after reaching financial extremes.<\/p>\n

What La-La Land may have unintentionally created was a snappy little Christmas album for the sardonic, the cynical, and the more sobered who never fully bought into the idealistic holiday cheer that\u2019s omnipresent each December. Jeff Bond\u2019s liner notes give a solid overview of Bernstein\u2019s comedy phase, the film\u2019s production and a cue-by-cue breakdown, and most likely after finishing the fat booklet, listeners will give the CD another spin to re-absorb some of the nuances buried in Bernstein\u2019s long-lost gem.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2011 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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External References:<\/p>\n

IMDB <\/a>— Soundtrack Album<\/a> — Composer Filmography<\/a><\/p>\n

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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack Reviews<\/a> <\/em>\/\u00a0T to U<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to:\u00a0Home \/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews \/ T to U . Rating: Excellent Label:\u00a0La-La Land Records \/ Released: October 14, 2011 Tracks & Album Length: 26 tracks \/ (48:00) . Special Notes: 24-page colour foldout booklet with liner notes by Jeff Bond \/ Limited to 2000 copies. . Composer: Elmer Bernstein \/ various . . Review: Elmer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[937,938],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-11l","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3927"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3927"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3940,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3927\/revisions\/3940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}