{"id":5372,"date":"2012-08-07T13:28:25","date_gmt":"2012-08-07T17:28:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=5372"},"modified":"2012-08-07T13:28:25","modified_gmt":"2012-08-07T17:28:25","slug":"cd-mommie-dearest-1981","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=5372","title":{"rendered":"CD: Mommie Dearest (1981)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>M<\/a><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Rating: Very Good<\/p>\n

Label: La-La Land Records<\/a> \/ Released: May 8, 2012<\/p>\n

Tracks & Album Length: 23 tracks \/ (51:00)<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

.<\/span><\/p>\n

Composer: Henry Mancini<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

Review:<\/p>\n

Fans of Frank Perry\u2019s adaptation of the famous Joan Crawford tell-all bio are well aware of the film\u2019s inherent kitsch, but the film wouldn\u2019t have its strange haunting quality without Henry Mancini\u2019s score, grounded by one of his loveliest main themes.<\/p>\n

In its simplicity and economy, the theme manages telescope everything one needs to know about the central characters, Crawford\u2019s mood swings, and the contrast between an idyllic life as glossily portrayed in Hollywood fanzines, and the private, abusive relationship between mother Joan and daughter Christina.<\/p>\n

Typical of his smooth style, Mancini\u2019s theme moves from a pensive introduction to a smooth, almost reassuring chord change, but the shift back to the delicate melody supports the film\u2019s ongoing contrast between illusion and reality. Slight touches \u2013 such as a brief solo violin at the beginning of \u201cMay Darling Daughter\u201d – also suggest specific time periods without overtly mimicking the scoring style of the era.<\/p>\n

A repeated pattern on piano or harp infers ongoing tension within Christina\u2019s life as she becomes aware of her unique life the child of a movie icon, and the step-like ascension of the melody sets up scenes like chapters, recapping characters with revisions to their emotional states, like the brief \u201cThe Little Star,\u201d which consists of two distinct moods that never coalesce into a firm statement. The harmonic structure of the score\u2019s rare, overtly dramatic statements \u2013 notably \u201cBattle Axe\u201d \u2013 share the idiosyncratic construction of Mancini\u2019s Lifeforce<\/strong> (1985), where a spiraling theme seems to eddy upwards with short, strained pauses to accent an already tense cue.<\/p>\n

La-La Land\u2019s CD features the complete score (including unused cues) plus light, jazzy source music and a few alternate cues, and the mastering is unsurprisingly first-rate. The score\u2019s thematic repetition isn\u2019t severe, but it does get a little heavy towards the end.<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2012 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

External References:<\/p>\n

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

.<\/span><\/p>\n

Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack Reviews<\/a> <\/em>\/\u00a0M<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to:\u00a0Home \/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews \/ M . Rating: Very Good Label: La-La Land Records \/ Released: May 8, 2012 Tracks & Album Length: 23 tracks \/ (51:00) . Special Notes: 24-page colour booklet with liner notes by Jeff Bond \/ Limited to 2000 copies. . Composer: Henry Mancini . . Review: Fans of Frank Perry\u2019s […]<\/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":[1474,225,1473],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-1oE","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5372"}],"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=5372"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5375,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5372\/revisions\/5375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}