{"id":6136,"date":"2013-02-15T12:57:26","date_gmt":"2013-02-15T17:57:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=6136"},"modified":"2013-02-15T14:50:22","modified_gmt":"2013-02-15T19:50:22","slug":"cd-bye-bye-birdie-1963","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=6136","title":{"rendered":"CD: Bye Bye Birdie (1963)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>B<\/a><\/p>\n

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

Label: Sony Masterworks\/ Released: January 8, 2013<\/p>\n

Tracks & Album Length: 19 tracks \/ (52:00)<\/p>\n

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Special Notes: Newly expanded 50th Anniversary Edition.<\/p>\n

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Composer: Charles Strouse (music), Lee Adams (lyrics)<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/p>\n

Sony\u2019s newly expanded CD marks the 50th anniversary of the film version of Bye Bye Birdie<\/strong>. Perhaps due to the stage musical\u2019s inspiration from the teen furor that followed Elvis\u2019 drafting into the U.S. Army, the lyrics and score sometimes sway very close to a shrillness that evokes banks of hyperactive teens \u2013 but it works extremely well in the film.<\/p>\n

The title song \u2013 written to support reshoots of an opening & closing montage where de facto star Ann-Margret belts the song with gusto to the camera (and us) \u2013 is the most aggressive work in the film, whereas the rest of the music is either a pop-jazz fusion, rock-orchestra, or silky ballads. The more satirical tunes \u2013 the anthem \u201cWe Love You Conrad,\u201d the parental lament \u201cKids,\u201d and especially the choral Ed Sullivan ode \u201cHymn for a Sunday Evening\u201d \u2013 are a witty blend of absurdity and melodic & harmonic elegance. \u201cThe Telephone Hour\u201d is more close to the boy-girl warring tone of \u201cWe Love You Conrad,\u201d albeit in a ditsy teeny-bop structure.<\/p>\n

The tunes crooned by Conrad Birdie are bawdy, lyrically elliptical, and they insinuate the character\u2019s cradle-robbing leanings. The bopping rhythms and twanging electric guitar still hold their own as musical satire, and there\u2019s sometimes a surreal celebratory quality to Jesse Pearson\u2019s singing (which makes sense, given Birdie has an enormous ego that disallows for any self-criticism or misgivings).<\/p>\n

Separated from the film, Charles Strouse\u2019s music and Lee Adams\u2019 lyrics sound more compact, and their tight structure give the album a brisk pace in spite of the expanded running time. RCA\u2019s 1988 CD replicated the original LP contents at 38 mins, whereas their 2003 40th anniversary edition separated the opening and closing tracks with their own indexes, and interpolated three bonus tracks between the existing racks: \u201cOne Last Kiss (Gym Rehearsal Outtake)\u201d with its more laidback arrangement, the film track from Janet Leigh\u2019s \u201cThe Sultan\u2019s Ballet (Film Version)\u201d, and a reprise of the title theme.<\/p>\n

That 45 minute running time\u2019s been boosted by another 7 mins. in Sony’s new CD, with three new cues placed at the very end: the refined film version of \u201cOne Last Kiss\u201d heard during the Ed Sullivan performance; a mono mix-down of the title song which blends in some of the chorus from \u201cWe Love You Conrad\u201d plus a pop-rock beat; and more successfully, a slight Bossa Nova version of \u201cHow Lovely to be a Woman\u201d with breezy strings that may have been concocted for airplay on jazz stations, given the score is comprised of a heavy jazz orchestra contingent.<\/p>\n

The mastering of the cues is fairly balanced, but there are marked differences in fidelity between the obvious studio recorded songs with their meticulous stereo imaging, and material either taken from the stereo film mix, or material later re-mixed with elements from the film soundtrack (such as Janet Leigh\u2019s verbal calls during the mostly instrumental burlesque piece \u201cThe Sultan\u2019s Ballet.\u201d).<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2013 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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External References:<\/p>\n

IMDB <\/a>— Blu-ray Review<\/a> — Soundtrack Album<\/a> — Composer Filmography<\/a><\/p>\n

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Select Merchants:<\/p>\n

Amazon.ca<\/a>\"\" —<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" —<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a>\"\" —\u00a0BSX<\/a> —\u00a0Intrada<\/a> —\u00a0SAE<\/a><\/p>\n

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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack Reviews<\/a> <\/em>\/\u00a0B<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to:\u00a0Home \/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews \/ B . Rating: Excellent Label: Sony Masterworks\/ Released: January 8, 2013 Tracks & Album Length: 19 tracks \/ (52:00) . Special Notes: Newly expanded 50th Anniversary Edition. . Composer: Charles Strouse (music), Lee Adams (lyrics) . . Review: Sony\u2019s newly expanded CD marks the 50th anniversary of the film version […]<\/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":[837,1597,1599,1858],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-1AY","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6136"}],"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=6136"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6154,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6136\/revisions\/6154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}