{"id":6597,"date":"2013-05-14T10:47:19","date_gmt":"2013-05-14T14:47:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=6597"},"modified":"2013-05-14T13:32:07","modified_gmt":"2013-05-14T17:32:07","slug":"cd-first-love-1977","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=6597","title":{"rendered":"CD: First Love (1977)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>F<\/a><\/p>\n

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

Label:\u00a0La-La Land Records<\/a> \/ Released: January 29, 2013<\/p>\n

Tracks & Album Length: 22 tracks \/ (57:45)<\/p>\n

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Special Notes: 16-page colour booklet with liner notes by Jeff Bond \/ Limited to 2000 copies.<\/p>\n

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Composer: John Barry<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/p>\n

La-La Land rescues a previously unreleased John Barry score from 1977, one of seven<\/em> film and TV projects composed during a very busy year, which included The Deep <\/strong>and The Gathering<\/a> <\/strong>[M<\/a>].<\/p>\n

Barry was among a handful of top-level composers who managed to move between TV and theatrical projects without any stigma, and the production of First Love<\/strong> was in fact a hybrid of both worlds: The Partridge Family<\/strong>\u2019s Susan Dey was reasserting her career with more adult-themed stories, co-star William Katt was fresh off of Carrie<\/strong> (and would shortly appear in Big Wednesday<\/a><\/strong>), and prolific TV director Joan Darling was making one of two rare forays into theatrical films.<\/p>\n

Barry\u2019s score features his lush string writing, and a thematic structure slightly reminiscent of Body Heat<\/strong> (1981), especially the theme\u2019s slow-burning style. A jazzy bass line is barely perceptible under the theme\u2019s sensuous chords, and Barry uses an airy descending motif and gentle harpsichord to accentuate the theme\u2019s beats. The title track also contains a short digression where electric bass and trumpet engage in a little duel before an abrupt deceleration, with flutes reintroducing the melody and kick-starting the cue\u2019s thematic replay.<\/p>\n

Other variations emphasize breathy flutes which capture the curiosity between the two lovers and the insecurity of their relationship which, as the score\u2019s tone arguably suggests, will peter out after a lengthy period of euphoria. Less successful, if not a little intrusive, are two source cues by Barry which jar his soothing music: the synth-blues \u201cElgin\u2019s Room,\u201d and the synthetic burlesque \u201cThe Hallway,\u201d which feels more typical of the quirky pop-jazz cues in Tinto Brass\u2019 quirky canon.<\/p>\n

While neither a standout score in his C.V., First Love<\/strong> is quite charming, and Barry\u2019s gift for melody and mood are in top form for what was a minor drama that\u2019s pretty much disappeared from circulation. It would be a nice surprise if the film emerges from oblivion, allowing affected listeners to see how the music worked in the film, but as the CD\u2019s liner notes reveal, Paramount executives had reservations of the score\u2019s \u2018mature\u2019 tone, and Barry\u2019s music was reduced to 8 minutes, with songs by Paul Williams and Cat Stevens taking over the soundtrack. Additional instrumental cues are attributed to Carmine Coppola and Jean Sibelius, and the rather indignant treatment motivated Barry to request his name be removed from the film. (The extensive replacement recalls two other partial rejections experienced by the composer: The Golden Child<\/a> <\/strong>[M<\/a>], and Mike\u2019s Murder<\/strong>.)<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2013 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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Select Merchants:<\/p>\n

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

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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack Reviews<\/a> <\/em>\/\u00a0F<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to:\u00a0Home \/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews \/ F . Rating: Very Good Label:\u00a0La-La Land Records \/ Released: January 29, 2013 Tracks & Album Length: 22 tracks \/ (57:45) . Special Notes: 16-page colour booklet with liner notes by Jeff Bond \/ Limited to 2000 copies. . Composer: John Barry . . Review: La-La Land rescues a previously […]<\/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":[2038,283],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-1Ip","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6597"}],"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=6597"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6619,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6597\/revisions\/6619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}