"West Side Story Original Soundtrack" (October, 1961)

Dad's Take:

From the initial finger-snapping, there's no doubt that this is Bob Fosse (Or "Don Fosse," as I call him when talking to my Fosse-fanatic wife). West Side Story was not just a hit. It was a phenomenon. Bringing modern (at the time) jazz and rock and roll to Broadway with a streetwise, hipster, racially charged twist on Romeo and Juliette, this musical revolutionized Broadway in 1957 and set the charts on fire when the movie was released in 1961. 54 weeks atop the U.S. album chart, and 175 weeks on the chart in Britain, where it also hit number one.

West Side Story is so heavy with jazzy dance numbers that just listening is only a partial experience, even more so than with other musicals. But the music stands out, so that experience, incomplete as it is, is still pretty spectacular. And if you've seen the movie (and, really, who hasn't) your brain will fill in the pictures even if, like me, you don't have every strut and finger snap memorized.

This record was released three months after I was born, but it was still everywhere when I became old enough to notice. I mean, fifty years later it's still hard to avoid, and it's still a moving experience. As silly as the choreographed "fight scene" might seem in our more realistic time, this remains one of the most beloved soundtracks in Broadway history.

Whether it's your cuppa or not, there's no way to deny this album a spot on any list of classic albums. In the history of the long-playing record, there's been very little that can compare with the phenomenal success of this record.

Brad's Take:


I think I am one of the only humans who has seen this movie less than two times. That's right, I've only seen it once. But even after seeing it that one time, I make references to it all the time by hunching over and snapping my fingers, and then slowly moving my arm in front of me like I'm holding a switchblade.

I had forgotten how jazzy the soundtrack was. It's obviously a film score, but I like it a lot, especially with all of the finger snaps. I love how intense some of the songs get. It's the most intense jazz music I've heard. It makes me feel like a mouse getting chased by a cat.

The instrumental songs were my favorites. Like every musical, the songs with the characters singing are cheesy, but it's hard to deny the classics like "I Feel Pretty."

This isn't an album I'd just put on when I'm wanting to listen to music, but for what it is, it's really fun. I feel like saying the name "Maria" over and over and over and over and over now...

South Pacific Soundtrack, by Various Artists (March, 1958)

Brad's Take:


Once again, we have a soundtrack to review. I have never seen the actual Broadway show or film South Pacific so it's kind of hard to get really into this.

The film stars Rossano Brazzi and Mitzi Gaynor, but apparently for the soundtrack, Brazzi's vocals were overdubbed by Giorgio Tozzi. I'm actually interested in watching the movie because I would love to compare Brazzi's voice to Tozzi's. Giorgio Tozzi sounds way too much like Dracula. I can't take his vocals seriously at all. I just imagine Dracula trying to re-invent himself by starring in a romance movie to show the world that he actually does have a sensitive side that wants love... not just blood.

The orchestration is good, and Mitzi Gaynor's voice is great, but the vocals by Dracula Tozzi are "bloody" distracting (in a bad way, if I haven't made that clear yet.) There are some good songs though. I like "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair." I can imagine that was every teenage girl's anthem when their boyfriend's were jerks.

I didn't really get into this album much at all. I feel like there are probably far better soundtracks that could have taken the place of this one in 1958, but for what it is, it's better than "okay" but I wouldn't call it a "classic."

Dad's Take:

Great. Now I'm going to hear Dracula, whether I want to or not. Thanks, Brad.

I've seen "South Pacific," of course, but I can't claim to know it very well. We used to listen to the Hi-Lo's version of "Bali Ha'i" before a play I was in in high school, so that's the song I know best, in a much different version.

And, yeah, I hear Dracula. Thanks again, Brad. Bela Lugosi singing "Some Enchanted Evening." Wow.

South Pacific is a great musical. It even became the first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Like most musicals, the songs make the most sense in the context of the play. Although there are some great songs here that stand on their own, most are best when watching the show or if you know the show well enough that the songs conjure up visions of the play.

"Bali Ha'i" is a great song (although I prefer the Hi-Lo's version, but then I'm a sucker for harmony vocals), as is "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out Of My Hair" (which Brad is too young to associate with a certain TV commercial) and "Some Enchanted Evening." "There Is Nothing Like a Dame" sounds like Stan Freberg to me, but that's because Freberg is great at capturing the feel of a musical in some of his production numbers. "Honey Bun" is also a fun song.

"You've Got To Be Carefully Taught" is interesting now in light of its controversial nature when the musical came out, with it's justification of interracial marriage, which at the time was deemed indecent and "pro-communist" and a threat to the American way of life. The song inspired a bill in Georgia that outlawed entertainment that contained "an underlying philosophy inspired by Moscow" when the musical toured the southern United States. The writers of the musical refused to remove the song because it reflected the whole reason they wanted to do the play in the first place.

On its own, as an album, with only a weak mental context for the songs, and now with that vision of Dracula stuck in my head, it doesn't stand up as well on its own. But it's mostly an enjoyable listen anyway. I think Brad would like it more if he watched it instead of just listening. The songs are meant to be acted and danced, not merely listened to.