"The Sound of Music" Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (March, 1965)

Dad's Take:

I remember when I was very small, going with my parents to see this movie at the drive-in, probably in Oakland. Even as a tyke, the movie held my interest. Long after mom and dad told us to go to sleep in the back seat, I still watched the movie. I'm sure I watched it at least to the point where little Nazi Rolf threatens the family in the convent and then chickens out. I remember feeling afraid. My mom had this record, and it became part of the soundtrack of my childhood.

Later, when I lived in Austria, not far from the area where the movie was made, I remember American tourists wanting to find the sights and sounds from the movie. They were less interested in tracking down anything having to do with the real Von Trapp family (and a good thing too, because learning the actual history of the family spoils the illusions of this highly inaccurate story). They wanted to find places they saw in the movie. They wanted to hear Austrians singing that old-time Austrian folksong, "Edelweiss," which is not an Austrian folksong at all but rather a song written for the musical by a couple of New Yorkers.

This is one of the most beloved musicals of all time, and was a huge sensation when it hit the screen. Its popularity continues to this day. Many of the songs have become classics, like "Maria," "Sixteen Going on Seventeen," "My Favorite Things," "So Long, Farewell," "Climb Ev'ry Mountain," "Do-Re-Mi," and, yes, "Edelweiss." The soundtrack is like a greatest hits album. No matter whether you know the musical very well or not (and who doesn't?), you know the songs.

The album is not without it's clunky moments. Like the movie, the songs often slip into sappy sentimentality. And I cringe every time I hear the party goers sing "Goodbye" in unison at the end of "So Long, Farewell." I'm also not a big fan of the Reverend Mother's voice on "Climb Ev'ry Mountain."

But overall, this is a solid soundtrack. I've already mentioned many of the popular songs. I've always been a bit of a sucker for "The Lonely Goatherd," even if it really makes very little sense in the context of the story. And, sure, I'll admit it, I've never quite lost my boyhood crush on Liesl, the oldest daughter.

There was a time in my life when I loved this soundtrack more than I do now. It has suffered from over-exposure. But it's a classic, and it's fun to dig out every once in a while.

Brad's Take:


I don't think I have seen this movie more than twice in my whole life so I'm not very familiar with these songs, aside from the total classics like the title track, "Sixteen Going On Seventeen," "My Favorite Things," "Do-Re-Mi," So Long, Farewell"...Wait... I am naming almost half the soundtrack! I forgot that this soundtrack contained so many classics. Although I can't remember the last time I watched the movie, I hear a lot of these songs quite a bit from time to time.

There are so many great songs on here. I was anxious to get to "The Lonely Goatherd" because my dad said it was his favorite, and the title didn't sound familiar to me. Right when the song started though, I instantly recognized it. It's such a fun little song. I even caught myself yodelay'ing along with Maria and the children. Speaking of Maria, whether she's telling us her favorite things or just yodeling, Julie Andrews rules. She has a great voice and an even greater personality. She lets both qualities shine equally throughout the entire soundtrack. I like her.

My dad said it best. This album is like a soundtrack of greatest hits.  All of the songs on this album are just straight up fun to listen to. Soundtracks aren't typically my favorite kind of albums to listen to, but listening to this was a good time!

Some of "my favorite things" about this soundtrack are a couple punk rock covers that I've listened to far more often than the originals. "My Favorite Things" by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes is probably my favorite, but The Vandals did a fun version of "So Long, Farewell" off of an album that my dad and I mutually enjoy, Hitler Bad, Vandals Good.

"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.

Around The World in 80 Days Soundtrack (April, 1957)

Dad's Take:

This soundtrack has the distinction of being number one on the charts twice, and being knocked off both times by Elvis albums. Apparently, this album was a big deal. Rock and roll wasn't dominating the charts yet, leaving room for an album of catchy instrumental movie music to do well.

Most soundtracks are easier to enjoy if you know the movie really well, giving the music more context. But Victor Young's music is interesting, ranging from traditional Viennese-style waltzes like "Sky Symphony" to music flavored by Hollywood's vision of other exotic locales, like Spain, India, and Paris. In a sense, this soundtrack is a cousin to the Exotica genre we've already seen (and will see again). It transports the listener to places around the world, as you'd expect from a movie about traveling around the world. Usually with a waltz flavoring.

Overall, the music is enjoyable, if not always especially exciting. Most film scores work better inside the film than out, and this is no exception. There are moments of beauty, humor, and tension in the music. It's not hard to hear why Victor Young received 22 Academy Award nominations for his film music, including his only Oscar, posthumously awarded for Around The World In 80 Days, after Young died unexpectedly of a cerebral hemorrhage in November, 1956, at the young age of 56.

If you enjoy film scores, there's a lot to like here. It's not my usual cup of tea, but it held my interest throughout, and I'll probably come back to it at times when string-based instrumental music is needed in my background.

Brad's Take:


I haven't seen this movie so the soundtrack doesn't make much sense to me. Because like my dad, soundtracks usually digest better when you know the movie, when you can recognize the song and which part of the movie it's from, etc. So this was a little hard for me to really get into.

Judging by the music, it was an action adventure movie with cheesy moments and comedy here and there. I could be totally off, but that's just what the music sounds like to me.

One thing I love about this soundtrack though (and many other film scores) is how the music's arrangements are done. I love when the arrangement matches the mood or tone of the movie, or even helps act out some scenes.  I especially love how one song can bounce all over the place. It can start off slow, and then get really epic and huge, and then bounce to a little funny silly part, and then go somewhere else. It makes it fun to listen to, but it also makes it hard to tell one song from another.

When I was in high school, I had a mutli-media class, and in the class, we'd film and produce our own movies and things, and I remember my teacher drilling this one thing into our heads every time: "Audio is half the visual." That always stuck with me because it's totally true (in most cases.) If your movie has a crappy soundtrack, it throws everything off.

Maybe one day I will watch this movie and then go back and listen to its soundtrack so I can fully understand.

The Girl Can't Help It, by Various Artists (December 1956)

Dad's Take:

This is a strange album to include in the book about classic albums that we're using as our list, because it wasn't an album at all. The Girl Can't Help It was the first major rock'n'roll movie. All previous movies had been black and white cheapies. For the first time, audiences could see rock'n'roll stars, as well as unknowns who were never heard from again, on the screen in color, in a funny, innuendo-charged movie starring Jayne Mansfield. Other than a four-song EP by big band star Ray Anthony, no soundtrack was released until recently. It's that recent release that we're reviewing here.

I have this movie, and enjoy it immensely. The movie is good and the performances are excellent. Little Richard is featured in the title song and two others. Other big names include Fats Domino, Julie London, Gene Vincent, the Platters, and Eddie Cochrane. (The great Eddie Cochrane is amazingly presented in the movie as an Elvis imitator and as "proof" that you don't need talent to be a rock'n'roll star. This film has the only known color footage of Gene Vincent performing "Be-Bop-A-Lula." Ray Anthony is also featured as both a musician and an actor.

The influence of this movie cannot be over-estimated. Besides introducing millions to rock'n'roll stars in full living color, it had a major impact on the history of rock and roll. For example, John Lennon claimed that, when the movie was shown in Liverpool in 1957, showing him his musical idols for the first time, it helped inspire him to follow his rock'n'roll dreams.

The soundtrack is excellent, containing several songs in versions only available in the movie (and mastered from the film for CD), as well as the original Ray Anthony EP and several other songs not available elsewhere (and some that were probably never available anywhere else).

The best way to experience this soundtrack is by watching the film, but the music is also very much worth having by itself.

Brad's Take:


It's kind of weird reviewing single artist albums and then reviewing one with a bunch of artists compiled into one album. Instead of judging the album's vocals, lyrics, overall recording quality, etc., we're having to review each song one-by-one and then the entire thing as a whole.

Needless to say, there are some amazing artists on the soundtrack for The Girl Can't Help It. You've got Little Richard, Gene Vincent, Fats Domino, The Platters, and a handful of others that are a little less known (at least to me.)

Little Richard starts the soundtrack off with a two and a half minute bang with the title track "The Girl Can't Help It." It starts off at full speed and never slows down. It sets the mood up perfectly for the rest of the soundtrack. It rarely ever slows down. This soundtrack is full of up-beat finger-snapping classic rock 'n roll jams. With 24 tracks, the album clocks in at just under an hour. No song is over three minutes long. Each song gets straight to the point within the first couple seconds.

I haven't seen the movie, but I can only imagine how great it actually is. Seeing the actual musicians in the movie "performing" these songs would be awesome to see. I'll have to steal my dad's copy next time I'm over there.

I understand why this soundtrack is in the book. It's a perfect mix of the great 50's rock 'n roll vibes. If you want to listen to up-beat fun 50's music, but you don't know where to start, I'd definitely recommend this.