The Subterraneans (Limited Edition CD Soundtrack)

 

Sound: B     Music: B

 

 

Hollywood’s attempt to do a counterculture story never panned out until Easy Rider came along, and there were certainly some fascinating results.  Back in 1960, MGM decided to adapt a Jack Kerouac book.  The result was the somewhat campy The Subterraneans, a CinemaScope production with Leslie Caron, George Peppard, Janice Rule, Roddy McDowall and Jim Hutton.  Far from the kind of cast you would associate with counterculture, but a good cast nevertheless.  We will cover the film down the line when it comes out on DVD, but here, we listen to the new limited edition CD soundtrack of the film (only 3,000 copies pressed) from the FSM label of Film Score Monthly Magazine.

 

Andre Previn, best known for still for the hit theme song from Valley Of The Dolls (which turned up in David Fincher’s Fight Club recently) composed the music, but collaborated with some major jazz artists of the time to create a score that holds up at least as much as the film, if not more so.  Joined by legends like singer Carmen McRae, Art Farmer, Buddy Clark, Art Pepper, Bill Perkins and more, this new CD brings back the original twelve-track vinyl album music, then adds twelve bonus tracks that add up to nearly 80 minutes of music.  The PCM 2.0 Stereo is offered on all but six of the tracks, from 3-track 35mm masters.  The remainder is off of 17.5mm magnetic mono sources, which in this case, turns out not to be a substitute for stereo recordings, but the original source as well.

 

As a film score, it is good, but is uneven on its own.  The set is more hit than miss, but sometimes Previn is trapped by the melodrama of the film and that is obvious in some cases, even before reading the terrific booklet included with the disc.  Nevertheless, this is a collector’s item for film and Jazz fans, so both and many others can go to www.filmscoremonthly.com to find out more about obtaining a copy.  Their site offers many other great CD soundtrack titles we have covered and you can even stream track samples.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo