Randy Newman Leatherheads Album Review, Songs, Rating

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Randy Newman
Leatherheads
Release Date: 2008 03 25
Running Time: 43:48
Label: Varèse Sarabande
Rating:

As has been apparent at least since his Sail Away album in 1972, Randy Newman's musical sensibility is heavily informed by the styles of popular music that prevailed roughly from the 1890s to the early '20s -- in particular Tin Pan Alley pop, ragtime, and Dixieland jazz. As a film composer, Newman has not tried to hide his inclinations, but rather has sought out (or been sought out for) movies that could incorporate them smoothly. One such is director/star George Clooney's Leatherheads, a neo-screwball comedy about the rise of professional football set in the mid-'20s. Nominally speaking, Newman's favored styles are to a certain extent anachronistic for the period; the sentimental ballads of the turn of the 19th century such as "After the Ball" were not being sung too much 30 years later, for example. But in Hollywood terms, that's no problem. Ever since Marvin Hamlisch brazenly used the rags of Scott Joplin to accompany the Depression Era setting of The Sting in 1974 and won an Academy Award for his trouble, it has seemed that any popular style from the Civil War to World War II could be mixed up largely by feel, if not by the calendar. In Leatherheads, Newman's familiar mixture of pre-1925 styles connotes the light comedy and sentimentality at which Clooney is aiming. Toward the end of the soundtrack, notably on "The Ambiguity of Victory," Newman contributes more traditional symphonic film scoring. And, given the subject matter, he apes the sound of a college marching band more than usual. But for the most part, Clooney has employed him here to do what he does best. Most Newman scores are unlikely to be mistaken for those of any other Hollywood composer (though they occasionally may be mistaken for Randy Newman albums without vocals), and this one is no exception. William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide

Tracks:

	Title	Composer	Time
1	Leatherheads, film score~The Princeton Tiger	Newman	1:29
2	Leatherheads, film score~Good Old Princeton: The College Game	Newman	2:24
3	Leatherheads, film score~The Professional Game	Newman	3:59
4	Leatherheads, film score~The Pros Go to College	Newman	1:20
5	Leatherheads, film score~Help From High School (Gonged)	Newman	:57
6	Leatherheads, film score~Dodge	Newman	2:39
7	Leatherheads, film score~Lexi	Newman	1:56
8	Leatherheads, film score~Ich Gebe Auf	Newman	2:11
9	Leatherheads, film score~Carter Is Blue	Newman	3:21
10	Leatherheads, film score~How One Longs for Princeton	Newman	1:25
11	Leatherheads, film score~Ah, Love	Newman	2:47
12	Man I Love, song (from Strike Up the Band, 1st version; orig. composed	Gershwin	3:59
13	Leatherheads, film score~Pool Party	Newman	2:37
14	Leatherheads, film score~Dan Higgins	Newman	1:02
15	Leatherheads, film score~Trouble	Newman	1:43
16	Leatherheads, film score~Up Close and Personal	Newman	1:55
17	Leatherheads, film score~The Ambiguity of Victory	Newman	3:38
18	Leatherheads, film score~Sgt. York	Newman	:58
19	Leatherheads, film score~Into the Sunset	Newman	1:20
20	Leatherheads, film score~Reprise for Tiffany	Newman	2:08

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