BEETLEJUICE

DANNY ELFMAN

Rating:

Original Review: Danny Elfman owes a lot to Tim Burton. As a fan of Elfman's rock band, Oingo Boingo, it was Burton who gave Elfman his first proper scoring job in 1985 with Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. It was Burton who shot Elfman into the big time in 1988 with the incredible Batman, and it was Burton who allowed Elfman to go completely and utterly nuts with Beetlejuice, a riotous comedy horror starring Michael Keeton as a hilariously disgusting undead exterminator helping the newly-deceased couple Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis cope with life after life.

If one was to try to describe the music from Beetlejuice in one word, one would fail miserably, because it is just one of the nuttiest, most off the wall scores I have heard in a long, long time. Elfman throws every instrument in the book into the score at some point, from grand pianos to church organs and, of course, his now trademark wordless female choirs. The whole album is a bizarre, yet highly entertaining mix of lively carnival-style marches, unexpected Caribbean calypso rhythms and impressive sections of gothic melodrama, and the most memorable cues include 'Main Titles', which is one of Elfman's catchiest and most enjoyable compositions, replete with swirling violins and hooting clarinets which finish on a fabulous fanfare; the delightfully macabre tango-style melody which first appears in 'The Book/Obituaries'; the soft, eerie synthesised piano theme in 'Lydia Discovers'; the dramatic 'The Incantation', and the big top music of 'Showtime!'.

In addition to Elfman's kookiness, Harry Belafonte has got a lot to answer for as well, adding his classic songs "Day-O" and "Jump In Line" into an already eclectic mix of styles and rhythms, the former underscoring the now classic dinner-party scene (you know, the one with the hands coming out of the prawn cocktail!) If you wanted to hear a slice of classic Elfman, you could do a lot worse than listen to Beetlejuice. It's peculiar, it's unconventional, it's unusual, but it's undoubtedly brilliant. Oh, and just as a matter of interest, the voices who solemnly sing "Daylight come and me wanna go home" over the main titles belong to none other than Elfman himself and fellow Oingomeister Steve Bartek. The man's talent has no bounds...

Track Listing:

• Main Titles (2:27)
• Travel Music (1:07)
• The Book/Obituaries (1:30)
• Enter... The Family/Sand Worm Planet (2:50)
• The Fly (0:50)
• Lydia Discovers? (0:59)
• In the Model (1:35)
• Juno's Theme (0:48)
• Beetle-Snake (2:08)
• Sold (0:35)
• The Flier/Lydia's Pep Talk (1:25)
• Day-O (performed by Harry Belafonte) (3:05)
• The Incantation (3:11)
• Lydia Strikes a Bargain... (0:52)
• Showtime! (1:05)
• Laughs (2:33)
• The Wedding (2:02)
• The Aftermath (1:21)
• End Credits (2:47)
• Jump In Line (Shake, Shake Señora) (performed by Harry Belafonte) (3:08)

Running Time: 37 minutes 02 seconds

Geffen GFLD-19284 (1988)

Music composed by Danny Elfman. Conducted by Bill Ross. Orchestrations by Steve Bartek. Recorded and mixed by Bob Fernandez. Edited by Bob Badami and Nancy Fogarty. Album produced by Danny Elfman and Steve Bartek.

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These web pages were designed and maintained by Jonathan Broxton copyright 1998. All opinions and views expressed on these pages are my own and are in no way intended to reflect those of my employer, the Trent Institute for Health Services Research, or those of the University of Sheffield.