CITY SLICKERS II: THE LEGEND OF CURLY'S GOLD
Rating: 
Original Review: Marc Shaiman, like Thomas Newman and others, is a composer who often ends up having his scores not released on soundtrack, so I was really pleased with being able to get this score, mainly because of the wonderful main theme he composed for the original movie, which harkens back to the days of Jerome Moross and The Big Country and all those glorious western scores of the fifties and sixties. After the opening of Mitch's Dream, the Main Title is a great cue: a fast and upbeat string and trumpet piece elaborated with some great sound effects (a kazoo and tweeting birds get in there somewhere, as well as a plucked banjo and even a mouth organ, an oboe and some dance stuff). The rest of the album is mainly variations on the main Slickers theme, although there are a number of highlight cues: The Map is Real... and On Fire! which contains renditions of the theme on various different instruments, and even an adaptation of Franz Waxman's score for Treasure of the Sierra Madre; Let's Get That Gold! is a groovy rock 'n roll version of the theme with a brilliant fiddle solo in there as well; Duke Saves The Day is probably the most sober cue on the album: rather brooding to begin with before going into a slow rendition of the theme; Come and Get Me! is the complete opposite of its predecessor: an intoxicating, vibrant Theme piece, as is The Stampede, which turns unexpectedly serious half way through and gets rather tense and exciting, with a new, bouncy, yet downbeat theme with lots of brass fanfares, before breaking out into the Slickers Theme again on a subdued, but somewhat relieved note. Look Who's Bonding Now and A Box Full of Lead are quiet and delicate themes, including renditions of the theme played on sincere-sounding strings and the finale, Jackpot!, is a fitting end to the album. With the guys back in Vegas, there is a jaunty theme played before it switches to Mitch in his hotel room, glumly contemplating what might have been, and the music is similarly sorrowful. However, upon the appearance of Duke, a magical chime and a choir sets in and suddenly a fabulous, final rendition of the Slickers theme bursts through. To be fair, the album hardly varies away from these two or three themes all the way through, but when you've got a theme as good as this, who cares - so why change it?
Track Listing:
- Mitch's Dream (2:35)
- Main Title (2:50)
- Found: One Smile (1:14)
- Discovering the Map (1:53)
- Oh! Brother (1:26)
- Gold Diggers of 1994 (0:46)
- The Map is Real... and On Fire! (1:31)
- One The Trail (0:48)
- Real Men (0:48)
- Let's Get That Gold! (1:51)
- Duke Saves The Day (2:46)
- Come And Get Me! (2:21)
- The Stampede (7:23)
- Look Who's Bonding Too (1:57)
- Over The Buffalo's Back, Under The Frozen People (2:28)
- To The Bat Cave! (2:48)
- There's Gold in Them Thar Hills (4:58)
- A Box Full of Lead (5:38)
- Jackpot! (3:39)
Running Time: 49 minutes 40 seconds
Columbia 476815-2 (1994)
Music composed by Marc Shaiman. Conducted by Artie Kane. Orchestrations by Jeff Atmajian, Frank Bennett, Larry Blank, Brad Dechter and Jerry Hey. Includes extracts from "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" composed by Max Steiner. Recorded and mixed by Shawn Murphy. Edited by Michael Linn. Mastered by Joe Gastwirt. Album produced by Marc Shaiman.
Home Page | Soundtracks | Soundtrack Reviews | Composers | Soundtrack Links
These web pages were designed and maintained by Jonathan Broxton copyright 1997. 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.