GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE
Rating: 
Original Review: Some soundtracks defy description, and George of the Jungle is one of them. Combining a totally erratic set of songs and brief extracts from Marc Shaiman's score, this album for the smash hit Disney film is nevertheless a curiously entertaining experience which keeps a smile on your face for the entire half hour, despite the eclectic and sometimes downright peculiar musical selections.
George of the Jungle, of course, is another one of those 1960s TV series updated for 1990s. It stars Hollywood heartthrob Brendan Fraser as the hapless George, a Tarzan wannabe prone to painful comedy pratfalls, runs, swings and crashes around the rain forest about in a loincloth with a talking ape and elephant named Shep who thinks he's a dog. When a beautiful anthropologist played by Leslie Mann enters George's life, things begin to change for the one-syllabled wonder, and soon he finds himself finding out about the other jungle - the one of the urban kind.
Three versions of the classic TV series theme are included, two of which are performed by the popular group The Presidents of the United States of America. The opening moments of their grunge-tinged rendition contain a wonderful set of pounding timpanis right out of Zulu, but the brief John Barry flashback is shattered shortly afterwards when someone suddenly shrieks in terror and the Presidents all chorus "watch out for that tree!" in unison. Weird Al Yankovic's version is shorter, but weirder, while the 'Main Title Movie Mix', again featuring The Presidents with some bizarro sound animal effects and snippets of Marc's score, rounds out the album.
The other six songs are a mixed bag of a wide variety of styles, including the classic surfer hit 'Wipe Out', an updated version of the 1920s dance hall classic 'Aba Daba Honeymoon' and John Cleese performing a Broadway showstopper style rendition of the seminal Sinatra ballad 'My Way'. My favourite, though, is the hilarious 'Go Ape', a song which is highly reminiscent of Swiss pop group Yello's cover version of Jingle Bells on Michael Convertino's The Santa Clause album. Here, though, vocalists Michael Becker and Deborah Thalberg are deep-throating the words "No monkey business", "Go wild", "George! Ooh!" and some other unintelligible mutterings against the background of an early 80s Harold Faltermeyer/Giorgio Moroder disco beat. Funny stuff.
The highlight of the entire album, however, is Marc Shaiman's score which, despite comprising just three cues and being limited to 6 minutes 45 seconds, is sensational. 'George To The Rescue' features a soaring main theme accompanied by heavy percission and sampled African vocals (just think - Mighty Joe Young could have sounded like this if director Ron Underwood had stayed with Shaiman and not employed James Horner!) 'Rumble In The Jungle' opens with a swing track right out of the top drawer, with the main song rhythm performed on tom-toms and muted trumpets, before shifting gears and engaging in some wacked-out Carl Stalling-style comedy chase music which plays like a mix of Tom and Jerry, Honey I Shrunk The Kids and something from the Moulin Rouge. The final score track, 'The Little Monkey', begins with a sweet, tender woodwind theme before gradually adding some Latino rhythms and a massive set of jungle drums for a rousing final performance of the main theme. If only a score album had been released...
It's strange how the most unlikely soundtrack albums turn out to be plain, old fashioned good fun. George of the Jungle offers score fans absolutely nothing in terms of significance, no depth or emotion and (with the exception of Shaiman's score) is musically bereft of anything resembling quality. I love this album all the same. For sheer ebullience and good humour and easy listening, I recommend it to all.
Track Listing:
- George of the Jungle (written by Stan Worth and Sheldon Allman, performed by The Presidents of the United States of America) (2:52)
- Dela (I Think I Know Why The Dog Howls At The Moon) (written by Johnny Clegg, performed by Johnny Clegg and Savuka) (4:15)
- Wipe Out (written by Robert Berryhill, Patrick Connolly, James Fuller and Ronald Wilson, performed by The Surfaris) (2:38)
- The Man on the Flying Trapeze (traditional, arranged by Marc Shaiman, performed by Roger Freeland, Jon Joyce, Steve Lively and Gary Stockdale) (0:56)
- My Way (written by Marc Shaiman, Paul Anka, Claude François, Jacques Revaux and Gilles Thibault, performed by John Cleese) (1:10)
- Aba Daba Honeymoon (written by Arthur Fields and Walter Donovan, performed by Karen Harper) (1:55)
- George of the Jungle (written by Stan Worth and Sheldon Allman, performed by Weird Al Yankovic) (1:03)
- Go Ape (The Dance Mix) (written by Michael Becker, performed by Michael Becker and Deborah Thalberg) (3:25)
- Jungle Band (written by Michael Becker, performed by Carl Graves) (3:18)
- George to the Rescue (1:10)
- Rumble in the Jungle (3:13)
- The Little Monkey (2:22)
- George of the Jungle (Main Title Movie Mix) (written by Marc Shaiman, Stan Worth and Sheldon Allman, performed by The Presidents of the United States of America) (2:20)
Running Time: 30 minutes 58 seconds
Walt Disney Records WDR 36056-2 (1997)
Music composed by Marc Shaiman. Conducted by Artie Kane. Orchestrations by Jeff Atmajian, Patrick Russ, Frank Bennett, Brad Dechter, Jimmy Vivino and David De Palo. Recorded and mixed by Dennis Sands and Robert Fernandez. Edited by Scott Stambler. Score produced by Marc Shaiman. Album produced by Harold J. Kleiner, Kathy Nelson and Bill Green.
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