| Product Summary | | Label: Bmg/restless | | UPC: 00018777294621 | | Release Date: 8/26/1997 | | Buy.com Sku: 60161330 | | Item#: MMSCVJ | | Buy.com Sales Rank: 25050 | Format:  CD |
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| Song Listing |  |
Disc 1
| | Song Title | Sample | | 1. "Badge Of Honor" - Jerry Goldsmith ~ Original Soundtrack |  | | 2. Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive - Johnny Mercer ~ Original Soundtrack | | | 3. Christmas Blues, The - Dean Martin ~ Original Soundtrack | | | 4. Look For The Silver Lining - Chet Baker ~ Original Soundtrack | | | 5. Makin' Whoopee - Gerry Mulligan Quartet/Chet Baker ~ Original Soundtrack | | | 6. Hit The Road To Dreamland - Betty Hutton ~ Original Soundtrack | | | 7. Oh! Look At Me Now! - Lee Wiley ~ Original Soundtrack | | | 8. Lady Is A Tramp, The - Gerry Mulligan Quartet ~ Original Soundtrack | | | 9. Wheel Of Fortune - Kay Starr ~ Original Soundtrack | | | 10. But Not For Me - Jackie Gleason ~ Original Soundtrack | | | 11. How Important Can It Be - Joni James ~ Original Soundtrack | | | 12. Looking At You - Lee Wiley ~ Original Soundtrack | | | 13. Powder Your Face With Sunshine - Dean Martin ~ Original Soundtrack | | | 14. L.A. Confidential - Jerry Goldsmith ~ Original Soundtrack | |
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| | Album Notes and Credits |
Notes & Personnel Info |  | Noir detective fiction doesn't get much noirer than the novels of James Ellroy, who takes all the conventions of the genre -- a troubled, brooding protagonist who drinks too much but tries to do what's right while being pursued by rich, beautiful, but deeply flawed women and working at the margins of a society that wears a happy face to hide its brutal and corrupt heart -- and distills those elements down until they resemble the crud at the bottom of a coffee pot left too long on the burner. When you turn an Ellroy novel into a movie, the right music is absolutely essential: They take place in the 1950s, of course, so there must be jazz from the period but also an assortment of pop songs. Some of the pop songs should demonstrate the frantic cheerfulness that listeners, in hindsight, consider to be typical of the 1950s, while others should hint more directly at the violence that lurks beneath the facade. The soundtrack to L.A. Confidential includes all the necessary elements, from Johnny Mercer's snappy "Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive" and Dean Martin's heavily orchestrated "Powder Your Face With Sunshine" to a dour instrumental rendition of "Makin' Whoopee" by Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker and a rather surreal orchestral arrangement of "But Not for Me" conducted by Jackie Gleason. A pair of Jerry Goldsmith miniatures bracket the program, but are not terribly effective -- an opening miniature entitled "Badge of Honor" sounds like a caricature of film noir music, and the closing "L.A. Confidential" is anonymous pablum obviously designed to accompany the rolling of credits. Recommended overall. ~ Rick Anderson |
| | Technical Info | | Release Date : 08/26/1997 | | Original Release Date : 1997 | | Catalog ID : 72946 | | Label : Restless Records (USA) | | Number of Discs : 1 | | Studio/Live : Studio | | Mono/Stereo : Mixed | | SPAR Code : n/a | | UPC : 00018777294621 |
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| | Professional Reviews | | Entertainment Weekly (10/10/97, p.93)
- "CONFIDENTIAL combines pop nuggets from the '40s and '50s with a healthy dose of West Coast `cool' jazz to successfully re-create the mood of postwar L.A.....an essential purchase for any aspiring lounge lizard." - Rating: BQ (5/00, p.129)
- 3 stars out of 5 - "...Reveals just who astute the choice of tracks was. There's authentic West Coast jazz from Gerry Mulligan, and a seedy but glamorous Chet Baker sings 'Look For The Silver Lining'....all laced with irony in the context of James Elroy's dark tale." |
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