LITTLE ROCK — Filmmaker Ken Burns has created another enjoyable excursion into American music with the pieces he chose for The War.
Burns skillfully uses music to advance the story lines of his projects (The Civil War, Jazz and others). The War is available in a four-CD deluxe edition boxed set (Legacy, $49.98) and its four CDs are available individually ($18.98 for the soundtrack, $13.98 for each of the three themed discs). The boxed set also includes a 24-page booklet with an essay by directors Burns and Lynn Novick.
But the virtual absence of hits by women singers from the era, with the exception of Kay Starr, is surprising. Several women are featured in vocals where orchestras get top billing - such as Teddy Wilson with Billie Holiday and Gene Krupa with Anita O'Day. Still, given the number of fine female stars from that era (The Andrews Sisters, Dinah Shore), it is a surprising omission.
Here's a look at the four discs:
The War soundtrack has 17 songs, including several new recordings created for the film and war-era favorites. Norah Jones shines on the poignant "American Anthem," whichis revisited by pianist Bill Charlap and cellist Amanda Forsyth at the CD's end. Wynton Marsalis' "America My Home" gets a stunning performance from Charlap and Forsyth. These and other new tracks mix beautifully with music from the era, including Kay Starr's yearning and uplifting "If I Could Be With You," Bing Crosby and Les Paul's "It's Been a Long, Long Time" and Benny Goodman's"The Wang Wang Blues."
Sentimental Journey: Hits from the Second World War is 20 mostly orchestral tunes, such as Artie Shaw's luminous "Dancing in the Dark" and "Moonglow," Frank Sinatra's romantic "Let's Get Lost," Coleman Hawkins' mesmerizing "Body and Soul," Louis Armstrong's bluesy "Memories of You" and "Sentimental Journey" by Les Brown with Doris Day. The songs, as the film illustrates, show the loneliness, anxieties and hopes of those at home.
I'm Beginning to See the Light: Dance Hits from the Second World War has one purpose - get those feet in motion. It does that with Duke Ellington's "C Jam Blues," Glenn Miller's "In the Mood" and "Kalamazoo," Erskine Hawkins' "Tuxedo Junction" and Jimmie Lunceford's "T'aint What You Do" among its 20 selections.
Songs Without Words compiles the classical music used in the seven-part film. In many respects, it is the most emotional of the four, with its reflective tone and the conflict between light and dark, good vs. evil, particularly in theFelix Mendelssohn piece that is this disc's title. Selections also include Aaron Copland's Concerto for Clarinet, Strings, Harp and Piano with Benny Goodman; Walton: The Death of Falstaff by Leonard Slatkin and the London Philharmonic Orchestra; and Copland leading the New Philarmonia Orchestra in "Grovers Corners" from Our Town.
Pink Floyd, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Capitol
This 40th anniversary reissue of Pink Floyd's first album comes in two forms: a threedisc version with stereo and mono mixes of the album and a third CD of bonus tracks, packaged in a hardcover book that includes a reprint of Syd Barrett's artwork and writing from his journals ($39.98) and a two-disc version, with stereo and mono mixes, at $24.98. The major shortcoming in both sets is the lack of an essay that relates the evolution and creation of the album.
Piper was among other LSD-influenced albums of 1967, such as The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Cream's Disraeli Gears and Jimi Hendrix's Are You Experienced. But Piper was different. It explored trance, pastoral fantasies and was more surreal. Barrett composed mostof the album. Richard Wright's mix of jazz and fugues, Roger Waters' earthy bass and the polyrhythms apparent in Nick Mason's drum work enhanced Barrett's fascinating, sometimes goofy songs. But 40 years later, Piper seems more radical than we might remember.
Get Ready, Here Come the '70s, Shout! Factory, $49.98
This three-CD compilation of rock, disco, soul and pop hits has 57 tracks ranging from Rare Earth's trippy take on The Temptations' "Get Ready" to Don McLean's "American Pie." Others include Dobie Gray's lovely "Drift Away," Patti LaBelle's sensual "Lady Marmalade," Janis Ian's haunting "At Seventeen," Carl Douglas' silly "Kung Fu Fighting," Gloria Gaynor's anthemic "I Will Survive" and the Trammps' irresistible "Disco Inferno."
Luther Vandross, Love, Luther, Legacy, $49.98
The late Luther Vandross walked an emotional tightrope ... he could embody the attentive, romantic lover with seductive ease and tap into the devastation of love's breakup with aching loneliness and deep hurt with a keening voice that went right to the heart. This four-CD boxed set has 56 tunes and includes "Power of Love/ Love Power," "Dance With My Father," "A House Is Not a Home" and "How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye," a duet with Dionne Warwick. The set also includes previously unreleased rehearsal recordings andmore.
Bee Gees, The Bee Gees Greatest, Reprise, $19.99
An expanded two-CD reissue of this 1979 compilation of hits and album cuts from the Bee Gees dance-music era includes an unreleased tune, "Warm Ride," but no explanation of its source, and several remixes. The hits include "Night Fever," "Stayin' Alive," "Love So Right," "You ShouldBe Dancin'" and "Jive Talkin'." The remastered sound is glorious.
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Style, Pages 35, 40 on 10/25/2007