Hello Cleveland!
Overall Album Score: 7.3 out of 10 I haven't seen the film Goodbye, Columbus, so I am unaware of the ambient tracks' practical effectiveness. The general problem with soundtrack albums is that simply listening to the tracks isn't what it was designed to do. You're supposed to be watching a movie at the same time! There are a few great soundtracks out there with more artistic merit and detail than you'd be able to pick up while watching the movie --- Philip Glass soundtracks are excellent examples!! Well, I'm grateful that this soundtrack is in-print only because it certainly wouldn't have done any good out-of-print! At that same time, I really wonder who this soundtrack is for. Goodbye, Columbus isn't a movie with much name recognition. I only heard of it, because this soundtrack is included in The Association's discography. So, there won't be too many people who want this soundtrack because of the name recognition. Since it only contains three Association songs (and another in instrumental form), casual Association fans are probably best advised to pass this by. Nope, Goodbye Columbus is only for die-hard Association fans, and I wonder how many of those are in the world? Anyway, the only great Association song on here is the title track "Goodbye Columbus." It's such a soaring composition and brimming to the edge with optimism. It's one that'll put a smile on your face and probably leave it there for a couple minutes afterward. That's one song --- buy it for $.99 on iTunes, and you pretty much have everything that's necessary! I had to listen to this whole thing, because I'm insane. But I'm happy to report that this listening experience was A-OK. The other two Association tracks, "So Kind to Me" and "It's Gotta Be Real" are entirely decent tracks ... they are sort of pleasant things to hear if you misplaced your Beatles albums. And, Charles Fox seems like a good soundtrack composer. His instrumental music is mostly in the rock 'n' roll format, but you get the impression that he's done that more to match the times and not really being what's in his soul. Some of his drum arrangements sound like this was the first time ever tried writing for pop-rock. I like most of his chord progressions, but they also have a non-rock flavor --- It's cinematic music done with some rock stylings. Nothing else. Anyway, I enjoyed listening to his incidental music. I found "How Will I Know You?" to be the second-most enjoyable track of the whole album --- so I guess this really isn't The Association's Yellow Submarine, after all. In The Beatles case, you find the incidental music pretty dang annoying. Here, you welcome it, because (honestly) Charles Fox is a better composer than anybody from The Association... Overall Album Score: 7.3 out of 10 (This soundtrack movie is only for die-hard Association fans. Um... I'd be interested to meet one, actually.) Average Song Score: 7.8 (Not too shabby for a soundtrack album. The Assocation have a nice single, and Charles Fox seems like a solid incidental music composer though he isn't very rock-oriented.) Album Tilt: 7.0 (Knocked down considerably for its short running length and overall uselessness.) Artist Rating: 7.0 (There's nothing here that's too interesting. I'd just get the single off iTunes and be done with the rest.) Track Reviews Goodbye Columbus 9.5/10 It's one of those upbeat sunshiney tracks that might be good enough to but a good ol' smile on your face. That's what The Association was good for, you know! They're happily strummed acoustic guitar, spirited vocal performances and a very subtle, twinkly piano. The melody is quite catchy and memorable, and the flow of the track is varied and has excellent flow. Great old optimism here. My only complaint is that it's too short. I want it to go on for a *little* bit longer! How Will I Know You? 9/10 And now here's Charles Fox's soundtrackey stuff already that The Association had nothing to do with. "How Will I Know You" is pretty decent though. It's a happy, upbeat track. Thankfully, it's not as cheesy as these type of songs can get. It's is assuredly rock music --- with a backing beat, bass guitar and guitars. The 'vocal' is a nice horn arrangements (he was evidentially a Burt Bacharach fan). The very nice aspect of this composition is its addition of more slower and contemplative sections. Quite nice for the soundtrack, but it also makes a good listen. Dartmouth? Dartmouth! 8/10 A fairly generic R&B beat is the center of Fox's work although he at least makes decent use of it. The instrumentation is spirited and varied --- a great old organist is playing, and a fun saxophone delivers a few lines of melody. This was probably a bit out of date for 1969, but I don't think the composer is really a rock musician. Goodbye Columbus 8/10 And now a pretty instrumental rendition of that song we've already heard. You don't hear the lead vocals, but you hear the backing vocals. I docked a few points for the redundancy! Plus, this is nowhere near as good as the vocal version --- it's like The Beach Boys' Stack-O-Tracks. It's OK, but --- why??? Ron's Reverie: Across the Field / Carmen Ohio 5/10 Entirely unnecessary. Who even knows who this track is for... It consists of a very murky production of a male choir singing what sounds like an alma matter. And then a sports announcer and football game sound effects are heard amidst some traditional college brass band stuff. The editing of all this is fine (again, I haven't seen the movie), but this sort of thing ought to stay out of soundtrack albums... It's Gotta Be Real 8/10 Not too soon do the Association come up with another original single, but it's a far cry away from matching their title track! The melody isn't such an instant classic, and the instrumentation doesn't do anything that's too special. When the lead singer does falsetto, it gets annoying. That's probably just me, though. A Moment to Share 7/10 It's back to Fox's soundtrack pieces. This one is more incidental compared to his previous, more rocking tracks. I think it's pretty nice --- it's very moody and there's some gradual progression. Perfect for a soundtrack --- and it's pretty good listening as background music. It's a little boring if you're paying attention to it directly like I am now. That freaking tambourine player goes a bit too far, but --- I've met a few tambourine players, and you don't want to get on their bad side. Love Has a Way 8.5/10 Fox seems to be a pretty good composer. I should try to watch the movie and see how these tracks fit. Here is a very good track to listen to directly anyway. I like its trumpet melody, and the lavish instrumentation is kinda nice. I'm continuing to get the feeling that he wasn't meant to be a rock composer, because those drums are awful... Seriously, he should have just left that track off --- it would have been much better without it. A Time For Love 7/10 An OK instrumental. It doesn't have as many ideas as Fox's other tracks, so it's a good thing that it's not even 90 seconds long. The melody isn't that memorable, but I guess that's OK since it's supposed to be incidental! We get some nice textures here, but that's it. So Kind to Me 8/10 And the final track is a lovely Association song! I like the mood of it, but it's unfortunate the melody isn't that capturing. Oh well... I never though they were great songwriters to begin with. They just do nice things!! BONUS TRACK To make this album slightly longer (at a whoppingly huge running length of 27 minutes) they include the single version of "Goodbye Columbus" as a bonus track. Real fans will appreciate it --- nobody else will! 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All reviews are copyrighted by the author, Michael Lawrence. He get exhausted watching football.
