Swing Kids: Music From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
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Free Music Notes for Swing Kids: Music From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Free Music Review: Swing, Swing, Swing...
Hit: 4 Stars
SWING KIDS is a fine but obscure movie about young nonconformists in prewar Nazi Germany who rebel against their authoritarian society by indulging in Swing music and dance clubs. Derided by the Nazis as "decadent", "Black" and "Jewish," Swing was banned, and it's adherents were forcibly conscripted, arrested, tortured, and sent to concentration camps. In SWING KIDS, the irresistible pressures of conformity ratchet apart the relationship between three best friends. Sad, yet ultimately defiant, SWING KIDS is a fascinating look at ordinary day-to-day life in National Socialist Germany.
Fortunately, "sad" is not a word that can be applied to the soundtrack, which is rife with Swing classics from Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Count Basie, and others. Some of the records are wonderfully archaic scratchy originals. Others are new orchestrations done for the film.
The downside to this CD is James Horner's film orchestrations which are mostly not Swing, and manage to interrupt the party just as it settles into its groove. It's unfair to complain: After all, this is a movie soundtrack, the guy who wrote the original music for the movie should be on it, and when he's in Swing, he's got that Thing. But having to listen to a cheery little minor key string piece titled "Arvid Beaten" in between "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" and "Jumping At The Woodside" is really disconcerting. Like the soundtrack to YELLOW SUBMARINE, the film orchestrations should have been gathered together on the "B" side (a good argument to bring back the 33.3 record). For myself, I just hit the "Track Forward" button.
Fortunately, the Swing more than outweighs Horner's minor musical distractions. This should have been a five star recording, and could have been a three star recording. I'm giving it four stars. The Swing is splendid.
Free Music Review: Dance Dance Dance!
Hit: 5 Stars
Swing Kids is one hellouva cd and one hellouva soundtrack. It represents old swing titles (Swingtime in the rockies, Flat Floot Floogie and Goodnight My Love by Benny Goodman, It Don't Mean A Thing by Billy Banks) few score numbers (Nothing To Report, The Letter, Arvid Beaten, Training For Utopia, Ashes, The Bismarck and Swing Heil composed by James Horner) and few remakes of old swing classics recorded for the movie (Sing Sing Sing, orig. Benny Goodman, Shout and Feel It, orig. by Count Basie, Daphne, orig. by Django Reinhardt, medley Life Goes to a Party/Jumpin' at the Woodside, and fabulous Bei Mir Bist du Sch?n by Janis Siegel). Sound quality is great and music danceable. I highly recommend this record.Free Music Review: Swing, kids!!!
Hit: 4 Stars
Living in Germany during World War II, but don't necessarily agree with the dictatorship? Well geez, let's rebel by dancing. The Swing Kid movement, as portrayed by this movie, was rather bizarre, considering that they were risking their lives and showing it by dancing the night away. However, the music is light, bouncy and rather catchy, considering many of the tunes on this CD are catchy and jazz standards. One of the downfalls however, is that this engergetic music is paired up with what is often over-dramatic and sullen classical music, to supplement the storyline (you didn't think Hitler would let these rebels have their way, did you?). But when you're in the dancing mood, this soundtrack is definitely well worth it, and if you love jazz music, please do go get this. Just be sure to skip the dreaded, down-tempo classical pieces.Free Music Review: Non-swing fans won't understand this CD
Hit: 5 Stars
First off let me commend the original score by James Horner, it goes along very well with the movie and stands on its own outside. Second, I'll explain why the swing recordings on this CD are a must have even though they've been recorded before. I've read one review saying that you can get these songs on other original artists' CDs for better quality. It's not true. The sound quality is alright, nothing special, but it's the ARRANGEMENT that the film makers put in these songs that makes them unique. My favorite is "Shout And Feel It", which was originally recorded by Count Basie with all-big-band style. On Swing Kids, however, they replaced the brass section with Django-Reinhart-style guitar solo, which I think is just priceless! My only drag on this CD is the shortenning version of Benny Goodman's originally 8-minute-long hit "Sing Sing Sing," but one good thing about it is there's less of the annoying Harry-James-style trumpet interlude. "Bei Mir Bis Schon" is another highlight. Originated with names like Benny Goodman and the Andrews Sisters, whose flowery singing was too much of a distraction for audiences to appreciate the beautiful tune of the song. This version with Janis Seigel is much better, since they simplified the singing and put more emphasis on the instruments, giving it a smooth flow. However, the ULTIMATE STROKE OF GENIUS is combining Benny Goodman's "Life Goes To A Party" with Count Basie's "Jumping At The Woodside." Those songs on their original recordings were kind of bland, but mixing them together with a few instrumental rearrangements created a whole new exciting piece.
Over all, Swing Kids would be a great addition in anyone's swing collection, but you have to be a real avid fan of swing to fully appreciate this CD.
Free Music Review: GREAT CD
Hit: 4 Stars
I LISTEN TO THIS CD ALOT. IT HAS VERY CATCHY TUNES. I LOVE SWING MUSIC AND SO THIS CD IS GREAT. ALTHOUGH SOME OF THE SONGS ARE A LITTLE FUZZY BECAUSE THEY ARE ORIGINAL I GUESS. BUT THEY ARE ALL GREAT!