Search - Michel / Woods, Phil Legrand, Michel Legrand Quintet, Eddy Louiss :: The Young Girls of Rochefort [Original Soundtrack] [With Bonus Tracks]

The King of Melody

Robin Benson | 05/02/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"How refreshing to get a CD of movie music that does it properly. The two discs give you all the actual sound track and the nine bonus tracks complete the picture. Disc one (at just over fifty minutes) has a neat touch, in places, of using the screen dialogue to introduce the song. The fifteen tracks on this disc are, of course, typical examples of Legrand's ability to compose stunning melodies that stay with you long after you've stopped listening. His versatility is not just in composing but in orchestration as well, just listen to the strings behind the singers on disc two, track one.



The movie music continues with eight tracks on disc two (seventy-one minutes) but it is the bonus tracks that make this package sparkle. Firstly there is a five minute Q&A with Legrand talking (in French) about the Twins song followed by an English version sung by Jackie Ward and Sue Allen. I found this interesting because, in part, the English words have to be sung very fast and it almost doesn't work but in French it sounds much easier and credible. The remaining seven tracks are instrumental versions of various songs including nine minutes of Maxence's Song with Phil Woods, alto and Legrand on electric piano.



The twenty-three tracks from the movie are performed by a large orchestra that varies between big band jazz and soft easy-listening strings and at times a wordless vocal group is used. All the songs are, fortunately, in French and the liner notes lists the singers who dubbed the actors voices.



I thought was a super sound track CD set. The perfect complement to the DVD. My only crit would be the annoyingly small type face used in the liner notes. Mostly this stuff is the usual cliché nonsense but the notes for Rochefort are full of interesting detail about how Legrand created these wonderful melodies.







"

No Liner Notes

Daniel B. Cutler | San Francisco, California USA | 08/09/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I had bought the Import Album a while back. It didn't have any liner notes with english translation, which I missed. When I read about the American release it led me to believe that it included the same liner notes that the LP had, which I use to have but unfortunately lost. It had the French verse with the English translation on the other side of it. If I had known that the liner notes with the dialogue were not included I would have not purchased it. I still gave this wonderful musical 5 stars because it deserves it. I wasn't going to fault it because the manufacturer was negligent in it's advertisement."

More great Legrad

William R. Nicholas | Mahwah, NJ USA | 02/24/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Michel Legrad did the great soundtrack to the origonal Thomas Crown Affair in 1968. That was a crime jazz tour de force.



Here, Legrad exchanges this style for Europop. There are French female singer, and lots of happy, boyent molidical music. Europian easy-listening really had it over its American counterpart in the late 60s. The stuff across the pond in france was hardly ever maudlin, and had a bouncy jazz impulse. Young Girls of Roachport boasts this same cosmapolitan flavor. The vocal work is pretty but never sentimental, and the music is joyous but never goes over the top. Stereolab must have spent many a night listening to this soundtrack.





A beautaful if obscure work by a true master, Michel Legrand."