An American Tail


Movie | Released: 1986 | Format: CD
 

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# Track Artist/Composer Duration
1.Main Title5:07
2.The Cossack Cats2:15
3.There Are No Cats In America3:00
4.The Storm3:59
5.Give Me Your TiredYour Poor2:44
6.Never Say NeverChristopher Plummer & Phillip Glasser2:25
7.The Market Place3:02
8.Somewhere Out TherePhillip Glasser & Betsy Cathcart2:40
9.Somewhere Out ThereLinda Ronstadt & James Ingram3:59
10.Releasing The Secret Weapon3:38
11.A DuoDom De Luise & Phillip Glasser2:38
12.The Great Fire2:54
13.Reunited4:44
14.Flying Away And End Credits5:59
 49:04
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An American Tail - 10/10 - Review of Tudor H., submitted at (English)
By the middle of the 1980's, Horner was beginning to gain more and more attention on the film score stage. He already scored two Star Trek movies, Ron Howard's 'Cocoon' and James Cameron hit Sci-Fi 'Aliens' (for which he received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Score). But now, he was about to make a large step, demonstrating not only his talent for scoring, but also his songwriting capabilities. An American Tail did that for him. And it turned out to contain one of the most famous songs in movie history. What a way to begin his songwriting journey.

Also, An American Tail marked the first animated feature that Horner worked on and it demonstrated that he's a natural at scoring children films. He really is a storyteller through his music. Horner would go on to score 6 more animated feature films, each one a gem.

For the songs, Horner collaborated with Barry Mann for the music and with Cynthia Weil for the lyrics. What resulted were 4 wonderful songs that contained both child quality and romance in them. The first of these songs is 'There Are Not Cats in America'. Mainly, it is composed of two parts, repeated three times. In the thirst part, three mice tell their really depressing stories from their countries. After each story, it comes the refrain which is really lively and makes you sing along.

The second song is 'Never Say Never'. This song demonstrates us the singing capabilities of the well-known actor Christopher Plummer and, believe me, he's a natural! A very lively song that makes you dance, but it also contains some very clever lyrics, so it is also a very moral song.

Then it comes 'Somewhere Out There', the highlight of this album. It comes in two versions, one performed by cast members and one performed by professional singers. The first version is more romantic and sentimental than the second. It is performed by child actors, which are not professional but still, they do the job very well. The refrain in which they perform together is really magical.

After it we have the second version, the end titles version, performed by Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram. After 'My Heart Will Go On', this is the most famous song co-written by Horner and, frankly, one of the best he's written in his career (so it comes to no surprise that it won two Grammy Awards and was nominated for an Academy Award). The guitar solo in this song is simply breathtaking, as well as the song as a whole.

The last song is 'A Duo'. This isn't as good as the other 4, but it's not bad either. I would name it a medium song.

OK, we're done with the songs. Let's deal with the score. Although the album doesn't have a long running time, the score is the main treat. Horner delivers pure magic through his score, a score performed by Horner's faithful London Symphony Orchestra.

The album begins with the Main Title, a 5 minute track that contains Horner at his best. First, we have the first theme, also known as the Immigrants theme or Fievel's theme. It starts with a violin performing the first part of the theme, an oboe takes on the second part and then they are blended together by the full orchestra. It is an astonishing theme and it's without a doubt one of the best themes that Horner has written in the first part of his career. The second part introduces two more themes, that are playful, lively and romantic at the same time.

The second track is called 'The Cossack Cats'. Here we have the first action cue of the soundtrack. Given the fact that, in this cue, the action takes place in Russia, Horner tried to give a Russian sound to it and he succeded.

My version of the soundtrack contains one more track which I see that it isn't contained on this page, mainly because here we have the UK version of the soundtrack, that didn't contained the track 'The Storm'. Still, I will talk a little about it. As the title suggests, we're dealing with another action cue. But it's more scarier than adventurous and that's because Horner doesn't use much percussion in this cue, mainly strings and brasses. And he really knows how write a thriller cue not scary enough to frighten children.

Next we have 'Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor'. This is a depressing cue that suggests hope at the same time. When the choir sings the last 5 verses of Emma Lazarus' poem, it gives you goosebumps. It demonstrates Horner's capability to work with both an orchestra and a choir. The poem speaks about immigrants coming to the United States, so it is was a wise decision to use it during the sequence in which both the humans and the mice arrive in the US.

After it, we have 'The Market Place', a track begins a little rough but then turns into a lush tone, the best being the part the clarinet plays 'Never Say Never' in a slower tempo.

Next, we have two action-adventure cues, 'Releasing the Secret Weapon' and 'The Great Fire'. After we've had these calm and lush cues, we have two tracks that captivates our attention again and prepares us for the last two score tracks. Horner knew that this was a children movie so he had to come with something that went well with the picture but not make theme even scarier. So he managed to reduce the emotional impact of these two scenes.

Last, but not least, we have the best score tracks on the album, 'Reunion' and 'Flying and End Credits'. Because these are the really the film's epilogue, they reprise all the themes in a full orchestral sound. And, frankly, they will be like an ambrosia for your ears. The last track has a little John Williams-esque sound in it, but it still contains Horner's own style that is accustomed to us. Believe me, the last two tracks are simply breathtaking.

In conclusion, An American Tail remains a highlight in Horner's career, mainly because it really put him into the spotlight. And, along with the The Land Before Time, this is the best animated score that Horner has written for an animation feature. Also, it demonstrates Horner's talent to write both film scores and songs. Luckily, this hasn't gone out of print so you can still find it very easily. In fact, this one and The Pagemaster are the only animated scores written by Horner that are still a regular releases. This one really deserves a 10, for both the score and the songs. Highly recommended!
An American Tail - 08/10 - Review of Lammert de Wit, submitted at (Dutch)
De succesvolle animatiefilm An American Tail kwam een paar jaar voordat Disney enorme successen boekte met o.a. The Little Mermaid en andere films met muziek van Alan Menken. An American Tail werd geproduceerd door Amblin, het productiebedrijf van Steven Spielberg, die ook zelf aan die productie meewerkte. En het succes was groot genoeg om een paar jaar later vervolg te maken met de bekende muis Fievel Mousekewitz in de hoofdrol. In beide films wordt de stem van de muis vertolkt door Phillip Glasser, die ook meezingt op een aantal liedjes op de soundtrack, zoals alle liedjes vertolkt worden door de filmacteurs die ook de stemmen in de film doen.
De enige uitzondering is de bekende song 'Somewhere Out There', die gedurende de aftiteling gebracht wordt door Linda Ronstadt en James Ingram.

De score is van de hand van James Horner. De liedjes maakte hij samen met Barry Mann, op tekst van Cynthia Weil. Beide kwamen overigens niet terug bij het vervolg An American Tail: Fievel goes West.
Op het album staan vijf songs uit de film, die op zich best wel fraai zijn, maar door de manier waarop ze gebracht worden wat kinderlijk overkomen, vooral wanneer Phillip Glasser op zesjarige leeftijd daarin als Fievel meezingt. Vaak gaat dat ook lang niet zuiver, maar dat stoort niet echt.
Horner heeft er een luchtige score van gemaakt, heel anders dan zijn andere 1986 film Aliens, maar meer in de trant van Cocoon en Willow. De score bevat veel sprookjesachtige muziek, met mooie glijdende violen, harp, triangel en belletjes, die het allemaal sprankelend maken. Het thema van de score ligt bij de song Somewhere Out There, een thema waar Horner in een aantal tracks fraai op terugvalt, zodat de score een mooie coherente indruk maakt.
De soundtrack opent met het fraaie Main Title, een sprankelende track met de mooie thema melodie er luchtig doorheen verweven. De tweede track is een vlotte track met snelle violen, die achtervolging suggereren. Ook mooi melodieus.
Give me your Tired, your Poor is een prachtige gedragen track, met fraaie vioolpartijen en koormuziek. The Market Place is een sprankelende track met violen in de lead op de mooie thema melodie. Releasing the Secret Weapon is een wat vollere en krachtigere track, die wat een wat donkerder klankkleur heeft en de spanning opbouwt tot een minuut voor het einde, waarna een kort stukje uit een eerdere song volgt en de track afsluit. The Great Fire heeft een nog wat donkerder sfeer, met lichte pauken op de achtergrond en underscore van strijkers, maar ook hier hoor je door de donkerheid heen toch het thema terugkomen. Ook blazers spelen in rol in deze spannende track.
De score sluit af met twee fraaie en sprankelende tracks met lichte en luchtige muziek.

Kortom, An American Tail is een fraaie score met wat kinderlijke songs er tussendoor. Die songs zijn leuk om een keer te beluisteren, maar vooral niet te vaak. Terwijl de muziek van de score daar juist wel toe uitnodigt, vooral de lichte en sprankelende tracks.
An American Tail - 08/10 - Review of Tom Daish, submitted at (English)
A charming score for the Don Bluth animation. It has several songs, the best of which is Somewhere Out There which has to be one of my favourite songs from any film. The film version is a bit too sweet and may make some people sick, I mean, this is singing mice! The Ronstadt and Ingram version is lovely though. The best of the other songs is probably There are No Cats in America which is half sad verses and half joyful choral work. The actual score is a lot less exciting than I thought it would be. This is not a criticism, but it is just quieter than I thought. It is, very good though and has some lovely moments in it, occasionally adding in the choir where appropriate. The strange thing about this score is that there are many highly original bits and these are beautiful, but there are also many parts that appear in other Horner scores, both before and after this was written. Fortunately, they all gel quite well and produce and fine score. Comparing it to a Disney score would be difficult. It is perhaps more like The Lion King in the sense that it has a very good score but not such great songs. However, I think the songs are better than some of the Lion King ones. I would certainly recommend this to all Horner fans and fans of animation as I think it is nice to have something different to the Menken scores.

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Alice in Wonderland (2006)
Monsters, Inc. (2002)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
Lilo & Stitch (2002)
Horton Hears a Who! (2008)
Flipper (1996)
Nanny McPhee (2005)
Toy Story 2 (1999)
Spirited Away (2002)


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