The Kid Stays in the Picture

In amongst the endless stream of third rate Hollywood summer blockbusters and second rate blockbuster scores that have appeared during 2002, it is pleasing to find something off the beaten track and very good with it. I've not come across such a surprisingly enjoyable album since Jeff Beal's Pollock (perhaps it's a Jeff thing), but The Kid Stays in the Picture is a hugely entertaining mixture of original score and songs. I would never cast myself in the camp that opposes songs in films or songs on soundtrack albums, just so long as they are done appropriately and in this case, I believe they have been, at least on disc. It helps that Danna's music is the main focus of the album and the songs are obviously ones chosen not purely to sell more albums.
From what I can gather, the film is a kind a mixture of autobiography and documentary about movie mogul Robert Evans. Admittedly not a name with which I am as familiar as perhaps I should, but Brett Ratner's film has certainly garnered quite a good level of critical acclaim. Similarly, Jeff Danna's score should not be passed up as it's real treat. Don't be fooled by the kitsch/retro cover art, the music is really very good indeed. Danna hasn't really composed his own main theme, but relies on little snippets of Irving Berlin's classic What'll I Do, which opens the album and appears in a few of Danna's own cues (surprisingly uncredited in those instances), plus in an original vocal version to round out the album, save for the bonus cue.

Many of Danna's cues seem to function as though they are source music rather than dramatic underscore and the first half is mostly quite lightweight, from the playful Old Hollywood to a nice rhapsody on What'll I Do in Ali Comes to Woodland and the Mask of Zorro inspired flamenco in The Sun Also Rises. Suitably enough, Polanski starts the music on a slightly less chipper note, Danna's bouncing style of the opening few cues remains in tact to some extent, but the laid back sound now becomes more edgy. Danna manages that careful juggling of consistency with dramatic necessity, notably in tracks such as Luckiest Man with gentle piano and a subtle suggestion of What'll I Do in the background.

The songs are quite an eclectic bunch, but none seem out of place and many of them are genuine minor classics, notably Cat Steven's Wild World. Elton John's funky Crocodile Rock and Steel Dan's Dirty Work are also great additions. There are also some instrumental tracks not by Danna; Michel Legrand's faintly cheesy Di-Gue-Ding-Ding (those are the lyrics after a fashion) as well as Francais Lai's Theme from Love Story. The album closes with Slash performing the theme from The Godfather. Not sure about that one, interesting choice of bonus cue though. The album for The Kid Stays in the Picture has quite obviously be assembled with care and there is plenty of Danna's own music to satisfy fans, but they would do as well to listen to the entire thing it fits together superbly. A minor gem.