Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Knockout Alan Silvestri soundtrack gets royal treatment! Smash-hit Touchstone Pictures & Steven Spielberg presentation finds Robert Zemeckis blending live action, animation in masterful ground-breaking fashion. 1988 film stars Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd, Stubby Kaye, Charles Fleischer, Joanna Cassidy… plus animated Roger Rabbit, Jessica Rabbit and plenty of “Toons”.

Knockout Alan Silvestri soundtrack gets royal treatment! Smash-hit Touchstone Pictures & Steven Spielberg presentation finds Robert Zemeckis blending live action, animation in masterful ground-breaking fashion. 1988 film stars Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd, Stubby Kaye, Charles Fleischer, Joanna Cassidy… plus animated Roger Rabbit, Jessica Rabbit and plenty of “Toons”.

Reunion of Spielberg, Zebecks & Silvestri after 1985 blockbuster Back To The Future spawns Los Angeles 40’s-era whodunit with boozed gumshoe Eddie Valiant sucked into solving murder of Toontown’s owner, with Roger, Jessica, Eddie’s deceased brother and evil Judge Doom all participants in solid mystery. Along the way are cameos from Disney’s Dumbo, Fleischer’s Betty Boop, Donald & Daffy Duck, Yosemite Sam, many others. Classic scenes abound! Animated “dueling pianos” sequence with pair of ducks is a visual/aural highlight.

Accompanying music by Liszt, arranged by Silvestri and featuring two ducks wacky dialog was included on original 1988 Disney album of soundtrack highlights. Intrada 3-CD release presents both premiere of complete cue sans dialog on CD 1, original album version on CD 3. Mammoth Silvestri score itself runs nearly 100 minutes across discs 1 & 2, with numerous alternates following on CD 2. Film is scored wall-to-wall with literal smash-up of original score, music bits, songs, Interestingly, majority of original Silvestri cues are heavily truncated in film. Intrada release premieres them in their full-length versions as originally recorded by composer. Eddie Valiant theme in smoky ’noir style’ for solo trumpet plays in balance to sinister Judge Doom theme for low strings with chimes. In between are frantic, dazzling action sequences in signature Silvestri manner for full orchestra, sometimes featuring additional jazz combo of top U.S. players generating further excitement within resources of full London Symphony Orchestra.
Danger and excitement become keynote, especially in rousing last half hour! Sexy, sultry vocal number by Jessica Rabbit (“Why Don’t You Do Right?”) another smoky highlight! Alternates include cues written for but dropped from film entirely. But there’s much more! Also appearing are four complete “Cartoon Short” scores featuring Roger Rabbit that appeared in front of subsequent Disney films: Premiere of complete Silvestri score for Who Framed Roger Rabbit’s opening “Maroon Cartoon” with Roger babysitting Baby Herman plus dizzying Bruce Broughton scores for Rollercoaster Rabbit (1990) and Trail Mix-Up (1993) with James Horner score for Tummy Trouble (1989) bringing CD 2 to a close. CD 3 presents original 1988 Disney soundtrack album, preserving Silvestri’s own 46-minute presentation balancing score highlights with songs. Entire release newly mastered from Disney vault elements and presented courtesy of Disney Enterprises and Amblin Entertainment.
Digital editing & assembly by Douglass Fake, mastered by Patricia Sullivan at Bernie Grundman Mastering. Informative notes by Tim Greiving, colorful booklet design by Kay Marshall. Special thanks to Roger Feigelson for helping bring vast array of licensing challenges across the finish line! Bruce Broughton cartoons: Armin Steiner records & mixes with Broughton conducting.
James Horner cartoon: Shawn Murphy records & mixes with Horner conducting. Who Framed Roger Rabbit cartoon and score: Dennis Sands records & mixes, James Campbell orchestrates,
London Symphony Orchestra performs, Alan Sylvestri composes, conducts. Intrada Special Collection 3-CD set available while quantities and interest remains!