Randy Newman may not be one of the most prolific film composers working today, often scoring "just" one film a year, and some years we do not hear anything from him at all. But the scores he write are all of high quality and great entertainment value. Toy Story 2 is no exception. The score is filled with upbeat, exciting music, often based on the Mickey Mouse scoring technique, which makes the music very varied, but also a little disturbing at times, as I personally have a very mixed attitude towards this kind of scoring.
The score part (there's also a couple of songs included on the disc, but more about those later) of the CD opens with some excellent sci-fi music, or rather a superb pastische on this kind of music, such as Star Wars or Star Trek. It is tongue in cheek and over the top, making it really entertaining and funny listening to, proving that Randy Newman would be more than the right person to score the next installment of the Star Trek saga. The cue "The Cleaner" is also a definite highlight. With its sherzo like style, catchy melody, and playfull orchestrations it reminds me of John Williams' score for Home Alone for some reason. This is Randy Newman's music as its best.
In the void between Newman's scores for Pleasantville, A Bug's Life and Toy Story 2 I took myself the time to learn about and discover Randy Newman's career as a song writer and singer. Had I been aware of what I had been missing all these years, this is something I would have done much sooner, that I can tell you. Toy Story 2, as well, has been blessed with a couple of songs by the composer. Opening with "Woody's Roundup", this is a country inspired song, performed by Riders in the Sky, used as source music, for the TV show Woody is hosting in the film. "When She Loved Me" is a simply wonderful, emotional and soft song, sung by Sarah McLachlan. She does a good job, although her voice sometimes has a tendency to get a little too high and therefore get somewhat fragile. Would have been interesting, had Newman himself sung it instead... "You've Got a Friend in Me", was originally written by Newman for the first Toy Story film, performed by Randy himself. This version is sung by Robert Goulet, as the voice of Wheezy, backed up by a jazzy big band. It's quite groovy and entertaining, although I must say that I like Newman's own version better. This song is also available as an instrumental version, at the end of the disc, performed by big band and Tom Scott on saxophone.
Toy Story 2 is a very good, entertaining and fun score to listen to. This, along with the equally good songs, makes this release a must have for every Randy Newman fans out there.