The Man in the Moon

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

In the early days, James Newton Howard was scoring his fair share of drama's and comedies, and The Man in the Moon stands again as a testament of how its supposed to be done musically. You can say this is the The Spitfire Grill of James Newton Howard. Its that lovely to simply hear, its so simply lovely to like, but if its so simple to rate it higher because of that alone? That decides your taste at first, secondly how many scores you heard by now to make sure it stands nowadays special amongst the others and thirdly your like or dislike of intimate scores that don't swell much. Of course, swelling emotion isn't decisive anymore, but for me that is what makes a score special, for me that's my taste. And the fact I heard equally lovely attempts before is now making me to see what makes this score special, moments, a theme or something like that. Swelling isn't an option but the bouncy attitude could have been that instead. Tracks like 'Back Door', 'My Goodies' and 'The Pond' are noticeable because they carry upbeat Texan style bounciness with guitar and flute, and if these would be expanded in length or in volume, these could have been the really special tracks of the album. Now they stand as the welcome diversity alone. The rest is the expected but equally lovely intimate and soft scoring of Howard, which especially grows in interest the more you hear it, and The Man in the Moon is one exception where this again works as repeated listens. 'Dani Brings Court Water', the longest track with 3 minutes and nearly 40 seconds is a piece of soft gentle scoring for strings that especially grows after repeated listens, and works its charm on you. And this simply continues to show itself its proof in all the upcoming tracks, except one!

The only track that stands out differently is 'Court's Accident', which immediately jumps out with dark urgent strings, the guitar and the flutes and even the ideas are still heard but now in a more urgent feeling, and emotional on edge manner. Its especially brilliant to hear that the exact ideas Newton Howard wrote now make for the urgent mood as in the one before made for a more relaxing feeling instead. In the middle of the album, this tracks comes in fact just right, to signal the mixing choice well. The typical Newton Howard feeling full of charm especially works well in the first part of the score, 'The Walk' is just him musically, growing strings briefly emotional in 'Dani Remembers' and the solo violin returning with one of the reoccurring themes with guitar in 'The Funeral' is also a noticed affair. After the 'End Titles' which equally sound lovely yet soft, the score wanders of in very brief tracks, and apart from again the bouncy 'Swimming Hole', we have to wait for the final track 'Graveyard' for a 3 minute whopper, with piano and flute signaling this score of. The Man in the Moon does nothing wrong, especially in the first part its even downright enjoyable, but considering I will forget this score after 30 minutes makes me wonder what made it special. Yes, the listening experience but not the effect after it. Meaning, just like lots of others you have a lovely time hearing it, but its effect is somewhat forgotten because the themes are interwoven carefully in the scoring you don't immediately notice one. The Man in the Moon is therefore one of those guilty pleasure for hearing on background parties, because its so charming (apart from track 10), and while having a good time hearing it, I prefer Newton Howard while he uses themes that are more noticed then the utterly charming music he writes here, but soon forgotten again.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Dani Brings Court Water (3.38)

2. Back Door (1.22)

3. First Kiss (1.51)

4. Lovemaking (1.05)

5. My Goodies (1.15)

6. The Walk (1.16)

7. The Pond (0.59)

8. Dani Remembers (1.32)

9. The Funeral (2.57)

10. Daydreaming (1.22)

11. Court's Accident (3.03)

12. End Titles (2.34)

13. Go Home (1.11)

14. Girls In Hallway (0.34)

15. Dani And Dad (0.29)

16. Swimming Hole (1.25)

17. Dani Sees Court (1.24)

18. Graveyard (3.12)

Total Length: 31.20

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=== Link to Composer Site: James Newton Howard ===