Customer Reviews

After The Fox: Original MGM Motion Picture Soundtrack [Enhanced CD]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I consider this to be one of Burt Bacharach's best scores. It has certainly been underrated and that is a real shame. Bacharach ingeniously intertwines Italian motifs within a lighthearted humorous score composed for this very funny film which pokes fun at internationally produced films as the glory days of Hollywood were in their death throes. Directed by Vittorio De Sica Peter Sellers portrays the elusive Italian criminal "the Fox" who concocts an outrageous heist with an unknowing over-the-hill Hollywood hunk Victor Mature to hijack gold bullion into the country. Bacharach's score on this soundtrack CD is pure fun and really captures the music that was so integral and memorable from the movie. In true 60's form Peter Sellers and the Hollies perform the main title song.

Note: this review is for the SOUNDTRACK, not the video!

This is a fun and well thought out score from composer Burt Bacharach circa 1966. The main title song sung by Peter Sellers and the Hollies is very catchy. Bacharach's musical flair for humor is very evident here as he incorporates an authentic Italian sound to it (probably an influence from the film's director Vittorio De Sica). The music goes perfectly with the story of a crook (Sellers) who pretends to be a moviemaker as a cover for his big gold heist. I always liked this very funny movie and album and consider them to be among Seller's and Bacharach's best. Both entertainment forms were badly neglected and overlooked.

This is a fun and well thought out score from composer Burt Bacharach circa 1966. The main title song sung by Peter Sellers and the Hollies is very catchy. Bacharach's musical flair for humor is very evident here as he incorporates an authentic Italian sound to it (probably an influence from the film's director Vittorio De Sica). The music goes perfectly with the story of a crook (Sellers) who pretends to be a moviemaker as a cover for his big gold heist. I always liked this very funny movie and album and consider them to be among Seller's and Bacharach's best. Both entertainment forms were badly neglected and overlooked.

One of those songs that you at first think is kind of annoying, but grows on you intil you realize what a gem it really is.

"After the Fox" has been a favorite of our family for years. We had the soundtrack on LP but it has long since vanished from the family archives.

Bacharach works with a number of musical styles in the film that heighten the comedic effect of the characters. That's what a good soundtrack should do. The film is funny, the soundtrack is enjoyable.

The title track combines Bachrach's melodramatic, weird major/minor chord progressions with Peter Seller's gift for musical mimicry/gimmickry. It's probably one of Burt's better tunes and productions, ably abetted by the high tenor harmonies of the Hollies and Mr. Seller's fake Eye-talian accent. Reminds one of Peter's take on "A Hard Day's Night," wherein he did the Beatles' tune in the voice of Laurence Olivier as Richard III. His silliness worked well in a musical setting, and it's surprising that Peter didn't do more musical comedy recordings. As for Burt, what can one add? This is classic Bacharach soundtrack work, and I actually prefer it to many of his other soundtracks. Lots of harpsichords, tack pianos, accordions, mandolins, and other exotica instrumentation combined in that inimitable style. A must-have for Bacharach afficianados.

I didn't know of After The Fox until seeing a movie called The Life & Death of Peter Sellers. In the film, there is a scene of After The Fox being made, and you hear the title tune.

Checking it out, I was surprised I didn't know the score, loving Burt Bacharach, but this albums lives up to its resume. After The Fox came in 1966. On the title track, written by Bacharach and sung by the Hollies, you hear the rantings of Sellers, mostly aloud, but other times crawling under the mix--a brilliant move, a year before Sgt. Pepper. Listen to the breaths used as a percussive stop, and the baroque harpsichord. Rock advancing on a 1966 soundtrack, composed by a guy known (then) for AM singles: who would have thought.

Most of the rest alternates between Italian themes, and other instrumentals: listen particularly to the organ psych of "Italian Fuzz."

And there was even a bonus surprise: for years, I have been hunting samples used on Andy Votel's Music To Watch Girls Cry and Songs In The Key Of Death, "Italian Fuzz" was one of these. A psychedelic sample from the guy who wrote "Walk On By."

It's ALL connected. Always.