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37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Warner Brother's King of Music, December 1, 2003
This review is from: The Carl Stalling Project: Music From Warner Bros. Cartoons, 1936-1958 (Audio CD)
Even if you do not recognize his name, Carl Stalling is a very familiar composer. He wrote the soundtrack for many of our young lives as the composer for Warner Bros.' "Merrie Melodies" and "Looney Tunes" cartoons from late 1930's to late 1970's. Hal Willner has compiled this CD that for the first time lets you hear the music on its own, and lets you realize just how much of the cartoons' impact came from Stalling's music. Willner sifted through hundreds of cartoons to choose about 40 with the most significant music. He presents the music in a variety of formats. A few tracks provide the soundtrack for a single entire cartoon. Others are medlies from a certain period in Stalling's career or pieces that set a particular mood (such as the "Anxiety Montage"). There are also tapes from recording sessions for 1951's "Putty Tat Trouble" that give insight on how this music was recorded. I couldn't recommend this CD any more highly. (After you've given it a listen, check out a Raymond Scott "best of" album like "Reckless Nights and Turkish Twilights" to see just how many of its tracks are familiar from various cartoons.) Stalling's music, instead of following the traditional rules of musical structure (exposition, development, theme, variations, etc.), was written to follow the rapid action of cartoons. Stalling would not compromise on this, even if it meant having the 50-piece orchestra play fortissimo for five seconds and then having only one piccolo playing the next four seconds. To ensure a perfect correspondence between the sound and the image, Stalling and the cartoon's directors would agree on a few sketches and on the timing of the action. This enabled Stalling to compose and record the music without even seeing the movie. Carl Stalling was also a master at telling a story through music, with gestures so clear, that there is never any doubt as to his intentions. Stalling once said, "One problem with cartoons today is that they have so much dialogue the music doesn't mean much." Unfortunately, this statement rings true as we move into 2004. But keeping Carl Stalling from rolling in his grave is not why you need to buy this CD. You need it because it is IMPOSSIBLE to maintain a bad mood while this CD is playing. You need this to listen to as a stress reducer on those tough days. You need this because it is complete childhood in a disc. I challenge you to turn on your television and watch some Looney Tunes. Turn up the volume and listen while doing something else (wash dishes, write a paper perhaps.) I guarantee you will know exactly what is happening, and to whom. This was the comedic skill and genius talent of Carl Stalling. As Porky Pig would say: "abieh-abieh-abieh... That's All Folks!"
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31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
GUARANTEED, July 5, 2001
This review is from: The Carl Stalling Project: Music From Warner Bros. Cartoons, 1936-1958 (Audio CD)
Although I was familiar with most or all of the music on this CD, I'd never heard of Carl Stalling. Well, to my delight, he turns out to be one of the most important composers ever to write movie scores, right up there with Maurice Jaubert and Nino Rota and John Williams, as far as I am concerned. He was a true original. He wrote the scores for the Warner Brothers cartoons from 1936 to 1958. This CD is not only a tribute to Stalling, it is also the most entertaining, endearing, smile-engendering, memory-invoking, guffaw-getting album you'll hear in quite a while. I postively guarantee that you will love this album if you were EVER a child--if you EVER joined your friends to sneak into a Saturday matinee and cheer when our hero Bugs Bunny foiled the villain--if you EVER laughed uncontrollably when you heard, "I taught I taw a Puddy-tat"--if you EVER felt forlorn when you heard our pal Porky stutter "Th-th-that's all, F-f-folks!" Stalling wrote the perfect music that we heard in "our subconscious" while we watched those "Looney Tunes" and "Merrie Melodies." Just the titles of the various selections will put you in the right mood: "Gorilla My Dreams" and "I Got Plenty Of Mutton" and "Puss 'N' Booty" and "To Itch His Own" (Stalling's last score- 1958) to name just four. As Hal Wilner writes in his introduction to Stalling and the CD, "It (the CD) contains some soundtracks by one of the greatest film composers/arrangers from some of the finest films ever made." Buy this album and I dare you to play it just once. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great American Compsers: Ives, Copland, Cage....Stalling???, May 24, 2001
This review is from: The Carl Stalling Project: Music From Warner Bros. Cartoons, 1936-1958 (Audio CD)
In 1990 Warner Bros. released, “The Carl Stalling Project: Music From Warner Bros. Cartoons 1936-1958” and the world rejoiced. Well perhaps that is a bit of an exaggeration but its safe to say that this long overdue tribute goes a long way in finally raising Stalling to his rightful position as one of the great American composers of the 20th century. This CD was an unlikely gift from Warner Bros. not because of Stalling’s lack of notoriety, on the contrary, Stalling has an ever-growing and loyal fan base It has more to do with the very nature of cartoon music itself. The rapid pace of animation with its constant bombardment of action, storm and stress, and story twists makes cartoon scores very unique in their conception and form. Stripping away the visual aspect of Carl Stalling’s work allows the audience a whole new perspective on Stalling genius. Stalling was a revolutionary in his use of rhythm. Every cue he ever wrote was a complex structure of timings, webbed together to create atmosphere that was pure comedic silliness. The format for which he wrote allowed him to break free from traditional musical form and convention and thus his music was unique to anything else that came before it. In the early days of Warner Bros., Stalling’s gift for timing materialized with his invention of the tick system, one which is still used by composers today to keep orchestra members synchronized with the picture. The beauty of this CD is that it allows one to immediately recognize the plethora of wondrous nuances that characterized Stalling’s style. While Carl drew from contemporaries including, Raymond Scott, Ellington and others, his voice was unmistakably different. His daring use of the orchestra is a prime example. Stalling wasn’t afraid to use a huge fifty piece orchestra playing fortissimo for one second and then all of a sudden have solo flute playing at a barely audible level the next. His ability to build drama and tension in this way was unparalleled, just one listen to his score for he Turntale Wolf is enough to make you laugh, jump and gasp, just due to the arrangement. Yet another great element to this CD is the insert that comes with it. Yeah it might be a bit superficial and silly but this tiny little booklet of sorts contains sketches, manuscripts, collages of scripts, liner notes from several different producers, photographs of the Warner Bros. sessions, and much more. However, if you’re looking for a less material reason to check out this CD, the way in which the music was put together is probably unlike any recording you have ever heard. Many of the tracks are intimate session recordings where you can actually hear Stalling giving out orders, calling on stops, and even making one or two cynical remarks about the musicians. While I wouldn’t all together call it educational, it is certainly interesting, if not amusing. I wish I could go on forever about this CD and the man behind it. Film music is particularly important to my life as I hope to one day be a film composer myself. Bernard Herrmann, Danny Elfman, Howard Shore, Jerry Goldsmith; these are all musicians which I hold high on a pedestal but Carl Stalling holds a special place in my heart. It was this man’s music that made up my first musical memories, and in a very real sense he was my first musical influence ever. Its difficult to come to terms with the fact that Stalling will never join the ranks of his peers, Ives, Cage, and Copland. For he, just as these other American visionaries, helped defined our nation’s musical voice and style. I mean jeez, the least you could do is buy the friggen CD!!.......With all honesty and sincerity, you won’t regret it. -- Jesse M. Switzer
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